ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen is playing some of his best football when it matters most as the Bills gear up for the playoffs having clinched a postseason berth already but also are still fighting for the division title.
In just his second season in the NFL, Allen is having a breakout year but it didn't look that way in the beginning.
Allen threw three touchdown passes and six interceptions through the first four weeks of the season with three of those picks in a 16-10 loss to the Patriots at home in week four.
But since then, he's taken his game to a whole new level after learning from the mistakes he made in that game which seems like a turning point for him this season.
"It's a little hard to watch to be honest. Some ugly mistakes that I made early on, a couple throws that obviously I wish I had back but again I wouldn't take it back for anything, because I learned some valuable lessons in that one. It's kind of helped me throughout the season just being smarter with the football and taking care of the football and helping this football team win games," Josh Allen said after practice on Wednesday.
Since week five after that ugly performance against New England, Allen has thrown 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He's also ran for six touchdowns as well.
"I just think it's part of his maturation process. It's him learning just like our team learns you know knowing what you can and can't do in this league. Knowing what you can and can't do within our system and going against defenses around the NFL and in particular a defense like we're gonna face [New England]," head coach Sean McDermott said after practice on Thursday.
Allen admitted he thinks he was trying to do too much in that first meeting with New England this year and since then the growth has been noticeable. Allen hasn't tried to force throws or plays as much as he was at the start of the year and it seems like he's getting that "hero ball" mentality out of his head.
So this time around against the Patriots, Allen explains what he needs facing the challenge that is reading their defense that is so good at how they disguise things and their ability to confuse quarterbacks.
"You gotta trust what you see and trust your eyes trust your feet. And I think that's where I failed in the previous meeting. I wasn't trusting what I saw, I was trying to force some things and, you know, hopefully this week I’ve learned my lesson and we can go through our good game plan and make plays we need to make and you know there's gonna be ups and downs, it’s going to be a four quarter game, and I think everyone on the team knows that," Allen said.
Allen and the Bills are still in contention for the AFC East but they'll first need to beat the Patriots on Saturday and get some help. If the Bills win their next two and the Dolphins beat New England in week 17, then Buffalo clinches the division for the first time in the Tom Brady Era.
The Patriots have won the division all but two years since Brady became their starter in 2001.
