Josh Allen is not taking any steps forward
Sunday’s game was another contest where the offense just did not do enough to win the game. In a game where the defense had a couple Herculean efforts near the goal line and produced a safety, the Bills’ offense let them down by only producing two scoring drives. They also let a chance to score to tie or win the game at the end slip away.
While the Bills only came away with two scoring drives in part because of two key missed field goals by Stephen Hauschka, the lack of production reflected the overall struggles of Josh Allen in this game.
Allen completed just 22 of 41 pass attempts for 266 yards. While he did not turn the ball over, he did not throw for any touchdowns either, though he did rush for both Buffalo scores. It was another mediocre passing day for Allen, which is something we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him this season.
Allen got both John Brown and Cole Beasley heavily involved in the passing game Sunday as they combined for nine catches and 151 yards receiving. Allen had five completions of 20 yards or more in this game. His 26-yard throw over the middle to Beasley set up the go-ahead touchdown run with 5:26 to go.
But what kept this from being a really good game by Allen was a handful of missed throws, including incompletions on his bugaboo – the deep throw. Again Allen had opportunities to connect on open deep throws for huge gains and again Allen failed to deliver. If we’re all waiting for Allen to finally cash in on a deep throw, it just might not ever happen. He has yet to complete a pass that has traveled 30-plus yards in the air this season.
Allen doesn’t provide enough elsewhere to make up for those deep misses. He had short misses, too, including a 4th and 4 throw that was behind Brown on the opening drive, and tried too many low-percentage throws near the sideline. That included his final throw of the game to Brown as the Bills were driving for the tying or go-ahead points. In trying a tough throw to Brown downfield, he missed a wide open Beasley underneath. Allen’s struggles really limit the Buffalo passing game. That’s evident in the lack of production the Bills have had pretty much throughout the entire season. In five of Buffalo’s nine games this season, they have been held under 20 points. They have broken 30 points just once.
The clock is ticking on Allen as Sunday’s game was his 20th start as a professional. Many are still willing to believe that Allen will take another step forward because he is still a young quarterback. But the time to make that claim is running out. There’s not much room for patience in the NFL, where players need to quickly show they belong or else they will be out of the league. For comparison sake, it has not taken Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, or Lamar Jackson 20 starts to look like they are ready to dominate the league. They got there in far fewer starts. Yes, the Bills passed on all three quarterbacks under this head coach.
While we continue to wait for Allen to take another step forward, the Bills find themselves held back on offense by a mediocre quarterback. Considering all the assets the Bills acquired to get him, that’s not where you want to be, especially since you’ve been living in the world of mediocre quarterbacks for a long time and decided you needed to upgrade there, even after making the playoffs with Tyrod Taylor.
Buffalo’s comfortable playoff position is suddenly being threatened, and the schedule only gets tougher from here. The Bills need Allen to play at a higher level, or else they might find themselves outside the playoff picture. If that happens, there will be plenty of questions about this quarterback and the people who brought him to this team that will need to be answered in the offseason.
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