By Kyle Silagyi / Billswire.usatoday.com
Nightmarish flashbacks of an inferior quarterback crept into the minds of Buffalo Bills fans in the third quarter of the team’s Week 3 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Sophomore signal-caller Josh Allen rolled to his right as a trio of Cincinnati pass rushers forced him further into the backfield. Rather than launch the ball into the third row, Allen chucked the ball into open space in the middle of the field.
Cornerback Darius Phillips punished the quarterback for his lapse in judgment, picking the ball off and taking it into the red zone.
The play was nearly disastrous for Buffalo, as it firmly put a then-struggling Bengals team back into the game. Cincinnati capitalized off the momentum shift and found the end zone after the pick, quickly scoring an additional 10 points after that.
The Bengals held a three-point lead with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
Allen ultimately redeemed himself, leading a 78-yard game-winning drive and stealing a game that the Bills were once fully in control of. He finished the game 28-of-36 passing for 243 yards and one score.
When talking to reporters after the game, Allen said that his interception was actually an attempt at a throwaway.
“It was one of those things where I was trying to do the right thing,” Allen said. “I was trying to throw the ball away, wasn’t trying to get an intentional grounding. Just one of those plays, last second, where I made a bad decision.”
Regardless of his intentions, the interception was still horrendous, a disheartening flashback to Allen’s rookie season.
It was an interception that Buffalo fans have seen numerous times throughout Allen’s young professional career, a “hero ball” play that rarely ever works. Allen consistently tried to pick up big chunks of yardage on broken plays throughout his rookie season, with those plays often ending in incompletions or interceptions.
His “hero ball” habit was one that many fans had thought he had rid himself of prior to his sophomore season. Following the Bills’ 21-17 win over the Bengals, Allen said that he’s already learned from his mistake.
“It was one of those things where I was trying to do the right thing,” Allen said. “I was trying to throw the ball away, wasn’t trying to get an intentional grounding. Just one of those plays, last second, where I made a bad decision.
“It’s something that’ll be fixed, it’ll be taken care of. I know it’s happened a couple of times, but it’s one of those things that has to be put through my head. It can’t happen. I’m moving on from it. I’ve learned from it, I can truly say that. It’s not going to happen again.”