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"How lessons from Josh Allen’s rookie year propelled him to stardom in 2020"


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Felt deserving of its own thread.  Like many I hated the pick when we got him, but quickly saw what he could be. And as someone who watched and scrutinized EVERY snap of Allen’s (and Mayfield's and Rosen's and Darnold's and Jackson's and Wentz's and Watson's and Goff's) rookie year, I really got sick of all the arguments over Allen being inaccurate when decision making is what was (and still is, at times) his problem.

 

His accuracy has improved, but he was accurate even as a rookie.

 

Anyway, enjoy...

 

https://theathletic.com/2204066/2020/11/19/josh-allen-buffalo-bills?source=user-shared-article

When Derek Anderson got to Buffalo in October 2018, the Bills’ quarterback room was in disarray.

...

 

Before long, though, Allen didn’t make Anderson feel old at all. It was the opposite. Watching the way Allen loved everything about being in the building was contagious.

 

“He gave me new life,” Anderson said. “He energized me and made me love the game more.”

...

Yet so much of what Allen has shown in 2020 was there in flashes in 2018. And so much of what happened in 2018 helped make him the quarterback he is in 2020.

...

 

But those who were there saw the hints of greatness in Allen. Only four other offensive players from the 2018 Bills are left on the 2020 team. Anderson, who retired after the 2018 season because of a concussion he suffered that year, watches every game closely. Anderson’s son loves to cheer for his friend Josh, so the Bills games are on every Sunday in the Anderson house. And because of how quickly Anderson developed a friendship with Allen and Matt Barkley, who joined the quarterback room a few weeks after Anderson, he still FaceTimes them after games and chats with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll on a weekly basis. He’s seen Allen’s breakout year through the perspective of someone who saw his struggles in 2018.

 

“He’s done a great job of knowing when a play is over, getting the ball down to guys underneath and not really having the feeling that he’s got to be the guy that always makes the play,” Anderson said. “I think that’s kind of been the biggest thing I’ve seen over the past couple of years is taking the easy completions, taking the shots when they’re there and protecting the football.”

...

Isaiah McKenzie, another midseason pickup in 2018, is the only receiver left on the roster from Allen’s rookie season. As Beane has aggressively added talent to that position group, McKenzie has found a way to survive and get a front row seat to Allen’s development. After Allen’s 400-yard, four-touchdown game against the Seahawks, McKenzie said Allen looks like a completely different quarterback than the one he saw when he arrived in Buffalo.

 

“The mistakes he made in 2018 and 2019, you don’t see those anymore,” McKenzie said. “He’s a whole new person. It’s the same Josh, but it’s just like his decision making is way better. He’s doing things with the ball that I haven’t see a lot of quarterbacks do.”

...

What Anderson tried to instill in Allen was work habits. It’s not that Allen wasn’t a willing worker early in his career but he didn’t necessarily know how to work. Preparing for games in the Mountain West is different than being an NFL quarterback. Talent can’t carry you as far in the NFL as it can in college.

 

By the time he got to Buffalo, Anderson had established a preparation routine that worked for him. He always made sure he was among the first players in the building and he was always at least one day ahead on the plays and concepts the team would be working on during practice. He would get to the building first, work out and have watched at least 45 minutes of film before his teammates arrived. At that point in his career, Anderson had a feel for what it meant to be a successful mentor. He took notes on what worked during Newton’s rookie season in Carolina. He wasted no time relaying those to Allen, because he saw the same special potential if Allen got the right guidance.

...

The toughness and leadership presented themselves early. Teammates still talk about when he hurdled over Anthony Barr in the Bills’ upset win over Minnesota early in his rookie season. McKenzie points to the road game against the Dolphins in which Allen totaled four touchdowns in a narrow loss as the first hint that he could be Buffalo’s guy.

...

 

Expecting improvement is one thing, but Allen’s rise has been meteoric. In his first two NFL seasons, Allen didn’t throw for 300 yards in a game once. He’s done it five times this season. His completion percentage has jumped 15.6 percentage points from his rookie season.

 

Even his advanced metrics like DVOA, QBR and PFF grade have all taken substantial jumps. He’s improved throwing the ball to all three levels of the field. Anderson remembers when Allen couldn’t hit the easy screen throws in 2018. This season, Allen has 13 touchdowns on passes thrown within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

 

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To respond to your introduction, Josh very clearly was inaccurate early,

 

While like most rookies he had problems in many areas, certainly including decision-making, his early accuracy was consistently inconsistent. He wouldn't argue, nor would his QB coaches. In fact, Josh and his coaches have often said that they addressed his mechanics, which then helped make him more consistently. And that work, and the improvement in his accuracy, continue to this day.

 

They still talk about connecting his lower and upper body, about shortening his stride, about stepping in the right direction and otherwise working on his footwork. The reason they're working on those things is because it improves his accuracy and the consistency of his accuracy. He certainly didn't need to improve his arm strength.

 

And the results have been very easily observable.

 

He really was not accurate as a rookie. Or rather, he was extremely accurate on some passes and then wildly inaccurate on others, and what that amounts to is inaccuracy with the possibility of improvement.

 

I was on record before the draft as saying that I thought he had a good chance to be successful, but that I agreed with the experts that he would take a lot of develoment, but that with work on his mechanics he might be a good pick. (Full disclosure: he sure wasn't my #1, he was my #4 but I did think he was worth a top ten pick, though I thought all four of them were). But he needed a lot of work on mechanics and accuracy. And there were a few guys who had gotten more accurate after college, including Brady and Rodgers, but others also. There were even two guys who had improve their completion percentages by 10% or more after bad college stats. (Favre, for one, and there was one other guy, dang it, but I forget.) And yeah, completion percentage is NOT equivalent to accuracy, but it  certainly can be an indicator.

 

 It was a huge argument at the time. (I believe you were on the other side, arguing that he was wildly inaccurate and that accuracy couldn't be improved, though I don't remember for sure on that. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.) He's followed right along the path of improvement that he seemed to need, but has done far more than was needed, at every step, improving accuracy, decision-making, knowledge of defenses, touch, and a million other little things, really.

 

Anyway, good article. Thanks for posting it.

 

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1 hour ago, Thurman#1 said:

To respond to your introduction, Josh very clearly was inaccurate early,

 

While like most rookies he had problems in many areas, certainly including decision-making, his early accuracy was consistently inconsistent. He wouldn't argue, nor would his QB coaches. In fact, Josh and his coaches have often said that they addressed his mechanics, which then helped make him more consistently. And that work, and the improvement in his accuracy, continue to this day.

 

They still talk about connecting his lower and upper body, about shortening his stride, about stepping in the right direction and otherwise working on his footwork. The reason they're working on those things is because it improves his accuracy and the consistency of his accuracy. He certainly didn't need to improve his arm strength.

 

And the results have been very easily observable.

 

He really was not accurate as a rookie. Or rather, he was extremely accurate on some passes and then wildly inaccurate on others, and what that amounts to is inaccuracy with the possibility of improvement.

 

I was on record before the draft as saying that I thought he had a good chance to be successful, but that I agreed with the experts that he would take a lot of develoment, but that with work on his mechanics he might be a good pick. (Full disclosure: he sure wasn't my #1, he was my #4 but I did think he was worth a top ten pick, though I thought all four of them were). But he needed a lot of work on mechanics and accuracy. And there were a few guys who had gotten much more accurate after college (Favre, for one, and there was one other guy, dang it, but I forget. It was a huge argument at the time. I believe you were on the other side, arguing that he was wildly inaccurate and that accuracy couldn't be improved, though I don't remember for sure on that. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.) He's followed right along the path of improvement that he seemed to need, but has done far more than was needed, at every step, improving accuracy, decision-making, knowledge of defenses, touch, and a million other little things, really.

 

Anyway, good article. Thanks for posting it.

 

I disagree with you. When people said he was inacurate they meant far more inacurate than other QB's, even other rookies. They point to his low completion percentage as proof. But his completion percentage as not low due to him missing his target.

 

That's just not the case at all. Allen did have some mechanics issues (as tons of QB's do coming into the NFL) and he did miss throws sometimes (as all QB's do) but he was not less accurate than other young QB's in the NFL. He was often very accurate on throws. His misses due to mechanics and actually missing his target happened, but were rare. He missed more due to bad decision making, throwing into coverage, being under pressure, not being on the same page with his receivers, and receivers dropping passes, and refusing to take check downs and other easy completions.

 

Allen has never been an inacurate passer, or at least he has never been more inacurate than most young QB's. He has often shown the physical ability to put the ball right where it needs to be. He just needed to get more experience and learn the mental aspects of the game to catch up, and yes, fix a few mechanics (which is common in young QB's).

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1 hour ago, Thurman#1 said:

To respond to your introduction, Josh very clearly was inaccurate early,

 

While like most rookies he had problems in many areas, certainly including decision-making, his early accuracy was consistently inconsistent. He wouldn't argue, nor would his QB coaches. In fact, Josh and his coaches have often said that they addressed his mechanics, which then helped make him more consistently. And that work, and the improvement in his accuracy, continue to this day.

 

They still talk about connecting his lower and upper body, about shortening his stride, about stepping in the right direction and otherwise working on his footwork. The reason they're working on those things is because it improves his accuracy and the consistency of his accuracy. He certainly didn't need to improve his arm strength.

 

And the results have been very easily observable.

 

He really was not accurate as a rookie. Or rather, he was extremely accurate on some passes and then wildly inaccurate on others, and what that amounts to is inaccuracy with the possibility of improvement.

 

I was on record before the draft as saying that I thought he had a good chance to be successful, but that I agreed with the experts that he would take a lot of develoment, but that with work on his mechanics he might be a good pick. (Full disclosure: he sure wasn't my #1, he was my #4 but I did think he was worth a top ten pick, though I thought all four of them were). But he needed a lot of work on mechanics and accuracy. And there were a few guys who had gotten much more accurate after college (Favre, for one, and there was one other guy, dang it, but I forget. It was a huge argument at the time. I believe you were on the other side, arguing that he was wildly inaccurate and that accuracy couldn't be improved, though I don't remember for sure on that. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.) He's followed right along the path of improvement that he seemed to need, but has done far more than was needed, at every step, improving accuracy, decision-making, knowledge of defenses, touch, and a million other little things, really.

 

Anyway, good article. Thanks for posting it.

 

 

I'm with you on the fact that JOSH ALLEN WAS INACCURATE when he entered the NFL. He was. Inaccurate doesn't mean a QB cannot throw the ball accurately. Clearly, he's always been able to throw the ball impressively at times. Inaccurate means he doesn't place the ball precisely, consistently. It's about making all the throws, most of the time. He did NOT do that early on.

 

(Remember VERY early this season, when Diggs was laughably double or I think triple-covered--I think this was against the Jets in week one--to the left side of the field, near the red zone, and as Josh rolled out to his left, Diggs jumped up and down pointing past himself to Kroft or whomever the hell was WIDE open in the endzone, and Allen badly missed him, sailing the ball WAY over the receiver's head? That ***** used to happen more often.)

 

I've noticed that he's been most effective this season when he just flicks the ball. Less rotation, less traditional delivery, just elbow-to-wrist Aaron Rodgers flick. I really pay attention to his first-drive mechanics. When he's relaxed, Josh Allen doesn't need mechanics. He can flick short and intermediate dimes all over the field. He's best when he keeps the fastball in his back pocket. And you can tell if he's geeked up early because he tends to overthrow. 

 

I haven't seen this red flag more than two or three times this season. KC for sure. 2nd Jets a bit. Patriots a little. 

 

Bottom line: he has dramatically improved his accuracy through a variety of measures (including improved/simplified mechanics and better decision-making).

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2 hours ago, MJS said:

I disagree with you. When people said he was inacurate they meant far more inacurate than other QB's, even other rookies. They point to his low completion percentage as proof. But his completion percentage as not low due to him missing his target.

 

That's just not the case at all. Allen did have some mechanics issues (as tons of QB's do coming into the NFL) and he did miss throws sometimes (as all QB's do) but he was not less accurate than other young QB's in the NFL. He was often very accurate on throws. His misses due to mechanics and actually missing his target happened, but were rare. He missed more due to bad decision making, throwing into coverage, being under pressure, not being on the same page with his receivers, and receivers dropping passes, and refusing to take check downs and other easy completions.

 

Allen has never been an inacurate passer, or at least he has never been more inacurate than most young QB's. He has often shown the physical ability to put the ball right where it needs to be. He just needed to get more experience and learn the mental aspects of the game to catch up, and yes, fix a few mechanics (which is common in young QB's).

 

 

There aren't reasonable grounds to say that Allen was accurate coming out of college, or early in Buffalo. He wasn't. He had plenty of times when he made the right read, made the right decision, and airmailed the ball or threw far in front or far behind the reciever. He did this at a much higher rate than pretty much any successful pro QB did. He had to improve his accuracy a lot. 

 

And  he did.

 

You're correct that completion percentage does not directly and exactly equal accuracy. People who think use completion percentage and only completion percentage as their only argument on accuracy are missing the point. But Josh had problems in terms of inconsistent accuracy in every way. Brilliant throw, brilliant throw, awful throw, brilliant throw, caught but only because the reciever had to stop his route, nice throw, bad throw. That was Josh. Accurate only inconsistently. 

 

If you doubt this, go back and find anyone around draft time who called Allen consistently accurate. Anyone. You won't. And it isn't because they were all only using completion percentage. It was because he simply was NOT consistently accurate. He had accuracy problems, nearly all of it due to mechanical issues that pretty much everyone was aware of. That's a lot of the reason he was thought of as a developmental guy. Even the guys who liked Allen a lot (Kiper and Mayock, for instance) knew he had a lot of work to do on his accuracy.

 

 

 

Yeah, they said he was inaccurate and yeah they meant far more inaccurate than other QBs, even other rookies. The reason they said this and meant this is simple ... he really was more inaccurate than other rookies. You say "he missed due to mechanics." Um, yes, precisely. And that is called inaccuracy. You say he threw into coverage. Yeah, sometimes he did, as do most rookies. But that is NOT called inaccuracy. It was a problem, but not an accuracy problem.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

I'm with you on the fact that JOSH ALLEN WAS INACCURATE when he entered the NFL. He was. Inaccurate doesn't mean a QB cannot throw the ball accurately. Clearly, he's always been able to throw the ball impressively at times. Inaccurate means he doesn't place the ball precisely, consistently. It's about making all the throws, most of the time. He did NOT do that early on.

 

(Remember VERY early this season, when Diggs was laughably double or I think triple-covered--I think this was against the Jets in week one--to the left side of the field, near the red zone, and as Josh rolled out to his left, Diggs jumped up and down pointing past himself to Kroft or whomever the hell was WIDE open in the endzone, and Allen badly missed him, sailing the ball WAY over the receiver's head? That ***** used to happen more often.)

 

I've noticed that he's been most effective this season when he just flicks the ball. Less rotation, less traditional delivery, just elbow-to-wrist Aaron Rodgers flick. I really pay attention to his first-drive mechanics. When he's relaxed, Josh Allen doesn't need mechanics. He can flick short and intermediate dimes all over the field. He's best when he keeps the fastball in his back pocket. And you can tell if he's geeked up early because he tends to overthrow. 

 

I haven't seen this red flag more than two or three times this season. KC for sure. 2nd Jets a bit. Patriots a little. 

 

Bottom line: he has dramatically improved his accuracy through a variety of measures (including improved/simplified mechanics and better decision-making).

 

 

Exactly. You're precisely on target when you say that "inaccurate doesn't mean a QB cannot throw the ball inaccurately." Allen always had the capability, that was obvious. He just didn't do it as consistently as the others in his draft class or really as consistently as most QBs on a track towards NFL success do late in their college career.

 

Interesting about the flicking. I'll look for it. I wonder if it's really a different thing he does sometimes or whether better mechanics just makes it all look easier.

 

And yeah, he has dramatically improved, and it's wonderful to see. IMO his decision-making hasn't affected his accuracy. But better decision-making is indeed another step he needed to make and yeah, he has stepped up there too, by a lot.

 

Myself, I'm thankful for those accuracy issues. If he'd been consistently accurate in college, he'd be in Cleveland right now throwing to Beckham Jr.

 

Remember this offseason when Jordan Palmer said his accuracy on long balls could be improved and that a lot of it was a mindset of "sticking a pin in the map." In other words, not throwing hard and powerfully, instead putting more of an arc on it and thinking less of the reciever and more of throwing it to a spot where the receiver could go and get it. And early this season he was throwing dimes on the long balls. He's regressed a bit since the first four games in that aspect, IMO, but he's still a ton better than he was last year on his distance accuracy.

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14 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

To respond to your introduction, Josh very clearly was inaccurate early,

 

While like most rookies he had problems in many areas, certainly including decision-making, his early accuracy was consistently inconsistent. He wouldn't argue, nor would his QB coaches. In fact, Josh and his coaches have often said that they addressed his mechanics, which then helped make him more consistently. And that work, and the improvement in his accuracy, continue to this day.

 

They still talk about connecting his lower and upper body, about shortening his stride, about stepping in the right direction and otherwise working on his footwork. The reason they're working on those things is because it improves his accuracy and the consistency of his accuracy. He certainly didn't need to improve his arm strength.

 

And the results have been very easily observable.

 

He really was not accurate as a rookie. Or rather, he was extremely accurate on some passes and then wildly inaccurate on others, and what that amounts to is inaccuracy with the possibility of improvement.

 

 

As someone who watched every single rookie pass from Allen multiple times and then also watched every single rookie pass by Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz and Jared Goff, I can tell you that Josh Allen’s accuracy was just fine if you're comparing him to his peer group of other 1st round QBs starting in the NFL in their 1st year.

 

The narrative that he has more to fix in the area of accuracy than other highly touted rookie NFL QBs after their rookie season was incorrect.

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11 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

Interesting about the flicking. I'll look for it. I wonder if it's really a different thing he does sometimes or whether better mechanics just makes it all look easier.

 

Yeah, watch for it.   He's not doing as much now as earlier in the season, when those 15-18 yard deep crossers were open all day.  He has such arm strength and such good mechanics throwing the ball that he doesn't need to get his body into throws nearly as much as most other QBs.  So it is literally like throwing darts for him - just a flick and the ball flies on a line.  He's very accurate on those throws. 

 

I think as soon as Allen - or any QB, really, needs to put his body into the throw to get the necessary velocity, he's introducing more variables in the throw, which means it's easier to be off a little here or there, mechanically.  Throwing darts is elbow and wrist.  Throwing footballs at max distance is legs, hips, torso, shoulders, elbow and wrist.  Unlike almost any other QB, Allen can throw 15-yard sideline passes with his elbow and wrist.  

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Thanks for posting the article. It's a good one.

 

Allen's 'inaccuracy' has been linked to his 'mechanics'. Iirc, Beane addressed this some time ago, in that when he watched the tape, he saw an accurate QB, whenever his feet were right. Working on his footwork, is a large part of his improvement, year on year.

 

Allen is a 'natural' thrower and with his size and long levers, it's where a lot of his arm strength comes from. I'd say he has known for a long time just how strong his arm is, but what he's also just learning, is that for someone of his arm strength, the amount of velocity/mustard/heat he puts on a football, is just as critical.

 

One of the most important aspects in all of this, is that Beane et al, decided that Allen's 'flaws' were fixable, and that the man himself had the requisite desire and smarts, to do so.

 

While I still believe that they were very naive in not having a vet option in place, ultimately, it is to the coaches and Allen's credit to the way he has developed. With the beauty being there is still more to come.

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1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

Yeah, watch for it.   He's not doing as much now as earlier in the season, when those 15-18 yard deep crossers were open all day.  He has such arm strength and such good mechanics throwing the ball that he doesn't need to get his body into throws nearly as much as most other QBs.  So it is literally like throwing darts for him - just a flick and the ball flies on a line.  He's very accurate on those throws. 

 

I think as soon as Allen - or any QB, really, needs to put his body into the throw to get the necessary velocity, he's introducing more variables in the throw, which means it's easier to be off a little here or there, mechanically.  Throwing darts is elbow and wrist.  Throwing footballs at max distance is legs, hips, torso, shoulders, elbow and wrist.  Unlike almost any other QB, Allen can throw 15-yard sideline passes with his elbow and wrist.  

Great observation Shaw,  the slightly side armed dart throws are very accurate IMO. The throwing style is somewhat unique and most evident in the two strongest arms in the NFL IMO. (Mahomes and Allen)

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33 minutes ago, Buddo said:

Thanks for posting the article. It's a good one.

 

Allen's 'inaccuracy' has been linked to his 'mechanics'. Iirc, Beane addressed this some time ago, in that when he watched the tape, he saw an accurate QB, whenever his feet were right. Working on his footwork, is a large part of his improvement, year on year.

 

Allen is a 'natural' thrower and with his size and long levers, it's where a lot of his arm strength comes from. I'd say he has known for a long time just how strong his arm is, but what he's also just learning, is that for someone of his arm strength, the amount of velocity/mustard/heat he puts on a football, is just as critical.

 

One of the most important aspects in all of this, is that Beane et al, decided that Allen's 'flaws' were fixable, and that the man himself had the requisite desire and smarts, to do so.

 

While I still believe that they were very naive in not having a vet option in place, ultimately, it is to the coaches and Allen's credit to the way he has developed. With the beauty being there is still more to come.

Bud -

This is really description of why he was "inaccurate" (by whatever standard).  All the scouts knew about his arm.  The question was exactly what you say - could he learn to dial it up and down, in all different ways.  Just as you say.

 

And just as you say, it was Beane, among all the GMs ahead of him at #12, who figured out that Allen had it in him to do that learning.  

 

Thanks. 

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13 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Exactly. You're precisely on target when you say that "inaccurate doesn't mean a QB cannot throw the ball inaccurately." Allen always had the capability, that was obvious. He just didn't do it as consistently as the others in his draft class or really as consistently as most QBs on a track towards NFL success do late in their college career.

 

Interesting about the flicking. I'll look for it. I wonder if it's really a different thing he does sometimes or whether better mechanics just makes it all look easier.

 

And yeah, he has dramatically improved, and it's wonderful to see. IMO his decision-making hasn't affected his accuracy. But better decision-making is indeed another step he needed to make and yeah, he has stepped up there too, by a lot.

 

Myself, I'm thankful for those accuracy issues. If he'd been consistently accurate in college, he'd be in Cleveland right now throwing to Beckham Jr.

 

Remember this offseason when Jordan Palmer said his accuracy on long balls could be improved and that a lot of it was a mindset of "sticking a pin in the map." In other words, not throwing hard and powerfully, instead putting more of an arc on it and thinking less of the reciever and more of throwing it to a spot where the receiver could go and get it. And early this season he was throwing dimes on the long balls. He's regressed a bit since the first four games in that aspect, IMO, but he's still a ton better than he was last year on his distance accuracy.

Thurm - I want to add something that makes sense in the way Buddo was just talking about it. 

 

I agree that Allen wasn't consistently accurate early on.  There were multiple throws that left you scratching your head, wondering why he threw it like THAT!   He needed to get consistently accurate.  The problem was not that he had mechanical flaws that had to be corrected; the problem was that he more or less didn't have any habits.  That is, he had to learn to just dial it back a bit.  

 

What Beane and McDermott and their organization figured out is that Allen was kind of a wild mustang that hadn't been tamed yet. They didn't have to break a bunch of bad habits.  They just had to teach some habits, period.   They saw that Allen really wanted to be tamed, so they didn't see the risk. 

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2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Yeah, watch for it.   He's not doing as much now as earlier in the season, when those 15-18 yard deep crossers were open all day.  He has such arm strength and such good mechanics throwing the ball that he doesn't need to get his body into throws nearly as much as most other QBs.  So it is literally like throwing darts for him - just a flick and the ball flies on a line.  He's very accurate on those throws. 

 

I think as soon as Allen - or any QB, really, needs to put his body into the throw to get the necessary velocity, he's introducing more variables in the throw, which means it's easier to be off a little here or there, mechanically.  Throwing darts is elbow and wrist.  Throwing footballs at max distance is legs, hips, torso, shoulders, elbow and wrist.  Unlike almost any other QB, Allen can throw 15-yard sideline passes with his elbow and wrist.  

 

I’ve been talking with my son about the difference in his motion this year. I don’t know when I first noticed it, but the word “flick” is the perfect description. I’ve become a big fan of the “flick”!  I had not found the exact word, but that is it! 

 

The dart analogy is a very good one, the less motion you have the less opportunity there is for something to go wrong. I was in a Thursday night darts league in college going all over Cincinnati and northern Kentucky to different bars every week. Friday morning classes became somewhat rare, I’m afraid.  What ya’ gonna do? 🤷‍♂️ 

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14 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

There aren't reasonable grounds to say that Allen was accurate coming out of college, or early in Buffalo. He wasn't. He had plenty of times when he made the right read, made the right decision, and airmailed the ball or threw far in front or far behind the reciever. He did this at a much higher rate than pretty much any successful pro QB did. He had to improve his accuracy a lot. 

 

 


Compared with his peer group, which would be highly drafted rookie QBs starting in year 1, Allen’s accuracy was just fine.

 

Comparing rookie Allen with Tom Brady or Drew Brees is silly.

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21 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Exactly. You're precisely on target when you say that "inaccurate doesn't mean a QB cannot throw the ball inaccurately." Allen always had the capability, that was obvious. He just didn't do it as consistently as the others in his draft class or really as consistently as most QBs on a track towards NFL success do late in their college career.

 

 

As stated already, this simply isn't true.

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On 11/21/2020 at 6:56 AM, JMF2006 said:

Nice perspective coming from his mentor.

 

Everyone always pokes fun at McD for wanting a veteran mentor in every position group but it does pay off if you get the right guy.

This is another good example of veteran leadership at work.

On 11/21/2020 at 1:24 PM, Shaw66 said:

Thurm - I want to add something that makes sense in the way Buddo was just talking about it. 

 

I agree that Allen wasn't consistently accurate early on.  There were multiple throws that left you scratching your head, wondering why he threw it like THAT!   He needed to get consistently accurate.  The problem was not that he had mechanical flaws that had to be corrected; the problem was that he more or less didn't have any habits.  That is, he had to learn to just dial it back a bit.  

 

What Beane and McDermott and their organization figured out is that Allen was kind of a wild mustang that hadn't been tamed yet. They didn't have to break a bunch of bad habits.  They just had to teach some habits, period.   They saw that Allen really wanted to be tamed, so they didn't see the risk. 

Interesting thoughts. Thanks for sharing.

Edited by BillsFan619
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10 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Thurm - I want to add something that makes sense in the way Buddo was just talking about it. 

 

I agree that Allen wasn't consistently accurate early on.  There were multiple throws that left you scratching your head, wondering why he threw it like THAT!   He needed to get consistently accurate.  The problem was not that he had mechanical flaws that had to be corrected; the problem was that he more or less didn't have any habits.  That is, he had to learn to just dial it back a bit.  

 

What Beane and McDermott and their organization figured out is that Allen was kind of a wild mustang that hadn't been tamed yet. They didn't have to break a bunch of bad habits.  They just had to teach some habits, period.   They saw that Allen really wanted to be tamed, so they didn't see the risk. 

 

Broncos missed a QB and a mascot.

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4 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

As stated already, this simply isn't true.

 

 

You did state it. Unfortunately, that doesn't affect the fact that you didn't prove anything there but that when you look at film you came up with an opinion that is very very different from nearly everyone else in pretty much the NFL world.

 

You went back and looked at old film from a lot of guys. You then gave us your opinion on what happened. And that's what it was, your opinion. Which is fine. You've proven what your opinion was by going and looking at film. 

 

At the time you were doing a ton of these studies. I did a few too, particularly to combat your opinion that Tyrod was "nearly elite." In my studies I went back and looked at every Tyrod pass. And I then posted a brief five or six word summary of each play so that anyone could check my opinions and find out if I was being unreasonable by going back with my work and finding any examples of plays where my opinions were unreasonable.

 

Nobody ever posted a single example of something they found unreasonable. You kept on doing the same studies, and even though I again and again challenged you to do the same, to tell us what you thought of each play so we could find out how reasonable your opinions were by comparing individual plays, you never ever did any of this.

 

That was a year or two before you did this Allen comparison, and you still didn't do a bit of it. So nobody can check you.

 

What you've done there is prove that your opinion is that Allen wasn't more inaccurate than other QBs. And I can't speak for anyone else, but I already knew that  was your opinion. I didn't need more proof of that.

Edited by Thurman#1
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12 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Thurm - I want to add something that makes sense in the way Buddo was just talking about it. 

 

I agree that Allen wasn't consistently accurate early on.  There were multiple throws that left you scratching your head, wondering why he threw it like THAT!   He needed to get consistently accurate.  The problem was not that he had mechanical flaws that had to be corrected; the problem was that he more or less didn't have any habits.  That is, he had to learn to just dial it back a bit.  

 

What Beane and McDermott and their organization figured out is that Allen was kind of a wild mustang that hadn't been tamed yet. They didn't have to break a bunch of bad habits.  They just had to teach some habits, period.   They saw that Allen really wanted to be tamed, so they didn't see the risk. 

 

 

Shaw, it would be reasonable to think that "the problem was not that he had mechanical flaws that had to be corrected," if it weren't for the fact that we have dozens of interviews from Jordan Palmer and from Allen himself talking about the bad mechanical habits he had that they were working on correcting, specifically over-striding, stepping in the wrong direction, not rotating his hips into the throw, etc., and that it would help his accuracy.

 

Was some of the work they've done with Allen that they needed to tame him, calm him down? Absolutely. Without question. But was taming him anything to do with his accuracy? I don't think so at all. The taming part was much more towards getting him to take checkdowns when it made sense, to go with the design of the play rather than hanging on to the ball in hopes something would come open later down the field, and so on. And those changes have definitely made Allen a better QB. He's improved in so many areas it's incredible. Startling and wonderful.

 

But he also had a lot of bad mechanical habits he'd fallen into that they have largely corrected that directly affected his accuracy.

Edited by Thurman#1
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