Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen experienced a painful case of déjà vu on Monday night when he committed four turnovers, including three interceptions and a killer fumble, leading to a 22-16 overtime loss to the New York Jets.
The haunting parallels to his reckless 2022 season were hard to ignore. Promising to be much smarter with the ball, we still saw the same “gun-slinger” play out of Allen in the opener.
A healthy amount of “gun-slinger” is great (Brett Favre) – but there’s a fine line that you can’t cross.
It seems like Allen has been routinely crossing that line ever since his old offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, left Buffalo to become the head coach of the New York Giants.
Since Daboll’s departure, Allen has committed a whopping 27 turnovers (20 interceptions and 7 fumbles lost).
Allen is arguably the most “talented” quarterback in the entire NFL. Keyword is “talented.”
If he doesn’t start playing smarter, he may never come close to achieving his full potential, and that would be a real shame because there are very few quarterbacks, if any, more enjoyable to watch than Allen.
To his credit, Allen took full accountability following Monday’s inexplicable loss to the Aaron Rodgers-less Jets at MetLife Stadium.
“Same sh*t, same place, different day,” he said. “I hurt our team, and I cost our team. This feels eerily similar to last year, and I hate that it’s the same. I do.”
"Same shit, same place, different day… I hurt our team tonight. I cost our team tonight. This feels eerily similar to last year, and I hate that it's the same. I do."- Josh Allen after the Bills' MNF loss to the Jets pic.twitter.com/YRzHSQnbuo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2023
However, there may have been a reason for Allen’s sloppy play. There’s speculation that he may have suffered a concussion during the game.
There is absolutely nothing good about a concussion, but if it’s indeed true, at least it helps explain why he was so off…
Does Josh Allen have a concussion?
Why is he not pulled for this at least to get checked?
Why not? Because it only matters when it’s Miami. pic.twitter.com/8UpGWa1IlF
— Ghost of Adam Gase (@GhostOfAdamGase) September 12, 2023
Regardless, it was a very ugly loss for a Bills team that had hoped to get the season rolling with a fast start.
In his last three encounters with the Jets, Allen has thrown five interceptions and endured a staggering 13 sacks, with five of them coming on Monday night. His quarterback rating in these games plummeted to a mere 63.7.
On Monday night, he equaled his single-game career-high with four turnovers.
What do you make of Allen’s struggles?
Are we overreacting? (Probably.)
Do you think he was concussed during the game?
There’s no denying Daboll’s absence has played a factor.. It’s up to Allen to re-find himself and continue his development.
Hopefully he does, because it’s no exaggeration to say that he has the potential to become one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.