One of the best throws in NFL history

[Pete]

On 12/7/2025 at 9:00 PM, Einstein said:

… occurred during this game. And I just want to make sure that it doesn’t go by the wayside.

 

The difficulty of this throw is hard to quantify. It shouldn’t even be possible. The defenders this ball had to go past… the accuracy… the evasiveness… and to hit Shakir right dead set in the numbers.  Incredible.

 

 

To set up that amazing throw, Josh had to extend the play twice!

[PoundingDog]

1 hour ago, BullBuchanan said:

He's a LINEBACKER covering Khalil Shakir in man. Of course his back is going to be to the ball. It often is when Milano plays too and once upon a time he was regarded as an elite coverage linebacker.

Uh-uh, notice that Shakir has been looking back at Allen for a few seconds before the throw. A good covering linebacker should turn his head which would potentially intercept the throw. In fact I think Terrel Bernard did this to Stroud last year.

 

Now in no way I dismiss Allen is great in recognizing the situation and throw the ball. I saw this many time Mahomes did similar things throwing to Kelce in the past when we marveled the chemistry between them --- fact is, at their heyday, Kelce would look back the first time and the ball would be there no matter how close the defender would be to him, almost un-defendable.

 

When watched live, I thought Allen threw a prayer and got answered. The replay showed clearly it was a lot more than a prayer. An interesting question is if it were not 4th down, would Allen still throw that ball? My answer is more than likely not. The better option is actually #14 behind Shakir but that requires a higher degree of throw to get over the guys around Shakir, but not too high for #14 and Allen really had no time to set up for that throw. 

 

Just the amount of processing going thru a QB's head and instinctively knowing exactly when to throw before the defenders crashing down to him, you can safely say very very few guys has what Allen has.

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by PoundingDog

[TheBrownBear]

I thought it was just a prayer, but the more I watch this the more it becomes clear that Josh perfectly executed the only real play he had in that moment. Essentially perfect defense from the Bengals too. Just astounding.