Ted's Film Room: Josh Allen's Rookie Year in Review (TheAthletic article)

[Beast]

Whatever it is that he needs to work on I bet he did just that, in a big way, this past off-season.

 

Barring injury, the kid is going to make a big jump this year. And I don’t mean the kind like we saw in Minnesota.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Binghamton Beast

[CincyBillsFan]

3 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

He's never been a consistently accurate passer and I don't expect that to change. I'm not complaining though. He has to model himself after Mahomes. Mahomes didn't break records with accuracy. He consistently found the open receiver and got it in their vicinity, and his pure arm strength and athleticism did the rest. I don't think Allen's accuracy is as bad as people say, it's good enough for him to be a top QB if he masters everything else. But I don't expect him to hit passes like Brees or Mayfield. That isn't his game.

 

I remember watching a KC game in which Mahomes had a couple of throws that went for big yards to the TE Kelcy.  Both throws were a bit off with one being behind and the other down below the knees of Kelcy.  Yet the TE caught them both and rumbled for decent yards.  My first thought after each of the catches was:  Clay doesn't make either one. 

 

The job of an NFL QB is to get the ball close to their receivers.  Being a little off is not nearly as important as receivers who can't make tough catches.  In every Bills game I can remember receivers for the opposition making tough and at times spectacular catches against us.  I can't remember more then 1 or 2 such catches the ENTIRE season from our guys.  Fix this problem and the accuracy issue largely goes away. 

[CincyBillsFan]

3 hours ago, Buffalo Boy said:

The comparison is based on the fact that neither are “ accurate QBs”.

Cam has also been a guy who drives balls downfield using arm strength and bad mechanics. He was coached by N Turner to take the underneath stuff with McCaffrey.

JA is being coached to scan short to long this year( if reports are correct.)

 

I would add that McCaffrey's play is almost solely responsible for Cam raising his completion % so much.  He is an elite pass catching RB who not only makes great grabs but has a killer 1st move.  For probably the 1st time in his career Newton recognized that he had a play-maker catching the ball out of the backfield that could turn 5 yard gains into 15 yard gains. 

 

We really need McCoy or the rookie to step up and be that RB who is dangerous catching the ball AND picking up the blitz. 

[Buffalo Boy]

4 hours ago, CincyBillsFan said:

 

I would add that McCaffrey's play is almost solely responsible for Cam raising his completion % so much.  He is an elite pass catching RB who not only makes great grabs but has a killer 1st move.  For probably the 1st time in his career Newton recognized that he had a play-maker catching the ball out of the backfield that could turn 5 yard gains into 15 yard gains. 

 

We really need McCoy or the rookie to step up and be that RB who is dangerous catching the ball AND picking up the blitz. 

Coming out in the draft , he was rated as one of the best route runners!

I think Beasley is the key to that part of the game for the Bills. If Dabs, JA and Beasley get on the the same page as far as hot reads , protections and Touch passing JA could take a big leap forward.

I want to believe that Shady has something left but I feel like that is wishful thinking.

Edited July 21, 2019 by Buffalo Boy

[LSHMEAB]

7 hours ago, Logic said:

This. If Allen can sling it for 2,340 per game, I'll grudgingly concede that he's a franchise quarterback.

I don't know. I'd prefer to see 1500 YPG. Once you hit the 2000 yard threshold, it probably means we're trying to mount a comeback. Rather play with a lead.

[Rocket94]

Allen knows what he has to do. I hope he is reading this!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 hours ago, JaCrispy said:

I recall a throw that missed a wide open Zay Jones in the end zone against the Dolphins...at first I remember being upset that it was such an inaccurate pass...but after the game both players pointed out miscommunication as to whether Jones was supposed to hold up or keep running across the back of the end zone.

 

I believe that's the one Cover1 broke down

 

[JoPar_v2]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I believe that's the one Cover1 broke down

 

 

It is and I remember that throw as well. They were just on different pages on the option route. It happens ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

Some doom and gloom in those quotes from the article, but I’m optimistic. Personally I don’t care if Allen’s a career 58% passer or 65%. If he does what he’s built to do, i.e., a dagger-throwing downfield passer, he’ll generate points from the passing game and that’s all I want.

[John from Riverside]

Do we really need to play the you tube blooper of 5 minutes of dropped passes again?

[Chandler#81]

9 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

Do we really need to play the you tube blooper of 5 minutes of dropped passes again?

I’d say Yes, definitely, but as clearly witnessed on the news every day, once someone has made up their mind -pro or con- on a subject, there’s no going back. ?

[Jasovon]

22 hours ago, Logic said:

I don't know man. 37,500 yards in a season seems a bit lofty.

Hes got a big arm, he can do it

[GimmeSomeProcess]

On 7/20/2019 at 9:25 AM, Virgil said:

This really doesn't make me feel better about the accuracy issue.  To be dead last in these metrics and not much better even after the break is tough to read.  I get that short throws will help with that, but I always wonder just how much a QB can increase their overall accuracy.  I feel like you either have it or you don't.

 

 

He is never going to be accurate. Just let him be like a Mike Vick. Someone who will make DCs worry about defending the deep ball

and scrambling ability. If they do that, he will be fine. Cunningham and Vick were so dangerous cause of this .

[NewEra]

3 hours ago, GimmeSomeProcess said:

He is never going to be accurate. Just let him be like a Mike Vick. Someone who will make DCs worry about defending the deep ball

and scrambling ability. If they do that, he will be fine. Cunningham and Vick were so dangerous cause of this .

Sadly, I view this as the likely outcome.  That doesn’t mean he can’t win us a super bowl though 

[DCOrange]

On 7/20/2019 at 1:54 PM, HappyDays said:

 

Yeah, completion percentage doesn't measure accuracy. It measures your ability to complete a pass. That's it. It takes more than pinpoint accuracy to complete a pass. I don't know why so many people still conflate the two.

 

It’s pretty simple why. The only better metrics out there for measuring accuracy are stuck behind pay walls so people make do with the best they can. 

[JackKemp]

I don't ever expect that the whole Josh Allen is inaccurate mantra will end. He could complete 100% of his passes and he will still carry this label. 

[thunderingsquid]

On 7/17/2019 at 4:24 PM, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I want to focus in on this.

 

One of my concerns watching Allen pre-draft was that when he threw way off target, I couldn't tell why - couldn't see what the flaw in technique was.  Apparently Jordan Palmer feels he could diagnose/help.  And yet, at other times, Allen has laser accuracy including when he's throwing across his body off balance.

 

It needs to be pointed out that when Allen is not just slightly off, but way the heck off, it can be hard for the lay person to tell whether the problem is Allen making a WTF? throw, or the WR not running the route Allen expects (a misread of the D between QB and WR).  I believe that was the case in several of the plays compiled in the "inaccuracy" clip in that article.

 

 

 

 

This is a layperson's view but he also had no time to throw all season.  With a (hopefully) better O-line and better run game I think he will have more time to throw and therefore more time to pick his spots this year.  

 

His attitude is next to none and I love that about him.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, thunderingsquid said:

 

This is a layperson's view but he also had no time to throw all season.  With a (hopefully) better O-line and better run game I think he will have more time to throw and therefore more time to pick his spots this year.  

 

His attitude is next to none and I love that about him.  

 

With all respect, I think that's a little simplistic, though I too am a layperson.

 

A QB time to throw is a function of several things:

1) Schemed uncertainty in the defense.  Run play?  Pass play?  Just that little half-second hesitation on the part of the D can make a difference

2) Pre snap: the QB skill at diagnosing the D, setting proper protections, and checking out of a "guaranteed fail" of a play that won't work against what the D is showing

3) Post snap: the QB skill at confirming the D, ID'ing the part of the field where the mismatch is most likely to occur, and hitting it quickly

4) Where appropriate, protection holding up long enough to give a pass play time to develop

 

Last year, 1) was almost a complete fail.  We could not run out of a conventional personnel group with, say, 5 linemen, a TE who was also a pass catching threat, and a HB (also called 1 1 set).  If we were gonna try to run, we usually had 2, sometimes 3, TE (or a WR like Holmes, kept in close as a blocker).  1 WR and 1 HB.  We were screaming "they ain't gonna pass outta that!" to the opponent's D.

 

The best we can say about 2) and 3) is that they were a work in progress.  It did seem to get better sometimes as the season progressed.  I actually felt they gave Shady a bit of a role here, I thought I saw times when he would say something to Allen pre-snap, as sort of an on-field coach at times.

 

4) was a fail at times, but other times pass protection was also OK at times but Allen failed to diagnose the D thus failed to see the open guy.

 

Not to minimize the OL, which did indeed have its struggles!

 

 

 

[eball]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Not to minimize the OL, which did indeed have its struggles!

 

Understatement of the year.  To be sure, Allen needs to improve his pre- and post-snap reads, but let's remember he was essentially #3 on the depth chart until he was thrown into the fire.  After DA came in he showed progress over the last six weeks and we're all hoping that continues now that he is "the man" and will get all of the reps.

 

On one of the Embedded episodes released yesterday I was very pleased to see and hear the level of communication/coaching going on between Allen and Dorsey.  I believe the benefits of this are multi-faceted, as it should allow Daboll to focus on other aspects of the offense when it seemed like last year he had to be so personally involved with Josh.

[blacklabel]

I expect he'll take some strides this season now that they've given him a better OL and WR group. The inaccurate throws are probably gonna be just a part of who he is as a QB. I'm confident he'll improve in that area this season but I think it's something that's always gonna be there. And the Bills are fine with that,  Beane said as much. He knows there's a risk of a "WTF throw/play" but he's said they'll deal with that because they know he has the ability to make the big play almost anytime. Again, I think he'll get better but overall, I feel like he'll likely always be a guy that can make you say, "Holy crap that was...bad" one minute and, "Holy crap, how did he do that?" the next. I'll take it after years of seeing guys like Edwards and Taylor be too cautious mixed with the excitement/depression of Fitzmagic, who wasn't afraid to push it down the field but didn't always have the arm to do it, and then throw in scattershot EJ, a year of Kyle Orton and... yeah, I'll take the 6'5" monster who can leap over linebackers and chuck it half a mile.