Josh Allen makes progress against New England
Josh Allen’s worst performance of the 2019 season came against New England back in Week 4. In that game, Allen really struggled against Bill Belichick’s defense. Allen completed just 13 of 28 passes for 153 yards and, most importantly, tossed three bad interceptions. The Patriots also neutralized Allen on the ground, holding him to just 26 rushing yards while sacking him four times.
The Bills needed to see Allen take a big step forward in his second matchup against Belichick’s defens. It took a while for progress to be seen, but Allen did display some significant improvement.
Allen finished with pedestrian passing numbers (13-26 for 208 yards) and was sacked four times once again, but he made big strides in terms of the big passing plays that weren’t there the first time around against the Patriots.
Allen threw two touchdown passes and avoided throwing an interception against the vaunted Patriots’ pass defense. In taking a step forward against the Patriots, he made two of his most impressive throws of the season deep downfield for monster plays in this game. He also directed one of the gutsiest late-game drives we’ve seen from a Bills quarterback in a long time, but one that did not end in the New England end zone.
Allen’s deep throws for Knox and Brown were highlight-reel throws that fans have been begging to see all season long. Allen has struggled with these throws, but showed he does have them in his arsenal with two perfectly placed throws that ended up resulting in 14 points for the Bills. Allen’s beautiful touch throw to Knox set up a surprise touchdown throw from Allen to Dawkins on a tackle-eligible play. In the third quarter, he dropped in a bomb down the middle of the field to Brown, who had separated from Stephon Gilmore on a beautiful double move. The perfectly-placed throw allowed Brown to race into the end zone.
Allen looked much more confident throwing the ball in this game than he did in the Week 4 matchup. Allen was able to locate Cole Beasley underneath when he needed to find an open receiver. Beasley was targeted 12 times and caught seven of those targets for 108 yards. Allen also avoided making dumb throws into coverage that resulted in turnovers. Allen was not picked off and also did not fumble either. Allen found some success rushing the ball in this game with seven carries for 43 yards. His 16-yard run in the second quarter was the longest rush by a Bill in this game and helped jump-start the drive that tied the game right before halftime.
The way Allen was throwing the ball and making plays on Buffalo’s last drive, you thought he was going to find a way to get the team into the end zone to tie the game. It was not to be, however, in part because Allen overthrew a wide-open Knox in the back of the end zone and took a bad sack to push the Bills back to the 15 and essentially give them no chance at a tying touchdown. It’s evidence that Allen is by no means a finished product and still has plenty of flaws to fix.
Still, Allen gave you a sense of confidence that you rarely have in Bills quarterbacks, especially those taking the field in Foxborough. Allen is now 0-3 against Belichick and the Patriots, but he took a big step forward in this matchup and has fans feeling good about the team’s prospects if they see New England again in a few weeks.