ORCHARD PARK — Josh Allen’s eyes moved from one side of the field to the other on third down.
Allen’s best options seemed to be rookie receiver Keon Coleman crossing over the middle of the field or open turf with room to run. Instead, Allen turned down both options and fired a rocket downfield to Mack Hollins, who wasn’t open, couldn’t make the catch and the punt team came onto the field.
That was one of a few poor decisions Allen made in a 4-for-11 first half against the Tennessee Titans. In the past, Allen might have gotten antsy and a foolish decision while trying to jumpstart the Buffalo Bills and himself.
That version of Allen, the one who plays with angel whispering in one ear and the devil in the other, seems to be fading away. Even in his dismal 9-for-30 outing against the Houston Texans in Week 5, Allen didn’t make any catastrophic mistakes.
The same quarterback who threw more interceptions (47) than anyone in the NFL over the previous three seasons hasn’t been picked off once in the first seven games. Only Milt Plum (1960) and Alex Smith (2017) have thrown at least 10 touchdown passes without an interception in the first seven games.
And even though the Bills have trailed at halftime four times in seven games, it’s not because Allen has given an opponent free points. Although he admits defenses have dropped a few would-be interceptions.
“It’s one of the things I wanted to clean up really the last couple years,” Allen said. “To now go out there and do it it’s easier said than done. Again it takes some luck. You’re going to have balls that shouldn’t be intercepted that are intercepted. You’re going to have balls that probably should be intercepted that aren’t. Again, I’m trying to take it one play at a time make the right decision and get it to our guys.”
Under former play-callers Brian Daboll and Ken Dorsey, the running game was often a sidebar to Allen’s heroics. Now it seems to be in reverse, with the running game taking precedence over Allen’s arm.
The 34-10 win over the Titans Sunday marked the first time this season Allen threw more than 30 passes and it was the first time he eclipsed 300 yards. Allen’s 27 attempts per game are on pace to be the fewest of his career, while he’s on pace to finish with fewer than 4,000 yards for the first time since 2019.
Since Joe Brady started calling the plays, Allen’s passing yards have declined by nearly 50 yards per game and his passing touchdowns have gone down from 2.2 to 1.6. But the Bills are still winning games and his interceptions have plummeted.
“Even when there’s lulls of on offense or when we might not be clicking all the way … as long as those drives are ending in a punt … we have an opportunity to flip the field,” Brady said. “Being able to regroup and not feel like, ‘Oh, man, we got stopped because we turned the ball over,’ whether it was a fumble or an interception. And so not playing scared, not playing conservative, but understand the importance of, if we can just protect the football for 60 minutes, good things usually happen.”
Using a quarterback with Allen’s talent and a contract worth more than $250 million as a game manager seems silly in the long run, even if it’s providing success right now. The Bills have gone from throwing 54% of the time on first down in his first six seasons to running the ball 64% of the time this season.
Not only has that led to the Bills needing 2 yards more to gain on average on third downs, but the offense has sputtered out of the gates at times this season. Not only would the Bills benefit from throwing to set up the run because of Allen’s talent, but getting him into a rhythm early prevents any devilish pull to force himself into a groove.
“I think really in all but maybe one or two games we really haven’t clicked early on and it’s taken us a couple of drives to feel out what the defense is doing and getting into a rhythm,” Allen said. “So getting off to a fast start is our utmost important thing going forward. It starts with having a good week of practice, then going out and executing the game plan. It feels like when we go back and watch the film it’s a lot of what we’re doing. It’s a lot of self-inflicted stuff.”
NOTES: Bills LB Terrel Bernard (ankle/pectoral/personal), DT DeWayne Carter (wrist) and WR Curtis Samuel (pectoral) have been ruled out Sunday. … Carter requires surgery and was placed on injured reserve, while Samuel also may miss multiple games. … Seahawks WR DK Metcalf (knee) and DT Cameron Young (knee) are doubtful. … CB Tre Brown (ankle), DE Mike Morris (ankle), CB Nehemiah Pritchett (ankle) and OT George Fant (knee) are questionable.