Through the Quarterback's Eyes: Josh Allen

Breaking Down Allen's 43-yard TD Pass to Tyrell Shavers vs. the Buccaneers

Josh Allen is probably the closest thing this era has to Brett Favre in terms of being a “No! No! Yes! Yes!” quarterback (that’s what his coaches are likely thinking or saying every time he starts running around to make a play).

When the results are what they were on Sunday against the Buccaneers (357 total yards, 6 touchdowns), I’m sure Sean McDermott is more than happy to live with the roller coaster of emotions that Allen can elicit on any given snap.

Early in the 2nd quarter, Allen had one of those types of plays, and it seemed to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

This was a 3rd-and-3 from the Buccaneers’ 43-yard line. The Bills were trying to get a pre-snap indicator of the coverage Tampa would play. So they aligned with tight end Keleki Latu on the perimeter to the right, running back Ty Johnson in the slot, and tight end Dawson Knox in the backfield.

The Buccaneers matched up with a cornerback over Latu on the outside, an indicator of zone coverage:

Then Allen motioned Knox out to the right. No one went with him or matched up. This was, indeed, zone:

You can see Allen putting his hands up to his head to indicate that he was “killing” the first play called in the huddle and going to the second. As Allen said afterwards:

“We [checked] out into a zone concept.”

To the right, the Bills had an arrow screen to running back Ty Johnson called. To the left, they had a curl-flat combo:

“I should’ve probably thrown it to the back or Gabe.”

As Allen admitted, the Bills probably had an easy first down if Allen targeted Johnson to his right or Gabe Davis to his left: