What Does Kyle Allen Bring?

Kyle Allen has to be the first helping as opposed to the leftovers from last year in Carolina if the Washington Football Team is to have success.

Kyle Allen will be under center for the Washington Football Team Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. 

That could be a big yikes. 

Unless he plays Sunday and moving forward like he did last year when he first got an opportunity to start for Cam Newton. 

Perhaps he'll be mostly pedestrian. Hopefully not awful as he was down the stretch in Carolina as his support crumbled around him. 

With so much focus on Dwayne Haskins, have we talked enough about Kyle Allen's last 8 starts? 35 sacks and 15 INTs. Woof. pic.twitter.com/IBbYssNnTC

— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 10, 2020

We wrote the other day that Allen is not the long-term answer because of this exact split. He was terrific early on under this same staff and system. The number that jumps out has to be the seven touchdowns and no picks.

As his offensive line fell apart, he was sacked 4.5 times per game and obviously made way more mistakes than you can make. 

Kyle Allen is NOT the Long-Term Answer

Ron Rivera can't possibly be thinking that Allen is going to bring the Washington offense consistent 300-yard games with low turnovers and sack totals for long. Maybe a few games? That might be enough to figure out if you really have a shot or not. 

What he can bring, perhaps, is a more varied offense because he knows it better and more importantly, mobility to move away and run away from some of the pass rush that the Rams and others upcoming on the schedule will try and attack with. 

Allen is by no means Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson 'fast' but he has some quicks. Allen ran a 4.71/40 at 6'3" and 210 pounds. 

The man he replaced (Haskins) ran a 5.04/40 and maybe that's not a huge difference in reality but I strongly believe Allen's ability to flush away from some of the pass rush is a huge reason he's under center. 

In week two, Dwayne Haskins took a sack that knocked Washington out of field position. 

Last week, it appeared that Haskins took an early sack in which he failed to make a protection adjustment (Matthew Judon's 1st sack) and the dagger blow was Haskins on first down at the Baltimore-15 and taking an 18-yard loss to kill any chance at making the comeback. 

Allen will get sacked and if last year is any indication, he'll get sacked a bunch. The Carolina offensive line was absolutely shredded in the last six weeks or so of the season. 

It's why Washington was able to sack him seven times after Allen initially posted two touchdown drives. 

I saw two consistent things from Allen in training camp and it's quite honestly why Rivera had no choice but to go with Haskins. I saw consistent inaccuracy and often high. That has to change. 

I also saw a regular ability to buy time and extend plays.

“I just think nowadays it’s part of the quarterback position. I think defenses are getting better. They’re getting more keen to what offenses are doing nowadays. I think it’s something as a quarterback—dual threat or not—I think you’ve got to do in today’s game," Allen answered in the video above to my question.  "You see even guys like [Falcons QB] Matt Ryan and other guys that are scrambling on third downs and on other plays and putting their body on the line and getting first downs. I think as a quarterback in this league today, you’ve got to do some of that. I’m confident in myself doing that.”

If Allen can do that on Sunday and moving forward, he'll give the Washington Football Team a better chance.

A better chance of survival. 

Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621