Bills’ Allen is a reminder of patience for Tua
The Bills’ Josh Allen has become an MVP-caliber QB, but he was given time and weapons to succeed.
At 25 years old, the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen is one of the league’s ascendant quarterbacks.
And in the AFC East, a division with three starting quarterbacks who are in their first or second season, he’s the elder statesman of the group.
As the Dolphins prepare to host Buffalo in their home opener at Hard
Rock Stadium on Sunday, Allen’s progression is a reminder to Miami of the benefits of remaining patient with a novice quarterback, early struggles and all.
“He’s improved incredibly over the course of his career,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said of Allen. “He’s got a lot of confidence. He has total command of the offense. He has autonomy to make changes at the line of scrimmage.”
Before he was regarded as a league Most Valuable Player-caliber quarterback and one of the richest players in the NFL, Allen was a rookie from smallschool Wyoming, selected as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Allen started 12 games as a rookie with a 5-7 record and completed just 52 percent of his passes, living up to his reputation through the draft process as an athletic and strongarmed quarterback who had yet to hone in his accuracy.
He improved his accuracy to 58 percent in 2019 and led the Bills to the wild-card round of the playoffs but still wasn’t regarded in the upper echelon of the league’s quarterbacks — or even the top signal-caller in his draft class, as the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson threw and ran his way to a unanimous MVP award that season.
It wasn’t until Allen’s 2020 season, his third with offensive coordinator
Brian Daboll and first with star wide receiver Stefon Diggs, that he truly began to live up to the projections that made him a first-round pick. Allen completed a career-high 69 percent of his passes — the fourth-highest rate in the league — for 4,544 yards and 37 touchdowns, leading Buffalo to the AFC Championship Game. Of all the surprises in the NFL, his drastic upward ascension might have topped of the list.
“He’s gotten a lot better since his rookie year,” safety Eric Rowe said. “I’ve played him every year, twice a year, and I remember his first couple years he’s always had a strong arm but just accuracy wasn’t really his thing because he was too strong. But now, each year he’s gotten better and he’s gotten a lot more accurate. Now he’s easily one of the elite quarterbacks in the league.”
Said linebacker Jerome Baker: “I think truly he just developed his game as a whole. He always had a strong arm and he truly just improved on every little thing that he possibly can. It’s his pocket awareness, knowing where a guy is going to be. You can just tell every year he truly works on something and he gets better at it.”
Despite the questions of Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagvoailoa following an up-and-down season as a rookie, the front office has done its part to aid in his growth in recent months. The team tapped George Godsey and Eric Studesville to be his co-offensive coordinators and added talent at the skill positions, drafting receiver Jaylen Waddle and adding receiver Will Fuller.
Tagovailoa’s performance against the New England Patriots in a 17-16 season-opening win was a promising start, but a potentially costly late interception and postgame comments from a New England defender brought back questions about his ability to read defenses and go through his progressions.
“That’s what Tua [does]. If he doesn’t have his first read, he’s just going to throw the ball up,” cornerback J.C. Jackson told reporters.
While Tagovailoa wasn’t asked specifically about Jackson’s comments this week, when asked how he sees his ability to go through his progressions, he answered, “I’d say I feel good. Obviously, it’s a continued process for me.”
Where Tagovailoa and Allen’s situations diverge is that in Allen’s first few seasons, he never faced reports of the team’s interest in acquiring another franchise quarterback. Multiple reports, including the Miami Herald’s, have stated the Dolphins have continued interest in trading for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is not expected to play for Houston this season as he faces a multitude of legal issues, which includes 22 women who have filed civil suits accusing him of sexual misconduct.
While the Dolphins sidestepped those reports shortly before the regular season began, only time will tell whether the speculated interest comes to fruition. And as the organization sticks with Tagovailoa, hoping for an Allen-like progression, only time will tell whether he’s afforded the luxury of that time, too.
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