Josh Allen - week ONE report card

[snafu]

A, even with the 2 fumbles and missing Knox and Brown wide open in the end zone. He carried us because we had no running game to speak of.

 

[Big Turk]

Without the 2 fumbles it would have been a pretty solid A, maybe even A+. Dude was dealing.

 

Those 2 fumbles were not ultimately costly but he needs to figure that out...teams are looking to try and rake that ball now that they know he has loose ball security...

 

B+ is a fair grade.

[GoBills808]

3 minutes ago, dubs said:

I think B+ is right. The two fumbles and the missed TD prevent an A. IMO a B is very good. I’d take that nearly every week. 

Yeah I think I’ll take 72% for 300 and 2/0 every week lmao

[KingBoots8]

I’d teeter between A- and B+.

 

statisticaly impressive game for sure, and he drove the offense well. The fumbles suck, of course, and so does the endzone overthrow. But let’s also consider this is week 1, no fans, no preseason, and a lot of different protocol. For all that craziness I’d roll A-. Middle of the season? B+. I think those circumstances impact the grade at least by some metric.

[r00tabaga]

A-   .......easy

 

one punt today??? That’s good.

[jester43]

you just never see any other "good" quarterback make some of the bonehead plays he makes.  it's astonishing really.  i want to believe in the guy, but holy cow...

[HardyBoy]

Come on people with wanting everything to be an A (don't you make fun of us millenials for stuff like that?). In the nfl a B+ is a really good grade, and to me this is a B+ (arguably his best grade yet)...an A in the nfl is like 450 yards, 4 tds and maybe a pick. 

 

That or better was actually on the table today and he left some plays on the field. Think about it this way.

 

When Josh Allen left plays on the field the second half of last year, he'd end up with 235 yards and two total tds. If now he can leave plays on the field and still break 300 yards, help the team keep that amount of time of possession and get three tds while the team scores over 25 points and controlling the game the entire game...that is monumental progress.

 

Also, this is how Daboll wanted to play last year, and after the first Pats game had to adjust to fewer throws, because Allen couldn't handle that amount of responsibility yet (he was a second year starter from a small school, not knocking him). If Allen is able to handle that passing volume this year, and control that time of possession...watch out!

[shoshin]

42 minutes ago, jester43 said:

you just never see any other "good" quarterback make some of the bonehead plays he makes.  it's astonishing really.  i want to believe in the guy, but holy cow...

 

Brett Favre begs to differ. At this point, Favre is the best comparison to the way Allen plays. It's not perfect but I am enjoying it. 

 

I watched a lot of the Chargers game. You know who didn't turn it over? Tyrod. Zzzzzzz

[billsfan1959]

Solid A

[YattaOkasan]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Agree totally with this. The audible on the Brown TD was real clear evidence of his growth.

So this is what moves him from B+ to an A- for me. If he can keep flashing in the mental aspect of the position he’s gonna be super special. And that was an untouched TD from 18 out so we got into the perfect play. 

[ganesh]

5 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

I say A-

 

All the rushing yards and 3 total TDs while setting a career record for passing yards and attempts are all great...

 

Missing a couple easy TDs is a minus, but it happens. The fumbles are really the major issue to me. 

which one was easy?

 

The TD miss to Brown was thrown running towards his unnatural side.  He was brilliant with some of the throws to Diggs and Brown.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Can't fumble and can't miss a wide open Brown for a TD to be elite.  Today he was a top 10 QB.  Clean up those three plays and he was top two or three

[Nelius]

B+ is a solid score, I agree. I think it's alright to dock him for the two fumbles, an A+ requires total perfection.

 

But man I am so excited, Allen is an absolute beast. He may be a true MVP contender. We're quibbling over B's or A's while our 1st round franchise QB goes off for 300 yards and multiple scores and yet another W. We've come so far. I may be a little off with his first year stats but I think he's 17-12 as a starter now, and I know for sure he's 11-6 in the regular season since last year. He's one of the best in the AFC already, let's go.

[Norcalbillsfan]

8 hours ago, whatdrought said:

I know it's been talked about ad nauseam, but I don't think it can be understated just how much the presence of an elite #1 truly improves our offense as a whole, and Allen specifically. 

When diggs comes down with the ball after taking a hit is something allen hasn't had yet. They don't look like much if they aren't touchdowns, but those sustain drives and gives allen juice. 

[808]

4 hours ago, shoshin said:

 

Brett Favre begs to differ. At this point, Favre is the best comparison to the way Allen plays. It's not perfect but I am enjoying it. 

 

I watched a lot of the Chargers game. You know who didn't turn it over? Tyrod. Zzzzzzz

 I thought josh had one of his best games today but comparing him to a qb from 20years ago even if he is a hof guy isnt ideal. If you put brett in the league today. Im not sure he gets it done. Probably looks like jameis stats wise. 
different eras 

[Norcalbillsfan]

I do love all the gifs and memes all over social media of josh missing the td throw, so everyone thinks allen is trash. But if they watched the game (which no one watched the bills/jets game other than true fans) they would have seen no other qbs absolutely man handled the defense today like allen rodgers Wilson and Jackson did. That's good qb company to be in.

[Nelius]

This offense carved them up today. Josh was in total control. Of course he needs to correct the errors, but there was no question of who was the better QB. And that's a division rival.  For all of the hate I definitely remember many thinking the Jets were a savvy playoff pick a few months ago, but now they're just the Jets since Adams left, or something. I'll take Josh Allen in a wild shootout with any team, turnovers included.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Nelius

[Chandler#81]

7 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

4 plays that took points off the board. About as bad as you can get. Can't have those plays. 

This town ain’t big enough for Scott Law and you. You lose. Go away.

7 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

A reason I wanted an explosive back next to Singletary. Moss isn't that. 

Atta boy, King Scott!😉👍

[Nelius]

12 minutes ago, Norcalbillsfan said:

I do love all the gifs and memes all over social media of josh missing the td throw, so everyone thinks allen is trash. But if they watched the game (which no one watched the bills/jets game other than true fans) they would have seen no other qbs absolutely man handled the defense today like allen rodgers Wilson and Jackson did. That's good qb company to be in.

 

Baker laid an egg. Darnold laid an egg, again. Rosen is practically out of the league. Rejoice Bills fans.

[BillsToast]

A+ requires an almost perfect game of 80%+ completions, 2-3 TDs, no turn-overs, 350+ yards and simply dominant performance

A requires an almost perfect game of 70-75% completion rate, 2-3 TDs, no turn-overs, 250-350 yards and simply dominant with 1 turnover

 

Otherwise Allen has already reached the perfect game. I don't think he did. I think he turned in a legendary performance that deserves our praise. 

 

He's gets a B+ and he just looks DIFFERENT and ready to play this year. 

[GreggTX]

C+

 

No excuses for a few ugly misses and he continues to hold the ball when he takes off as if ball security was an afterthought. I don't blame him so much for the dropped ball when he was upside-down, but the 1st one was an obvious inattention to detail. He does this far too often and part of the blame has to go to the coaches. There's no excuse for not wrapping the ball up when he runs. None at all. Getting stripped on a sack is another matter, but neither of those fumbles can be excused.

[NickelCity]

4 minutes ago, GreggTX said:

C+

 

No excuses for a few ugly misses and he continues to hold the ball when he takes off as if ball security was an afterthought. I don't blame him so much for the dropped ball when he was upside-down, but the 1st one was an obvious inattention to detail. He does this far too often and part of the blame has to go to the coaches. There's no excuse for not wrapping the ball up when he runs. None at all. Getting stripped on a sack is another matter, but neither of those fumbles can be excused.

 

That's a bit harsh.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

10 hours ago, KD in CA said:

“Way too many” being 3?

 

So the number of acceptable bad plays is zero?

You would like those types of plays to be less than 1 on average per game. 4 bad plays that take points away doesn't happen very often. We're talking 2 wide open TD'S, no one near the pass catcher and 2 fumbles in scoring territory.

 

A running back gets benched for those fumbles, Singletary definitely would've been benched.

[Warcodered]

2 hours ago, Nelius said:

 

Baker laid an egg. Darnold laid an egg, again. Rosen is practically out of the league. Rejoice Bills fans.

Rosen:

[shoshin]

2 hours ago, Nelius said:

This offense carved them up today. Josh was in total control. Of course he needs to correct the errors, but there was no question of who was the better QB. And that's a division rival.  For all of the hate I definitely remember many thinking the Jets were a savvy playoff pick a few months ago, but now they're just the Jets since Adams left, or something. I'll take Josh Allen in a wild shootout with any team, turnovers included.

Agree that Allen looked great. The Jets are one of the dumpster fire teams this season. No one credible thought they’d be good. 

[FieldGeneral]

2 hours ago, GreggTX said:

C+

 

No excuses for a few ugly misses and he continues to hold the ball when he takes off as if ball security was an afterthought. I don't blame him so much for the dropped ball when he was upside-down, but the 1st one was an obvious inattention to detail. He does this far too often and part of the blame has to go to the coaches. There's no excuse for not wrapping the ball up when he runs. None at all. Getting stripped on a sack is another matter, but neither of those fumbles can be excused.

 

This drives me insane when he runs the ball. As a rookie, OK, I can let it go, but this is year 3. No excuses anymore, tuck it away or slide. Virtually every one of his fumbles is him almost on the ground and it gets poked out because he's holding it nonchalantly. There's also that panic mode errant throw when nobody is near him where he can't believe that a guy is that open and he launches it too hard or with no touch resulting in an incompletion. 

 

All in all considering the opponent, he played great, but those small mistakes will kill us against teams like KC, Pitt, SF, and Tennessee. 

[machine gun kelly]

B+ was fair given the fumbles.  72% completion is exactly what people complained about meaning 59% last year.  He has to tuck that ball moving forward, not have the ball extended in his hand.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Here's my question? How would you rate Jameis Winston as a Tampa QB? All the yards and points right? But those turnovers. I'm weird where I actually rate QB fumbles as worse than INTs. Ball security for QB is crucial.

 

I guess in terms of Bills QB play it was a B or A performance but that was not a consistently good game by Josh Allen. Higher standards need to be met.

 

Without the fumbles it's a B and the Bills likely put 30+ up in the 1st half. The missed TD throws make it an A. He did fumble twice going in for points and he did miss the throws. So I gave him a C. Plenty of room for improvement.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Buffalo_Stampede

[FeelingOnYouboty]

I say B. Cut out the fumbles for the love of God. That annoys me more than the Brown and Knox misses.

[eball]

15 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

C. Way too many bad plays.

 

Did you ever watch Jim Kelly play QB?

[KRT88]

15 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Just for future reference what qualifies as an A?

No turnovers, that would seem logical and also getting that 3rd TD pass time the WIDE OPEN WR at the back of the endzone

 

just random thoughts 

[Matt_In_NH]

15 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Just for future reference what qualifies as an A?

 

I think you have to ding him for the fumbles......maybe the overthrow in the end zone......we cannot expect perfection but turnovers can cost games against a better opponent.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

16 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Did you ever watch Jim Kelly play QB?

Yeah. What does that have to do with anything? That was 30 years ago.

 

 I don't see how he gets an A with those major mistakes. C is perfect. It was a good game minus the mistakes.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Buffalo_Stampede

[teef]

if you give allen anything below a B for that game, you're letting previous bias get in you way.  it certainly wasn't a perfect game, but the entire body of work was easily B or above.

[eball]

17 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Yeah. What does that have to do with anything? That was 30 years ago.

 

 I don't see how he gets an A with those major mistakes. C is perfect. It was a good game minus the mistakes.

 

It has to do with the fact that all QBs -- even the very good ones -- typically make 3-4 plays a game they'd like to have back.  As @teef mentioned above, if you are grading Josh below a 'B' for this game you're letting unreasonable expectations or a bias enter into your thinking.

[GunnerBill]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

 

It has to do with the fact that all QBs -- even the very good ones -- typically make 3-4 plays a game they'd like to have back.  As @teef mentioned above, if you are grading Josh below a 'B' for this game you're letting unreasonable expectations or a bias enter into your thinking.

 

Yea - the Brown miss is a play the top QBs might only miss 5 times in a 100... but the other throws people have crabbed - one to Beasley, one to Knox, one to Singletary which were either a narrow miss or balls that more precision might man a touchdown rather than just a completion.... every single Quarterback in the NFL had one or two of those throws this weekend. Every single one. Even Mahomes. If you are just grading Josh's passing he was at worst an A- for yesterday. That is probably what I'd have given him and if he hits Brown it is a clear A. I think bumping him down for the two fumbles which resulted in turnovers is fair, but as a passer only it was a pretty clean game.

 

And I am on record as saying his passing development matters to me much more at this point. So while I do bump his grade for yesterday down to a B+ rather than A- my feeling about where he is headed on the back of that game is 100% positive. Now he needs to stack really good weeks, one after the other. That is what the best guys do. He normally likes playing against Miami so fingers crossed.

[Victory Formation]

I’d give him a B+.. very good day overall for Allen.. but i think he can and will do better than this! I expect a couple 400yd games out of him this season.. I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface as far as what Allen can do.. he would’ve had well over 300yds had the game been more competitive.. we pounded the ball at the end to kill the clock.. I think Allen easily goes over 4,000 yards passing this year and I expect 30+ TDS..

 

One caveat about this Bills team though is that we are extremely young.. I do think raw talent wise we’re a top 5 or 6 team in this league but we need lots of seasoning and experience... we still have a young squad.. the foundation, the nuclei is there but we lack experience....and that’s a problem.. I suspect that we win the division and maybe a playoff game but I think we’re a year removed from Super Bowl contention...

[GunnerBill]

2 minutes ago, Victory Formation said:

I’d give him a B+.. very good day overall for Allen.. but i think he can and will do better than this! I expect a couple 400yd games out of him this season.. I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface as far as what Allen can do.. he would’ve had well over 300yds had the game been more competitive.. we pounded the ball at the end to kill the clock.. I think Allen easily goes over 4,000 yards passing this year and I expect 30+ TDS..

 

One caveat about this Bills team though is that we are extremely young.. I do think raw talent wise we’re a top 5 or 6 team in this league but we need lots of seasoning and experience... we still have a young squad.. the foundation, the nuclei is there but we lack experience....and that’s a problem.. I suspect that we win the division and maybe a playoff game but I think we’re a year removed from Super Bowl contention...

 

I doubt the Bills have many games where they need their QB to throw for 400 yards. Those game usually come in shootouts and I struggle to see this team being in many. That said more injuries on the defensive side and that could change.

[hemma]

We saw the new floor.

Could be quite a year.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

19 minutes ago, eball said:

 

It has to do with the fact that all QBs -- even the very good ones -- typically make 3-4 plays a game they'd like to have back.  As @teef mentioned above, if you are grading Josh below a 'B' for this game you're letting unreasonable expectations or a bias enter into your thinking.

I expect him to not have 2 lost fumbles while running the football.