How Josh Allen Picked Apart a Very Good Patriots Defense
There might not be a player in the NFL more important to his team than Allen
With the AFC East division on the line, Josh Allen put the Bills on his back and delivered a special performance. His designed runs, scrambles, shovel passes, and improvisational plays drew most of the attention in highlight shows after the game. But it was his ability to play the position effectively from the pocket in the biggest moments that made the difference in this one.
Patience in the Pocket
Each of Buffalo’s three 4th-down conversions eventually led to touchdowns, and Allen was responsible for making all of them happen. This first came on New England’s goal line on Buffalo’s first drive of the game:
Notice the patience by Allen here. He looked left initially, then to Isaiah McKenzie in the middle of the field, then to his right before eventually coming back to McKenzie:
That play might not have happened if Allen bailed early and decided to scramble around like a chicken with his head cut off. Staying in the pocket forced New England DBs to have to cover for a longer period of time and kept the entire field available to Allen. That set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
In the second quarter, Buffalo faced a 4th-and-2 from New England’s 34-yard line. Allen again showed poise, looking right initially before coming back to the left and hitting Stefon Diggs in the second window on a Shin route (Short-in):
Allen was reading and seeing the field, not guessing or predetermining his throws pre-snap, as you could see there.
Understanding the Defense
Three plays later on 3rd-and-11, Allen found Diggs again for a touchdown. On this snap, the Patriots were playing man coverage with no deep safety in the middle of the field:
The key to beating New England’s man coverage is to identify where the combos and help defenders are coming from. Allen had Diggs running up the seam to his left on this play and knew that was the route he wanted pre-snap. But he had to make sure there were no defenders who could provide help inside and take his route away.
Just after the snap, he looked right to hold safety Devin McCourty or at least ensure that he didn’t cheat to Diggs’ side. McCourty actually turned away from Diggs post-snap to help bracket Isaiah McKenzie to the other side of the formation:
With McCourty out of the picture, Allen knew he had the middle open for Diggs’ route, and he delivered a strike:
Notice the ball placement on this pass. Allen put this throw over the middle to allow Diggs to pull away from his defender, cornerback J.C. Jackson:
On TV, that looked like a simple, wide-open touchdown pass. The film shows it was the result of some high-level quarterbacking by Allen.
Perhaps the biggest throw of the game came with 7:26 remaining in the 4th quarter. The Bills were nursing a 5-point lead and facing a 3rd-and-10. A stop here would have shifted the momentum to the Patriots. But again, Allen’s ability to play at a high level from the pocket made the difference.
New England was again playing man coverage and it was unclear pre-snap exactly where the help defenders would come from. Focus on Stefon Diggs and Isaiah McKenzie on the right side of the formation, running a dig and a deep-crossing route respectively:
The Patriots would rotate to Cover-1 (man free) with safety Devin McCourty lurking in the middle of the field to help out on any in-breaking routes:
But because the Bills had two in-breaking routes called with both coming from the right side, McCourty had to make a choice. He keyed on Diggs this time:
That left McKenzie running his route with his defender in a trail position and no help in front of him. Allen read McCourty, realized Diggs’ route was dead, and turned his attention to McKenzie, hitting him for a first down:
From the end zone angle, you could see Allen eyeing McCourty and making his decision based on where he provided help:
That’s a great call by offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to attack the inside help defender on a key 3rd down, knowing that both in-breaking routes could not be accounted for. And of course, it was a great job of executing by Allen.
The Bills have gone through a bit of a rough patch over the last couple of months (like every team in the AFC has at some point this season). But if they hitch their wagon to Allen like they did last week in New England, they just might find themselves representing the AFC in Los Angeles this February.