By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
Within the confines of Western New York, there’s a lot of debate about rookie quarterback Josh Allen on Monday.
Did the QB leave the final potential game-winning pass to Charles Clay too short? Or should Clay have caught it? Regardless, the game went down in the books as a 21-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
In South Florida, there isn’t much debate going on, though.
Following their win over the Bills (4-8), the Dolphins (6-6) sure were happy. Their slim playoff chances were kept alive. But many of them sounded a bit worried, too.
Allen threw for 231 yards on 18-for-33 passing. He had two touchdowns and two picks, but one was on a questionable Hail Mary play call at the end of the half. On the ground Allen had nine carries for 135 yards.
The third thing Allen did on Sunday was impress the heck out of the Dolphins.
Here’s what the Dolphins’ locker room said about Allen following Week 13:
Miami head coach Adam Gase
“He’s a big guy that can run and obviously (if) somebody shakes free down the field he, can throw it a long way. So, he causes a lot of problem in that area. You’ve got to stay in your coverage when he starts scrambling around. That’s why it’s hard for guys to just take off and start chasing him because they know if they leave their guy and he sees them, it’s going to be a touchdown.
“I think it was what I would expect. I think last week he played well. He’s only going to get better. He’s going to be a tough guy to go against for a long time.”
Dolphins DE Cameron Wake
“[Chasing around Allen] means obviously your front is getting after him, there’s pressure, your guys are winning. So, getting back there was easy but that wasn’t necessarily the issue, it’s once you get back there you have to go from pass rusher to linebacker and you have to corral somebody who’s trying not necessarily to throw the ball but run and get yardage.
“There’s more of them blocking than there are of us rushing so there’s going to be a lane somewhere. The guy’s going to find it and he got out there a couple of times. Pick your poison, you want him throwing it, or you want him running it? You can look at it either way. But it was exciting to say the least, I’ll say that.”
Dolphins S Reshad Jones
“[Allen’s got] a little Ben Roethlisberger [to him]. He has a similar game, a big guy. He can run. Probably one of the strongest arms in the NFL. I think that guy is going to be good.”
Dolphins DE Robert Quinn
“Yeah, my lungs hurt [after chasing Allen around]. What do you all call those? Dashers? Like I said, he’s deceivingly fast and elusive. It was a headache, but we made the plays when we needed to.”
Dolphins RB Kenyan Drake
“I mean, Josh Allen, I feel like he’s going to be a good little quarterback in this division for a long time. He’s not sneaky athletic. He’s just athletic. He makes plays with his feet. I feel like the next time we play him in a couple weeks, they’ll make adjustments for us; we’ll make adjustments for them.”
Dolphins CB Bobby McCain
“We knew he could run. We didn’t know it was going to be that excessive. He can really run, man. He’s got something over there.”