The Draft Network - Josh Allen's Struggles Go Beyond Lackluster Supporting Cast

[HappyDays 6,495]

Don't shoot the messenger.

 

https://thedraftnetwork.com/2018/10/09/josh-allens-struggles-go-beyond-lackluster-supporting-cast/

 

In reviewing the All-22 game tape of Allen’s performance against Tennessee, it becomes clear that he needs a lot of work on basic concepts. I’m not breaking out his egregious interception against Green Bay to highlight his flaws, I am going to detail relatively simple reps where more should be expected from Allen.

While it’s crystal clear that Allen isn’t “ready” to be starting on Sundays, it’s the best thing for him to be playing. Being exposed to the game action and working through the tape with the Bills’ coaching staff is invaluable. He has to play and be coached through it. Mental reps from the sideline aren’t going to help Allen overcome his shortcomings when the ball is snapped.

Nothing mentioned in this analysis has a thing to do with Allen’s supporting cast — rather, much of it shows how the supporting cast is limited by Allen. Allen is the worst thing about Buffalo’s offense right now, and he has to get better. That said, he deserves time to develop — both things are true.

The highs and lows of Josh Allen won’t just be game to game; they’ll be snap to snap. He has a long way to go, but this is the guy McDermott and GM Brandon Beane believed in to fill Buffalo’s long-standing hole at quarterback. Now it’s up to McDermott and his staff to develop him.

[RyanC883 1,147]

(1) Allen does need to develop; but 

 

(2) the supporting cast sucks.  Allegedly #1 WR KB looks disinterested.  Zay Jones looks interested and is improving.   Clay had a decent game.   

 

Allen will improve as the season goes along.  I'd just tell Allen to trust the play call and put the ball where it is supposed to be.  If the WR does not get there, that's on the WR.  Eventually we will get a more competent supporting cast.   

 

It's also hard for a rookie to perform better when he hears footsteps because the OL is jelly.  

 

And I was a "don't-draft" Allen type prior to the season.  But some of the takes on him so far have been ridiculous.   National media at one point says we have the worst WR and O-line group, and then another outlet says that is not holding Allen back.   Simply laughable.  

[Cash 114]

Good article.  Allen is straight-up bad right now.  Will be interesting to see if he ends the season better than he is now.

[26CornerBlitz 11,691]

The beat goes on. 

[Ramza86 390]

This is a good video. I thought this was Allens worst game. 

 

Lets not forget the Titans are a very well run defense. 

 

Im not hitting the panic button. I think the second half of the season will say more about Allen and his ability to get acclimated with the position. 

[Chris66 192]

Watching Allen try to play qb is brutal. Dont turn the ball over and force the Bills to go the entire field equals opponents win.

[PeterDude 211]

4 minutes ago, Chris66 said:

Watching Allen try to play qb is brutal.

 

Going to have to get used watching that + Mahomes highlights.  Makes it even more brutal...

[Seanbillsfan2206 1,650]

There was one drive in the second half where they went three and out after three terrible passes by Allen. We had the lead still at that point but at the time I was thinking that we were going to lose that game. Thank god the running game showed some life...

[26CornerBlitz 11,691]

20 hours ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

There is some concern because of how much development he needs in many critical areas that define long term QB success at the NFL level which is why the game plan was remedial.  

 

From another Allen thread:  The beat goes on. 

[Gugny 10,683]

6 minutes ago, Chris66 said:

Watching Allen try to play qb is brutal. Dont turn the ball over and force the Bills to go the entire field equals opponents win.

 

"Don't turn the ball over and force your opponent to go the entire field equals a win."

 

Isn't this true for any team?

[billsfan1959 2,932]

Just now, PeterDude said:

 

Going to have to get used watching that + Mahomes highlights.  Makes it even more brutal...

Maybe you could ask your parents to take the Mahomes posters down from your bedroom walls and limit your TV time, then you wouldn't have those constant reminders?

#responsibleparenting

[clayboy54 669]

16 minutes ago, PeterDude said:

 

Going to have to get used watching that + Mahomes highlights.  Makes it even more brutal...

Give it a rest, Petey.

[No Place To Hyde 2,209]

Ok, and we knew he would take time to learn back BEFORE he was drafted. Why do the expectations change? Right now he is as advertised. Since we drafted him we have:

 

Given him 3rd and 2nd team reps mostly in TC and preseason

 

Not upgraded anything on offense to support a very inexperienced rookie

 

Given him a QB coach in Culley that before last year hadn't coached QBs since the 80s.

 

Have him play behind a Castillo led oline.

 

Had we moved up for Darnold or taken Rosen instead I truly believe neither one would look any better in this offense. We Will have a much better feel for what we have in Allen about 8 games into next season. 

 

Let the kid get all the 1st team reps in the off season. Let him hold some private workouts with newly signed receivers and get timing and trust down. He may sink or he may swim, but calling him a failure this soon after knowing he would take time is just idiotic.

[1st&ten 272]

Well ok, what should we do ? Should the fans start a petition to run Josh out of Buffalo ?

[Doc 4,436]

1 minute ago, 1st&ten said:

Well ok, what should we do ? Should the fans start a petition to run Josh out of Buffalo ?

 

Definitely.  Not sure why we waited for 4 starts.

[DCOrange 1,095]

1 minute ago, No Place To Hyde said:

Ok, and we knew he would take time to learn back BEFORE he was drafted. Why do the expectations change? Right now he is as advertised. Since we drafted him we have:

 

Given him 3rd and 2nd team reps mostly in TC and preseason

 

Not upgraded anything on offense to support a very inexperienced rookie

 

Given him a QB coach in Culley that before last year hadn't coached QBs since the 80s.

 

Have him play behind a Castillo led oline.

 

Had we moved up for Darnold or taken Rosen instead I truly believe neither one would look any better in this offense. We Will have a much better feel for what we have in Allen about 8 games into next season. 

 

Let the kid get all the 1st team reps in the off season. Let him hold some private workouts with newly signed receivers and get timing and trust down. He may sink or he may swim, but calling him a failure this soon after knowing he would take time is just idiotic.

 

I do think it's okay for now, but for example, a guy like Rosen (who I did not and still do not like anywhere near as much as Allen) would not be displaying the footwork issues that Allen is.

 

The gamble with Allen is that with his work ethic and intelligence, he'd eventually iron out those issues and coupled with his physical tools, turn into an elite QB. To me, I'm down to make that gamble every time on a guy with those tools and personality.

 

But having said that, in terms of the development curve, he's most definitely behind the other rookies that are starting right now and might be behind Lamar too.

[JimS 24]

4 minutes ago, No Place To Hyde said:

Ok, and we knew he would take time to learn back BEFORE he was drafted. Why do the expectations change? Right now he is as advertised. Since we drafted him we have:

 

Given him 3rd and 2nd team reps mostly in TC and preseason

 

Not upgraded anything on offense to support a very inexperienced rookie

 

Given him a QB coach in Culley that before last year hadn't coached QBs since the 80s.

 

Have him play behind a Castillo led oline.

 

Had we moved up for Darnold or taken Rosen instead I truly believe neither one would look any better in this offense. We Will have a much better feel for what we have in Allen about 8 games into next season. 

 

Let the kid get all the 1st team reps in the off season. Let him hold some private workouts with newly signed receivers and get timing and trust down. He may sink or he may swim, but calling him a failure this soon after knowing he would take time is just idiotic.

Thank you.

[Bangarang 5,459]

I’m past the point of just blindly assuming our young QB is going to improve by leaps and bounds. Right now he does not look good. Maybe he gets better with more weapons around him. We can only hope.

[BillsFan17 392]

I truly enjoy the hyperbole that other QBs would look the same if not worse in our offense.

 

1) Baker Mayfield is playing on arguably the worst team in NFL history who have Landry and a bunch of young unproven talent.

 

2) Sam Darnold was traded up for, but the Jets still finished with the sixth overall pick. They are not a quality team and Sam is playing extremely well for them.

 

3) Josh Rosen is on a team many have felt were worse than the Bills, and yet is playing very good ball.

[Royale with Cheese 7,112]

I agree with this title.  He is struggling but I'm not panicking yet because I expected this.  He wasn't supposed to start.  The game looks too fast for him.

I just want to see baby steps as the season progresses.  

[No Place To Hyde 2,209]

4 minutes ago, DCOrange said:

 

I do think it's okay for now, but for example, a guy like Rosen (who I did not and still do not like anywhere near as much as Allen) would not be displaying the footwork issues that Allen is.

 

The gamble with Allen is that with his work ethic and intelligence, he'd eventually iron out those issues and coupled with his physical tools, turn into an elite QB. To me, I'm down to make that gamble every time on a guy with those tools and personality.

 

But having said that, in terms of the development curve, he's most definitely behind the other rookies that are starting right now and might be behind Lamar too.

No way. Not even a question. At least Allen is working on those things 100% in practice and in live games. Jackson is working on gimmick plays. 

 

I would agree hes behind Darnold...who had most of the off season working with the 1s. He is behind Rosen who has more around him to help out. And hey, hey was behind both coming in. No change there. 

 

One thing I do see,with Allen is he isn't making the same mistakes over and over. He spends a game doing something poorly and the following week it's been corrected. 

 

He's learning to throw the ball away. He is learning to hang longer in the pocket. Timing and trust will come,as well. If I was placing a $5,000 bet I would say we see a 250 yard game before another sub 90 yard game.

[DaBillsFanSince1973 3,827]

33 minutes ago, PeterDude said:

 

Going to have to get used watching that + Mahomes highlights.  Makes it even more brutal...

 

who's watching mahomes?

 

those drooling over him. like you?

 

 

 

 

[Clyde Smith 471]

He is not bad as everyone making him out to be. If our receivers can catch the ball then we’ll be singing a different tune about JA. All the blame is not on him, there is enough blame to go around.

[Success 1,687]

46 minutes ago, Chris66 said:

Watching Allen try to play qb is brutal. Dont turn the ball over and force the Bills to go the entire field equals opponents win.

He’s a rookie, and he’s tough and has shown poise.  It will take time.  I’m sure you’ll be here every step of the way, making sure we don’t get our hopes up too much.

 

But I’m excited.  I love what I’ve seen out of the guy so far.  The future is bright.

[ricojes 361]

56 minutes ago, Cash said:

Good article.  Allen is straight-up bad right now.  Will be interesting to see if he ends the season better than he is now.

No, Peteman was "straight-up" bad.  The Bills have no chance to win with Peterman at QB.  They have a chance with Allen even though he's learning as he goes.  Allen is a project, it's no surprise he is struggling to read defenses and make the right reads.  I know it's been 4 starts and he should know by now, but it's most likely going to take a little longer...

Edited October 9, 2018 by ricojes