Tag: josh allen blitz

The Chiefs didn’t blitz Josh Allen enough, and that was a big mistake

The Chiefs refused to blitz Bills quarterback Josh Allen when they should have, and it cost them a crucial game.

One thing the NFL surely learned in 2020 was that if you blitzed Bills quarterback Josh Allen, he was going to make you pay for it. Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, opponents sent five or more pass-rushers against Allen on 247 of his dropbacks, and on those dropbacks, Allen completed 150 of 226 passes for 1,791 yards, 884 air yards, 21 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 117.7.

The narrative that you should never blitz Allen has made its way into the 2021 season. Through his first four games, opponents blitzed Allen on just 30 of his passing attempts — less than half the number of blitzes seen by the league leader, Patriots rookie Mac Jones (63).

But here’s the thing — when he has been blitzed this season, Allen hasn’t been nearly as effective. On those 30 dropbacks, Allen has completed 16 of 28 passes for 243 yards, 197 air yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 71.0. When facing four or fewer pass-rushers through the first four games of this season, Allen has completed 83 of 128 passes on 138 dropbacks for 812 yards, 500 air yards, nine touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 102.7.

So, the thing you didn’t want to do against Allen last season is the one thing you DO want to do against him this season, especially if you have glaring issues in coverage that pressure can mitigate. The Chiefs certainly have more than their share of coverage issues; this was proven true in the first half of the Chiefs game when Allen completed seven of 14 passes for 219 yards. Allen had four big plays — completions of 20 or more air yards — in the first half, and the Chiefs brought four pass rushers on all of them. Safety Daniel Sorensen, who was covering deep when he shouldn’t have been, was the unwitting victim of this conservative approach.

Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen has a “Wanna get away?” first half against Bills

There was the 61-yard pass to receiver Stefon Diggs:

And the 53-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dawson Knox:

Just two examples of many in which the Chiefs seemed to have no idea what to do with their extra coverage defenders in base packages, so they should have brought the house more often.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo started to call more aggressive pass-rush concepts in the fourth quarter, but by that time, the Bills were up 31-20 and then 38-20, and Allen could either run his way out of the blitz, or throw little helium swing passes to his running backs. And once in a while, Allen would respond to a blitz by not only running, but by hurtling cornerback L’Jarius Sneed for a first down scamper.

The Bills are as formidable a team as you’ll find in the NFL, but there is a paradigm shift in how to deal with Josh Allen. Just because the Chiefs took to long to figure it out doesn’t mean that other opponents will make that same mistake.