Packers on Bills QB Josh Allen: ‘Hulk With an Arm’

The Green Bay Packers know they will face an enormous challenge against Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen on Sunday night.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 29, 2022 10:18 AM EDT

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Buffalo Bills have scored 20 touchdowns on offense. Quarterback Josh Allen has accounted for 19.

That’s the type of dominant performer the Green Bay Packers must contend with on Sunday night in Buffalo.

“He’s a hell of a player, man, hell of a talent,” Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry said. “I think it’s shocking if you guys haven’t actually seen him in person, especially in pads.”

There aren’t many players in the history of the NFL with Allen’s skill-set. To come up with a comparison, Barry had to combine a six-time Pro Bowler with an MVP.

“I think the main one that people usually go with is Ben Roethlisberger,” Barry said on Thursday. “This is nothing against Ben – Ben, in his day, was incredible – I think Josh is even bigger and faster. Cam Newton is another one. I think he’s obviously more of a pure passer than Cam. But those two guys, at least as far as body type, you’re talking about a guy that’s over 6-5 and 240 pounds and can run and create and, arguably, he probably has the strongest arm as far as just pure arm talent in the league. He’s a really, really good player.”

As a passer, Allen leads the NFL with 330.0 passing yards per game. He also leads the Bills in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. He has forced more missed tackles than AJ Dillon.

“He’s like the hulk with an arm,” outside linebacker Preston Smith said.

Allen is second in the NFL in passer rating (109.1), yards per attempt (8.28) and touchdown percentage (7.1). If you take his six-game numbers and put them over the full 17-game slate, Allen is on pace for 5,610 passing yards, 48 passing touchdowns and 54 total touchdowns. In 16 games in 2013, Peyton Manning set NFL records with 5,477 passing yards, 55 passing touchdowns and 56 total touchdowns.

Among the challenges for Barry’s defense will be containing Allen in the pocket. There are six gaps to defend – between the guard and center, guard and tackle and tackle and end on both sides of the ball.

“When you rush four, just do the math,” Barry said.

Against a scrambling quarterback, a coordinator might elect to blitz, not so much to pressure and sack the quarterback, but to make sure there’s a defender in each of those gaps. However, by way of example, if Rashan Gary goes too far upfield and Kenny Clark gets stymied, there’s a void for Allen to exploit.

“You have to really be coordinated and you have to do a great job of not getting past the level of the quarterback,” Barry said. “If he drops back and let’s say his back foot is at 7 yards. If that pass rusher rushes to 10 yards, now there’s a vertical seam.”

The wrench in all of that is Allen is a big-time passer with big-time weapons, so rushing six leaves only five in the secondary to deal with all the Bills’ skill. Stefon Diggs is on the short list of the NFL’s best receivers. Gabe Davis is an elite home-run threat. Dawson Knox is a high-quality tight end. And on it goes. Six players have at least 100 receiving yards. Seven have caught at least one touchdown.

“It stresses the entire defense,” Barry said, “because you have to be disciplined and detailed, not only once he does cross the line of scrimmage to tackle him and get him down, but just being disciplined and doing your job before he crosses the line of scrimmage when he’s still an eligible passer. So, he puts stress on the whole unit. Those are things you’ve got to deal with when you’re playing against a great player.”

The Bills enter the week ranked second in scoring. They are No. 1 in total offense, yards per play, yards per passing play and third down. Allen has accounted for at least two touchdowns in 13 consecutive games.

The Packers’ defense, which generated so much hype entering the season, has been really good at times but never great for 60 minutes. They’ve got the pass rush. They’ve got the manpower in the secondary. So, they’ve got the raw materials to make life difficult for Allen and Co.

It hasn’t added up through seven weeks, though. Since escaping with an overtime victory over Patriots’ rookie third-stringer Bailey Zappe, they lost in consecutive weeks to the Giants’ Daniel Jones, the Jets’ Zach Wilson and the Commanders’ Tyler Heinicke. Combined, those four quarterbacks have thrown 14 touchdown passes in 14 starts. Allen, remember, has 17 in six starts.

“We just can’t let him have a comfortable pocket,” Smith said. “We know what this guy can do. He can find lanes in the pocket when it’s time to get out and scramble. He can stand in there pretty tough and make some good throws. We just can’t allow him to have a comfortable pocket and make those comfortable throws, and we can’t create rush lanes for him to scramble in or when he decides to take off with the ball. We can’t make it easy for him. We’ve got to create some level of difficulty for him and make them earn everything.”