NFL
Josh Allen Cites 2 Changes He Needs to Make That Could Push the Buffalo Bills Over the Top
Mike Thomas spent 23 years on staff and 16 years as the sports editor at The Herald News in Fall River, Mass., before joining Sportscasting in 2020. Mike has a deep knowledge of and passion for the NFL and NBA, and he excels at interviewing sports celebrities to find out their Super Bowl picks. A New England Newspaper and Press Association award-winning columnist and an avid sports memorabilia collector, Mike enjoys keeping up with all the sports news and the works of former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly. You can find more of Mike's work on Muck Rack.
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Josh Allen is already scary good. The 6-foot-5 quarterback is heading into his fifth NFL season and has made the Buffalo Bills relevant again. Now, it’s time to get them back into the Super Bowl.
Allen is like no other quarterback in the league. He’s got a rifle for an arm, and he also has no problem running over defenders. He recently pinpointed two changes he needs to make to his game. If he can make them happen, the Bills just might be the team to beat.
Josh Allen will be the best QB in the game with two adjustments
Some might say Allen is already the top quarterback in the NFL. He’s certainly up there with the best. Last year, he was 13 seconds from hosting the AFC Championship Game. The Bills defense surrendered a Harrison Butker game-tying field goal in the final 13 seconds of regulation. Allen and the Bills lost the coin toss to begin overtime, and they never saw the ball in a 42-36 playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Although the defense was certainly to blame for that playoff loss, Allen knows he had a few things to clean up on his end. He said he needs to cut down on his mistakes/turnovers and put his receivers in a better position to catch the ball on the run.
“Main thing is still limiting turnovers, limiting bad decisions, and then ball placement on some of the underneath routes, allowing the guys to get more YAC (yards after catch),” Allen said, per Pro Football Talk. “Last year, I don’t think we were very good in that department. So it’s kind of on me to put the ball where it needs to be and allow our guys to utilize their legs and run after catch.
“I think those are the two most important things, and still just trying to develop that relationship with (new Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey) and understand why he’s calling certain things in certain situations, and that comes with live reps.”
Allen has the Bills as contenders again
Allen wasn’t supposed to be this good. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and the third of four quarterbacks taken in the top 10. With Baker Mayfield, the No. 1 player taken in the draft, traded to the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday, Allen is the only one of those four QBs still with his original team.
Although Allen’s numbers in 2021 weren’t quite as good as they were in 2020, he’s turned the Bills from laughingstock to contender.
After the Jim Kelly-led Bills appeared in four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s, they have, for the most part, been an afterthought. Many times, they were downright bad.
With Allen, the Bills are serious contenders to return to the Super Bowl. Jordan Poyer, Buffalo’s All-Pro safety recently said Allen is already the best quarterback in the league.
“I think we’ve got the best quarterback in the damn league,” Poyer said, per Sports Illustrated. “So, that being said, I think the sky is the limit for this team.”
It certainly is, especially if Allen touches up those two aspects of his game.
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