The Rise of Josh Allen

Author: Sal Vassallo

Editor: Mark Awadallah

With the 6th pick in the 2018 NFL draft, the Buffalo Bills select Josh Allen, Quarterback from Wyoming. In 2018 the Buffalo Bills were in search of a new signal caller. Coming off a season in which they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wildcard game, the Bills had finally ended their 18-year playoff drought, despite losing they were headed in the right direction. While then QB Tyrod Taylor helped the team make the playoffs, it appeared the Bills were still in the hunt for a new signal caller. They appeared to pick a great time as the 2018 draft was known as the year of the quarterback, with five top QB prospects up for grabs in Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, Josh Rosen, and Josh Allen. With Mayfield and Darnold off the board, the Bills decided to go with the player with a big arm from Wyoming, that being Josh Allen. Allen was known for having an exceptionally strong arm with the ability to make all the throws the Bills need.

The two main chips on Josh Allen’s shoulder are his lesser competition playing at a smaller school like Wyoming and his accuracy. While his accuracy issues showed his rookie season, he finished with a low 52 completion percentage. However, the raw talent with Josh Allen was something Bills fans could get excited about. Allen has displayed not only the ability to throw the ball deep but his creativity with his legs, truly a sight to behold. In his second year, the Bills continued building around their franchise QB by bolstering their offensive line with signings such as center Mitch Morse. In year two, Josh Allen would improve from his year one statistics, finishing with 3089 passing yards (over 1000 yards more than his rookie year), twenty touchdowns, and nine interceptions. His completion percentage was still at a mediocre 58 and the Bills were beaten by the Texans in a heartbreaking loss in their wildcard game last year. However, Josh Allen had taken the next step to becoming the man in Buffalo.

Fast forward to 2020 and Allen now finds himself in the MVP conversation. Once we get to the offseason, the Bills wanted to help Josh Allen with his accuracy. One great way to do that is to have a reliable receiver to catch Allen’s throws. This is where Minnesota steps in. In 2019, the Minnesota Vikings were a good team, and the emergence of receiver Adam Theilen has pushed fellow receiver Stefon Diggs further down on the depth chart. Diggs clashes constantly with his feelings on his role in the offense. Diggs, known as a deep ball threat, had a huge problem as Vikings QB Kirk Cousins had a bit of trouble when it came to throwing a clean deep ball. After a year of frustrations, the Vikings shipped Diggs to Buffalo for a boatload of draft capital from Buffalo including a first rounder in 2020. With the pandemic ensuing, fans questioned whether Diggs and Josh Allen could build chemistry fast enough for the start of the season with training camp being so short. As it turns out, Diggs and Allen are a match made in heaven.

Compared to year one, Allen now has a bolstered O line and a receiving corps of Stefon Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley. The Bills have done a terrific job building around Allen and the team of head coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll have coached Allen into some great numbers this season. Heading into week 17 Allen has 4,320 passing yards with 34 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. He has helped Buffalo win the AFC East for the first time since 1995 and has finally broken New England’s vice grip on the division. As the Bills now March into the playoffs a stronger team than last year I would consider them a favorite to at least make the AFC title game. They currently hold the number two seed in the AFC and are slated to take on the Cleveland Browns at home if the playoffs started today. This rise in power for Allen and the Bills is nothing short of spectacular and I alongside other fans are expecting them to make a deep run this year.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

The New York Jets Should Stick with Sam Darnold

Author: Patrick Sullivan

As of today, December 27, 2020, the New York Jets have miraculously won two consecutive games to end up 2-13 on the season. The Jets will now officially have the number two pick in the 2021 NFL Draft as the Trevor Lawrence dream has come to an end. As some fans wither away in despair and scream out loud “It’s the Same Old Jets”, I am optimistic for the future of this franchise. My optimism is solely based off the Jets GM Joe Douglas.

Thus far, Douglas has shown a lot of promise as GM of this franchise as his rookies are seemingly panning out, the Jamal Adams trade is looking smarter as the season progresses, and the fact that he saved a lot of cap space for this upcoming off season. Douglas will have all of this cap space and a haul of draft picks to attempt to save this pitiful franchise that I’ve sadly been a fan of for 19 years. However, in the end, this next head coaching hire will decide his fate and the fate of the near future of the Jets. Even if he uses the cap space and draft capital to acquire great players, if the coaching staff is awful, there’s no hope for the success the Jets fans have been craving for the past 10 years.

Even with all the hope Douglas provides, his biggest decision outside of hiring a head coach is what to do at number 2 in the draft. Does he draft the next best quarterback after Lawrence? Should he trade back for even more picks or would it be better to pick the best overall player that is not a QB? The latter two options will have to involve Sam Darnold at QB. If the Jets don’t go with a QB at number two overall, Douglas is basically putting his faith in Darnold to make a giant turnaround in his career. Personally, I believe that since the Jets have won themselves out of Trevor Lawrence, Sam Darnold is the next best option. But many are going to say but why? What has Sam Darnold done to deserve this?

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, the last four weeks of the 2018 season with Todd Bowles as head coach and Jeremy Bates as offensive coordinator, Sam Darnold looked like he was most definitely the quarterback of the future for the New York Jets. Then, Adam Gase was hired as head coach in January 2019 and ever since that moment, Sam Darnold has regressed. I truly believe with a competent head coach, Sam Darnold can return to playing competently at the Quarterback position. The Adam Gase effect is real, and it has ruined the New York Jets, especially Sam Darnold.

You may ask, what in the world is the Adam Gase effect? The Adam Gase effect can be defined as follows: when players are coached by Adam Gase, they preform underwhelmingly or horribly, but when Adam Gase is removed from their playing career, these players begin to play great football. Let’s take a look at the only quarterback example of the Adam Gase Effect, Ryan Tannehill. Even though we have to take into account that Tannehill was hurt off and on with Adam Gase as him head coach, when he did play, he played mediocre to badly. Meanwhile, once he left to go to the Titans, he has become arguably a top 5 quarterback in the NFL. Could just be a coincidence but considering how Adam Gase led offenses consistently are ranked last in the league in every category, I’m willing to say he played badly due to Gase being his head coach.

There’s no telling that Sam Darnold will play better under a new head coach, but he could be underperforming due to the awful offensive scheme that Adam Gase uses. Whether Sam Darnold is yet another victim of the Adam Gase effect or he just isn’t a good quarterback is yet to be known, but after hiring arguably the worst Head Coach of all time, the Jets owe Sam Darnold one last shot before dumping him.

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The Steelers Are in Trouble

Author: Matthew Iberger

After a 27-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Pittsburgh Steelers are reeling. Usually, an 11-3 team would not be so worried, but the Steelers are getting cold at the worst possible time. Three straight losses after an 11-0 start where the offense has averaged 10 points per game and four straight games without scoring 20 points or more. The defense which would get them out of these slumps is facing mounting injuries especially at linebacker and edge rusher.

The worst part about this loss to the Bengals is it widens the door for the Cleveland

Browns to take the division lead. Sitting at 10-4, Cleveland had very little chance of catching Steelers before their three straight losses. Now only one game back if Cleveland wins next week against the New York Jets and the Steelers fall to the Indianapolis Colts, the two teams will meet in a Week 17 matchup that decides who wins the AFC North. With how the teams are looking right now I am inclined to believe that this is what will happen. This is a team that looks like it will finish 11-5 after their 11-0 start and be staring at a first-round exit after competing for the first seed for the first eleven weeks of the season.

Ben Roethlisberger for all the success he has had, has lost it. Watching games this season you could tell he had trouble throwing deep especially over the middle, but his lost arm strength was masked by his quick throws over the middle and a strong defense to bail the offense out. As previously mentioned, the defense has regressed due to injury and by putting more pressure on the offense, Big Ben’s faults become clearer. Lack of a strong offensive line and running back play has not helped out the aging QB, nor has the consistent drops from the skill position players during these last three games (they would have won the Washington game if the drops were less often). You can even put more blame on OC Randy Fincher who does not seem to be changing up his game plan to help his struggling team. However, this most recent loss can be put squarely on the shoulders of quarterback play, not receiver drops. Ben was completely missing open receivers, misreading coverages, and just flat out looking bad. A nice Diontae Johnson throw and Benny Snell looking good for part of the game made the score much closer, but by the end of the half Ben only was 7 for 16 for 19 yards and an interception. An aging arm is not something you can fix in two games. Less reliance on Ben’s arm is what will get this team back to winning but with the defense injured and a weak running game, it is what the Steelers have had to do.

As a Steelers fan myself, I still am rooting for my team to turn it around and I believe that they still have a (albeit small) chance at a Super Bowl run. We have to prepare for the strong possibility that Pittsburgh will be one of the first teams out in the playoffs. Currently Pittsburgh sits at 28 in the draft and my way too early hope is that we spend that pick on one of the top running backs to put less pressure on Ben’s arm or an offensive lineman and stick with James Conner and Benny Snell as a 1-2 punch. For the second round, I have been enamored with taking either Alabama QB Mac Jones or Florida QB Kyle Trask to find a successor to Ben. Pittsburgh might have to trade up from their draft spot at 60 to around 45 in hopes of nailing one of them before QB-needy teams like Chicago, New England or San Francisco. If neither of them is available, maybe picking up Sam Darnold or even Gardner Minshew in a cheap trade would work out. No matter what happens it has been an exciting season that I do not think any Steelers fan would have changed. Sure, it has been disappointing late but most rational fans knew we were not going to keep outpacing the Chiefs who sat one game behind the Steelers at 10-1. The super bowl window still remains open in Pittsburgh and hopefully they can secure that ring this year but if not, this team is not going anywhere anytime soon.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE