By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The 2020 season is an all-important one for the Buffalo Bills, mainly because of their quarterback, Josh Allen. Entering his third season in the NFL, many observers of the league peg this years as the one where things should start to “click” for a QB.
Many in western New York can agree that Allen isn’t a bad quarterback, but he’s not among the best either. In order to get there, Allen has to show just a little bit more in his third pro season.
But what exactly are some of those things? Here are four areas Allen has to improve upon next season for the Bills:
Deep ball accuracy
Here’s the most clear-cut area. Entering the NFL, the Wyoming product was the big thrower with the big arm. But to this point in his pro career, he hasn’t exactly used it much. It’s not for a lack of power, that’s for sure. We’ve seen Allen nearly throw a football, quite literally, almost out of New Era Field.
So what gives? It’s that deep ball accuracy holding Allen back. There’s plenty of times throughout the 2019 season where Allen had a man deep, usually his then-No. 1 target in John Brown, but just simply missed him. Typically it’s Allen using too much of his arm strength and watching the ball sail over the head of his intended target. These misses are the most glaring times where the Bills offense leaves points on the field, keeping games closer than they need to be. Stefon Diggs should help some here, but Allen needs to take some responsibility into his own hands as well.
According to Pro Football Focus, Allen was on target on 31 percent of his throws that were 20-plus yards down the field. The league average is 43 percent. You’d like your QB to above average, and Allen has a long ways to go just to be in the middle of the pack.
Turnovers
In one sense, Allen did succeed in improving in one area of turnovers last season: Interceptions. In 12 games as a rookie, Allen had 12 interceptions and 10 touchdowns. Last season in 16 games played, Allen had nine picks to 20 scores in the air.
In both of his professional seasons, Allen showed a strong dual-threat ability to run to ball. In his 28 games played, Allen has 1,141 rushing yards and 17 rushing scores. He was even the team’s leading rusher as a rookie. But Allen’s problem fumbling the ball went from bad to worse in 2019. After dropping the ball eight times in 2018, last season saw Allen put it on the ground 14 times. That’s almost a once-per-game average that has to improve.
Maybe a silver lining will be Allen’s four quarter fumble against the Texans in the postseason. The Bills didn’t lose the ball on that play as tight end Dawson Knox knocked it out of bounds, but it wasn’t a great look so hopefully that feeling stuck with the QB over the summer and he’ll learn to hold the ball a little better, or take less hits.
Touch and timing
Touch and timing have a lot to do with the home run shot as well, but really all over the field Allen needs to find some better feel with his passes. As a pro, Allen’s never really showed an ability to throw his receivers open, whether it’s with a defender right in his guy’s face, or finding the weak spots in a zone defense. Those types of passes can be found all over the field. In college, it’s a bit easier to just find a wide receiver that’s just… wide open.
But touch came into play even right in Allen’s face.
There’s been plenty of times in Allen’s young career that he’ll check it down or just simply find the open man a few yards away. Instead of getting his target the easy pass, Allen puts too much zip on short passes sometimes, giving his receivers little chance to haul the ball in. Even if it’s not on third down, such plays make ensuing downs harder for the Bills offense.
Less hero ball
Allen admitted himself he needs to stop doing this. Stop playing “hero ball” on Sunday afternoon. In his second season, Allen varied wildly at times between big plays and instances in which nobody was quite sure what he was doing. When things broke down and Allen had to improvise, things usually went bad. On those kinds of plays, Allen posted a ghastly 21.5 quarterback rating (spiking the ball over and over would have given him a 39.6 rating), completing just six of 25 passes for 124 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.
In order to improve here, Allen even said himself he’s watching film… of other quarterbacks, not himself, this offseason. Names of guys he’s trying to replicate are Drew Brees, Rom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. Those are some of the best guys who take what the defense gives them.