Why Josh Allen Will Be Superman in Miami
After a close call with the Arizona Cardinals to open the season on Sunday, Buffalo and quarterback Josh Allen take a trip to South Florida to play the Miami Dolphins this week. With few players having consistent success in the first game of the 2024 campaign, a large amount of the game plan will likely fall on the Buffalo franchise quarterback even with a slight injury to his non-throwing hand. Allen comes off a phenomenal performance in the first game of the year with 232 passing yards and two touchdowns, as well as 39 yards on the ground and two more scores. In a week where quarterbacks around the league looked like they had not seen real game action in months, Allen looked to be in midseason form and reminded everyone that he is one of the best athletes in the league.
For a team that hopes to make a run deep into the playoffs, it is not a good idea to ask the centerpiece of your team to run like this for a 17-game season. In 2023, Allen carried the ball second most on the team with almost half as many carries as lead back James Cook. Every carry takes its toll, so it’s worth asking if there is a perfect balance between injury risk to the player and effectiveness to the offense. On the other hand, simply having Josh Allen on the field means that the defense has to account for all 11 players in the run game, which is particularly effective in the red zone. In the first week of the season, Allen ranked sixth among all rushers in the red zone in yards after contact, according to AWS. He’s essentially a second running back and a point guard rolled into one one every play at this point in his career.
On nine dropbacks in the red zone, Allen went three-for-five for 29 yards and two touchdowns but also took two sacks to start the game. One of which even resulted in a strip sack, which is discouraging given he had a receiver open on the play. However, he will improve, as he even turned another broken play in the red zone into six on the ground to prove that ups and downs are apart of the Josh Allen experience. Even despite the high blitz rate that the Dolphins employed in their first game, Miami did not prove to find pressure. In 18 passes without a blitz, Miami pressured the quarterback six times with just their front four. In six passes with a blitz, the rush got home just once. And to make matters worse in Week Two for Miami, Allen dominated the blitz against Arizona. In nine dropbacks against the heat, Allen completed four out of six passes with two scoring and posted a 143.1 passer rating.
Josh Allen has proven to play at an MVP caliber over the last four years and 2024 should be the year he finally gets the respect he deserves. He is going to carry this Buffalo team a lot further than the rest of the roster should take it as any most valuable player can do. Miami does not stand a chance against Upstate’s super hero. If you want to catch up on how Allen and the squad worked out some kinks in Week One, please look here.