Josh Allen said after Monday night’s overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams that he was fighting his throwing mechanics. On Wednesday, after the Buffalo Bills’ first practice at UC Irvine, he explained what that looks like in October.
“I think it’s something every quarterback kind of fights throughout the year,” Allen said. “It could be as simple as one thing.” He said the second half against the Rams was a reset. “In that second half I just kind of turned my mind off and played football, and I think that’s kind of what it’s getting back to.”
Allen ran for 121 yards in the 37-34 win but had only 12 completions. He finished it by hitting all five of his passes in the fourth quarter and overtime. He said staying on the West Coast was not about his delivery. Work with a coach from the area “was on the books regardless,” he said, “but it’s really good to have him out here and maybe learn a thing or two and just try to find a way to tweak something and feel good.”
The non-throwing arm
One question asked what role his non-throwing arm plays in his motion. “It’s a good question,” Allen said. “It’s something that’s been a lot of debate over the last couple weeks within myself and a lot of guys that have been helping out here. A lot of it’s for balance, a lot of it’s for power and strength.”
“I think we’ve gotten to a point with quarterback mechanics where you can get pretty particular in the right way and the wrong way,” he continued. “But when you’re in the middle of a game, whatever gets the ball on target, on time is whatever you need to do. Sometimes it’s a little too close, sometimes a little too far away. So it’s just finding that balance of being able to rotate and actually throw into your left side.”
Asked whether quarterbacks think about arm slots the way pitchers do, he said you want to deliver the ball from the same spot most of the time, “but you can deliver it a lot of different ways. There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat, as they say.”
“That starts with me”
Joe Brady has said the offense has not involved tight end Dalton Kincaid early enough in recent games, and Allen took that on himself. “I think a lot of it can be with me, too, just taking some of the underneath stuff early and getting him involved early, getting him a touch or two here or there,” he said. “I haven’t done a good job of that over the last couple weeks. … I’m ultimately the one that’s pulling the trigger back there and facilitating the football.”
He called it “a quick recalibration, maybe of the mindset,” and summed up the plan: “Let’s throw these underneath until they start getting up, and then that’s when we could take some shots again.” He said getting Ty Johnson and Ray Davis involved as receivers “opens it up immensely,” because “we try to make defenses feel like they have to cover every inch of the grass.”
On James Cook’s fumbles, Allen included himself. “Ball security is of utmost importance, and that’s myself included,” he said. “Not making dumb decisions, putting the ball at risk, whether that’s in the pass game or the run game. It takes everybody.”
Crosby, Hyde and a “business trip”
Allen said Maxx Crosby, who leads a Raiders defense built on forcing fumbles, is “extremely relentless. He’s never out of the play. He’s on the field dang near every snap, too. He’s an ultimate competitor and a guy that you have to understand where he’s at at all times.”
He was also asked about the grin he often wears while getting hit on a run, including one on Monday. “Sometimes you kind of black out a little bit,” Allen said. “I just love football. I love being the quarterback of the Buffalo Bills. I’m living out my dream job.” When told that former teammate Micah Hyde had called him a “sicko” for seeking out contact, Allen laughed: “He’s a sicko for not telling me he was at the game.” He called Hyde “one of my favorite humans of all time,” adding, “So I’ll take it as a compliment.”
The Bills are practicing at UC Irvine instead of flying home between road games, and Allen said the setup has felt a little like training camp (“I felt like we were on the field for five hours today”) while giving players time for meals together. “We’re here for a business trip,” he said. Buffalo plays the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, October 18, at 4:25 p.m. EDT.
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.