Every Allen Pass Play in Review

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Pass #1: 1st and 10

 

The man route (Jones, Beasely, Sweeny). Allen with a clean pocket, delivers to Beasely on the stick route for 5. The ball was a little behind, but catchable. Good read as he was wide open, solid execution. A better ball may give Beasely a little more room for YAC.

 

Pass #2: 2nd and 5

 

4 man "flood right" concept. It was well covered. Both TE's (Sweeny/Smith) over the middle plus Roberts on the out were not available. Cant see but either Jones or Foster was glued onto by a Panthers defender on the 'go'. Ball again slightly off the mark to an unbalanced McCoy, with the drop. Not a bad decision given the available options. 

 

Pass #3: 3rd and 5

 

Empty Set with McCoy out wide to the trips. They rushed 4 and sat in zone but Allen is gifted another clean pocket. Beasely again for 8 yards over the middle on a likely choice route. McCoy open at the sticks as well. Great throw and catch with the ball on the money. Allen is taking what they are giving him at this point. And that aint a bad thing.

 

Pass #4: 2nd and 10

 

Empty set again with this time McCoy in the slot. Dumps the ball off to McCoy after he chips the DE. He also had Sweeney on the out on the other side of the field if he wanted it. This play was nothing fancy, but it was one of my favorite of the game. Allen took what was there on 2nd and long, giving your play-makers the chance to get into a reasonable 3rd down situation.

 

Pass #5: 1st and 10

 

21 Personel after the 1st down run. I love this play. Sweeney runs the flat corner route 20 yards down field. Allen reads the corner, and as soon as he bails deep. Allen delivers a dime perfectly to Sweeney, all while taking a hit in a dirty pocket. A fantastic pass, only where Sweeney could get it. Ford got around the edge here. I think you'll see him at Guard.

 

Pass #6: 1st and 10

 

11 Personel, with Foster/Beasely/Sweeney as your trips. On the broadcast view, you can't see the routes develop, which makes me think that this was going to be a shot down the field to the trips. Unfortunately, again, Ford is beat around the wheel and Allen is forced to scramble to the single receiver side. Not a total loss as far as evaluation is concerned, because it is refreshing to see Allen just dump the ball at Singletary's feet instead of trying to force something here. 

 

Pass #7: 2nd and 10

 

Same Personel with Beasely in motion across the formation, coming back for a jailbreak screen for 10 yards. Loved the blocks here by Roberts, Dawkins turning up the field and Spain looking inside out. Shoutout to Feliciano, who snapped the ball and hussled down field 10 yards to dive for a cut block to no avail. Great effort though. Allen puts the ball on the money on time. Wait, DID THE BILLS JUST RUN A SUCCESSFUL SCREEN PASS?!?!?

 

Pass #8: 1st and 10 

 

Play action from 11 personel ans McCoy stays in to block. This was a super interesting play call to me. They ran a counter protection, as if they had previously set up the pass with the running game. They pulled Long across the formation towards the play action side, but it was a weak fake and fooled no one. I wonder why Dabol did this. Either way, the pocket collapsed with Long unable to corral his man across the formation and McCoy's man stepping up when Allen scrambles.He wanted Roberts on the single receiver side, but there either wasn't time due to the collapse or it wasn't there. 

 

Pass #9: 2nd and 11

 

Empty yet again and yes, you guessed it. Beasley for 6 with a nice little shake route over the middle. Allen had this picked out pre-snap, helping out by delivering the pump fake.Pretty good pocket, with some traffic by Josh's feet (Long getting driven back). He stands tall and delivers a strike.

 

Pass #10: 3rd and 5

 

They really like this 11 personel. It gives them so many options. This was Allen's worst play IMO. Here you see Allen look immediately at the snap to Beasely/Sweeney combo on one side of the field. After two hitches, he continues to look that was with nothing working. I would have liked to see Allen move through his progression a little quicker here. I'm being critical here, because that is what preseason is for. Had he kept going, he would have seen Roberts for the 5 yard pig-tail out standing by himself at the first down marker. To be fair, he may have seen this had Quentin Spain not have been thrown like a rag doll leading to an Allen scramble for a 1 yard gain. That was a fantastic opening drive, but great teams finish, and we stalled out in the RZ. 

 

SECOND DRIVE 

 

Pass # 11: 1st and 10

 

Empty once more, with McCoy to the far boundary which is where Allen goes quickly with the football after a hitch and glance inside. The corner was 10 yards off at the snap. The ball was on the money but there wasn't much there, gaining only 2 yards with no chance at YAC. He could have had Beasely here again if he wanted. Spain again struggling to move his feet in Pass-pro here, allowing his man to swipe right and get into Allen's face. Dawkins, too, needed a stronger power step, allowing penetration inside towards Allen's vision and throwing motion. 

 

Pass #12: 2nd and 18

 

Did someone say empty? Fantastic pocket gives Allen three hitches with no traffic near by. He stands tall, looking to Zay on the 10 yard bang route, which he probably could have squeezed in, but ultimately coming back to...you guessed it...Beasely on his money-maker move. A perfect throw give Beasely some room to fall forward. From 2nd and 18 to 3rd and 4 is a play I'll take 11 out of 10 times. This team is not used to being able to bail themselves out of a hole dug by penalties, it's nice to see them able to do this. 

 

Pass #13: 3rd and 4

 

Tre tight out of 11 personel with the trips to the boundary. The Panthers show blitz here and end up rushing 4. Ford again allowing his player to run the wheel, getting just enough of him to keep Allen clean.m This is a good thing too, because you get to see an absolute DIME! This is the throw we've been wanting to see. Down the middle on a rope on the money. Allen had Beasely and Jones right by the sticks too but had the confidence to deliver a strike for a large gain on 3rd down. A wow throw...just hang onto the ball, Tommy Boy!

 

 

And that is it. 13 pass plays.... 9-11 for 102 yards through the air (one sack, one 1 yard rush - well, essentially a sack IMO). I've been a big Josh critic from the get-go, but I have to say, this game has me feeling real good about what I saw last night and even better after re-watching this morning. I'm wondering where the long shots are, as we haven't seen them take any tries far down the field. But Allen is taking what is there, hitting open receivers and keeping drives alive that lead to 10 points in less than a quarter. 

 

How can you not feel good about this?!

 

 

[K-9]

Yeoman’s work. Well done.

[Kelly the Dog]

Great post. Thanks for that. Impossible not to like what Josh looked like 

[YoloinOhio]

The touch on that 25 yard seam to Sweeney

Edited August 17, 2019 by YoloinOhio

[RochesterLifer]

1 hour ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Pass #1: 1st and 10

 

The man route (Jones, Beasely, Sweeny). Allen with a clean pocket, delivers to Beasely on the stick route for 5. The ball was a little behind, but catchable. Good read as he was wide open, solid execution. A better ball may give Beasely a little more room for YAC.

 

Pass #2: 2nd and 5

 

4 man "flood right" concept. It was well covered. Both TE's (Sweeny/Smith) over the middle plus Roberts on the out were not available. Cant see but either Jones or Foster was glued onto by a Panthers defender on the 'go'. Ball again slightly off the mark to an unbalanced McCoy, with the drop. Not a bad decision given the available options. 

 

Pass #3: 3rd and 5

 

Empty Set with McCoy out wide to the trips. They rushed 4 and sat in zone but Allen is gifted another clean pocket. Beasely again for 8 yards over the middle on a likely choice route. McCoy open at the sticks as well. Great throw and catch with the ball on the money. Allen is taking what they are giving him at this point. And that aint a bad thing.

 

Pass #4: 2nd and 10

 

Empty set again with this time McCoy in the slot. Dumps the ball off to McCoy after he chips the DE. He also had Sweeney on the out on the other side of the field if he wanted it. This play was nothing fancy, but it was one of my favorite of the game. Allen took what was there on 2nd and long, giving your play-makers the chance to get into a reasonable 3rd down situation.

 

Pass #5: 1st and 10

 

21 Personel after the 1st down run. I love this play. Sweeney runs the flat corner route 20 yards down field. Allen reads the corner, and as soon as he bails deep. Allen delivers a dime perfectly to Sweeney, all while taking a hit in a dirty pocket. A fantastic pass, only where Sweeney could get it. Ford got around the edge here. I think you'll see him at Guard.

 

Pass #6: 1st and 10

 

11 Personel, with Foster/Beasely/Sweeney as your trips. On the broadcast view, you can't see the routes develop, which makes me think that this was going to be a shot down the field to the trips. Unfortunately, again, Ford is beat around the wheel and Allen is forced to scramble to the single receiver side. Not a total loss as far as evaluation is concerned, because it is refreshing to see Allen just dump the ball at Singletary's feet instead of trying to force something here. 

 

Pass #7: 2nd and 10

 

Same Personel with Beasely in motion across the formation, coming back for a jailbreak screen for 10 yards. Loved the blocks here by Roberts, Dawkins turning up the field and Spain looking inside out. Shoutout to Feliciano, who snapped the ball and hussled down field 10 yards to dive for a cut block to no avail. Great effort though. Allen puts the ball on the money on time. Wait, DID THE BILLS JUST RUN A SUCCESSFUL SCREEN PASS?!?!?

 

Pass #8: 1st and 10 

 

Play action from 11 personel ans McCoy stays in to block. This was a super interesting play call to me. They ran a counter protection, as if they had previously set up the pass with the running game. They pulled Long across the formation towards the play action side, but it was a weak fake and fooled no one. I wonder why Dabol did this. Either way, the pocket collapsed with Long unable to corral his man across the formation and McCoy's man stepping up when Allen scrambles.He wanted Roberts on the single receiver side, but there either wasn't time due to the collapse or it wasn't there. 

 

Pass #9: 2nd and 11

 

Empty yet again and yes, you guessed it. Beasley for 6 with a nice little shake route over the middle. Allen had this picked out pre-snap, helping out by delivering the pump fake.Pretty good pocket, with some traffic by Josh's feet (Long getting driven back). He stands tall and delivers a strike.

 

Pass #10: 3rd and 5

 

They really like this 11 personel. It gives them so many options. This was Allen's worst play IMO. Here you see Allen look immediately at the snap to Beasely/Sweeney combo on one side of the field. After two hitches, he continues to look that was with nothing working. I would have liked to see Allen move through his progression a little quicker here. I'm being critical here, because that is what preseason is for. Had he kept going, he would have seen Roberts for the 5 yard pig-tail out standing by himself at the first down marker. To be fair, he may have seen this had Quentin Spain not have been thrown like a rag doll leading to an Allen scramble for a 1 yard gain. That was a fantastic opening drive, but great teams finish, and we stalled out in the RZ. 

 

SECOND DRIVE 

 

Pass # 11: 1st and 10

 

Empty once more, with McCoy to the far boundary which is where Allen goes quickly with the football after a hitch and glance inside. The corner was 10 yards off at the snap. The ball was on the money but there wasn't much there, gaining only 2 yards with no chance at YAC. He could have had Beasely here again if he wanted. Spain again struggling to move his feet in Pass-pro here, allowing his man to swipe right and get into Allen's face. Dawkins, too, needed a stronger power step, allowing penetration inside towards Allen's vision and throwing motion. 

 

Pass #12: 2nd and 18

 

Did someone say empty? Fantastic pocket gives Allen three hitches with no traffic near by. He stands tall, looking to Zay on the 10 yard bang route, which he probably could have squeezed in, but ultimately coming back to...you guessed it...Beasely on his money-maker move. A perfect throw give Beasely some room to fall forward. From 2nd and 18 to 3rd and 4 is a play I'll take 11 out of 10 times. This team is not used to being able to bail themselves out of a hole dug by penalties, it's nice to see them able to do this. 

 

Pass #13: 3rd and 4

 

Tre tight out of 11 personel with the trips to the boundary. The Panthers show blitz here and end up rushing 4. Ford again allowing his player to run the wheel, getting just enough of him to keep Allen clean.m This is a good thing too, because you get to see an absolute DIME! This is the throw we've been wanting to see. Down the middle on a rope on the money. Allen had Beasely and Jones right by the sticks too but had the confidence to deliver a strike for a large gain on 3rd down. A wow throw...just hang onto the ball, Tommy Boy!

 

 

And that is it. 13 pass plays.... 9-11 for 102 yards through the air (one sack, one 1 yard rush - well, essentially a sack IMO). I've been a big Josh critic from the get-go, but I have to say, this game has me feeling real good about what I saw last night and even better after re-watching this morning. I'm wondering where the long shots are, as we haven't seen them take any tries far down the field. But Allen is taking what is there, hitting open receivers and keeping drives alive that lead to 10 points in less than a quarter. 

 

How can you not feel good about this?!

 

 

I'm smarter for having read this. Thank you for putting it together!

[Trogdor]

His first two were bad, but he was lights out on the rest. I think the anticipation is better and that gives Beasley a real good chance at YAC all season. I'm very critical of Allen, but he looked very good yesterday. Even if it is vanilla defense, the new WRs and Sweeney show some serious promise with separation and speed over a very good LB corps. If the Bills can only partially improve their red zone offense this will be a completely different team. 

[JoPoy88]

Excellent work - Ball #2 was not “slightly” off though. Catchable yes. Ball was at McCoy’s shins. Bad throw. He still could’ve caught it, sure. For maybe a 2 yard gain. All in all however Allen looked great. 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Thanks ya’ll. It’s fun to finally break down some film and see multiple receivers open! 

[fergie's ire]

Pass #5 is the one that makes me feel really good about Allen.  I've seen him consistently locate the ball perfectly when he throws it on a line.  However, I did not see him loft the ball like this very much.  I noticed it when we played the Jets the second time.  I remember Barkley making a throw almost identical to that pass and thinking "Oh...that's what Josh doesn't do."  If he can make that throw consistently, I think he could be really special.

 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 hour ago, JoPoy88 said:

Excellent work - Ball #2 was not “slightly” off though. Catchable yes. Ball was at McCoy’s shins. Bad throw. He still could’ve caught it, sure. For maybe a 2 yard gain. All in all however Allen looked great. 

Second this. Now maybe he expected shady to break sooner but that was in the dirt.

 

the rest of his passes were straight up dirty.

 

Sweeney is looking like he may become an excellent tight end. Great hands, separation, well executed seam route 

 

Beasley... I’m think 80 targets  this year easy. Guy is uncoverable.

 

loved seeing josh get it out quick on empty backfield set. 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2019 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[Just Joshin']

Nice work, thanks for the analysis.

[EmotionallyUnstable]

9 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Second this. Now maybe he expected shady to break sooner but that was in the dirt.

 

the rest of his passes were straight up dirty.

 

Sweeney is looking like he may become an excellent tight end. Great hands, separation, well executed seam route 

 

Beasley... I’m think 80 targets  this year easy. Guy is uncoverable.

 

loved seeing josh get it out quick on empty backfield set. 

 

 

 

Sweeney is packing Croom’s bags for him 

[VW82]

2 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Pass #6: 1st and 10

 

11 Personel, with Foster/Beasely/Sweeney as your trips. On the broadcast view, you can't see the routes develop, which makes me think that this was going to be a shot down the field to the trips. Unfortunately, again, Ford is beat around the wheel and Allen is forced to scramble to the single receiver side. Not a total loss as far as evaluation is concerned, because it is refreshing to see Allen just dump the ball at Singletary's feet instead of trying to force something here. 

 

 

Overall I thought Allen was good though I don't get the assumption he wasn't trying to make a play here. Singletary had a half step on the defender with no one in front but the sideline and he was beyond the LOS. All of Allen's misses today were low (first two passes to Beasley, McCoy in the flat). This one was no different. It was a hard throw to make on the run even though the distance was short. The ball went through Singletary's hands (down by his shins). I think he just missed him.   

[Nextmanup]

As I've said elsewhere, that game was as good as I've ever seen Allen play.

 

I'll watch the replay on DVR for a second viewing some time today/tonight, with your breakdowns at the ready!

 

 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

2 minutes ago, VW82 said:

 

Overall I thought Allen was good though I don't get the assumption he wasn't trying to make a play here. Singletary had a half step on the defender with no one in front but the sideline and he was beyond the LOS. All of Allen's misses today were low (first two passes to Beasley, McCoy in the flat). This one was no different. It was a hard throw to make on the run even though the distance was short. The ball went through Singletary's hands (down by his shins). I think he just missed him.   

 

It's totally possible. Regardless of his intention, my take away was that he was not chucking it up for grabs as if playing 500 in a neighbors backyard. Whether he intended to try and make a play, or purposefully tossed it to his feet, it was good to see him be responsible with the ball. 

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

How can you not feel good about this?!

 

Thanks for the awesome write-up.  I feel great about it!!!!  Just waiting for a couple/few guys to come in and tell us why we shouldn't.  And I'll ignore the crap out of 'em.

 

He looked really, really good last night.

[ganesh]

18 minutes ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

 

Sweeney is packing Croom’s bags for him 

Croom stays on the roster until Tyler comes back.  The TE depth is too thin to cut Croom now

[White Linen]

2 hours ago, JoPoy88 said:

Excellent work - Ball #2 was not “slightly” off though. Catchable yes. Ball was at McCoy’s shins. Bad throw. He still could’ve caught it, sure. For maybe a 2 yard gain. All in all however Allen looked great. 

 

I believe it was intentionally thrown as an incompletion.  

[CSBill]

27 minutes ago, VW82 said:

 

Overall I thought Allen was good though I don't get the assumption he wasn't trying to make a play here. Singletary had a half step on the defender with no one in front but the sideline and he was beyond the LOS. All of Allen's misses today were low (first two passes to Beasley, McCoy in the flat). This one was no different. It was a hard throw to make on the run even though the distance was short. The ball went through Singletary's hands (down by his shins). I think he just missed him.   

 

Pretty sure he was just throwing it where no one would catch it, if Singletary somehow comes up with, yahoo!. But really just a throw away

[K-9]

I enjoyed the BN article this morning where we learned that Allen insisted on taking the ball rather than deferring if we won the opening coin toss. Said he wanted to establish the offense early and get into a rhythm. Great sign of maturity there and I’m glad the coaches indulged his request. He seemed much calmer and more in command to start the game vs. last week when he was over amped. Sure looked like it, anyway.