Buffalo Bills: Biggest year ahead for quarterback Josh Allen

The Buffalo Bills are primed to challenge for the AFC East title in the 2020 season, but they will need starting QB Josh Allen to have his best year yet to do so.

Josh Allen made great strides in his development with the Buffalo Bills during the 2019 season, taking over the starting role in the most important position on a full-time basis.

With the support of a strong team around him, Allen helped guide the Bills to a 10-6 record and came so close to moving beyond the Wildcard round, ultimately falling 22-19 to the Houston Texans.

The impressive season saw the Bills finish second in the AFC East division, with the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets still working through their own respective rebuilds.

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Allen, meanwhile, improved in every offensive category, throwing for 3089 yards, 20 touchdowns and just nine interceptions with a QB rating of 85.3 (up from 67.9). His accuracy improved also, with 58.8 per cent completed passes compared to 52.8 per cent the previous year.

The sophomore QB once again relied heavily on his ability to run to help the Bills, earning 510 yards on the ground – a slight drop in his production from his rookie season, though he reached the end zone nine times, an increase of one touchdown from 2018.

With the AFC East picture looking vastly altered from just a few months ago, the Buffalo Bills will now be hoping to take over the mantle that the New England Patriots have held onto for the majority of the past two decades.

If they are going to do this, the Bills will need to see even more progress from their young gunslinger, seeing him truly develop into the kind of starting quarterback the team can rely on for years to come.

Allen’s elusiveness makes him an interesting player in the NFL, though it is through the air that some progress will need to be made to ensure the all-around dual-threat passer can lead the team to Divisional titles and post-season successes.

His TD-INT ratio improved greatly in 2019, but relying on just 20 passing touchdowns won’t be enough to keep the Bills competing with a division expected to make great strides in the coming seasons.

Ensuring that Allen uses the weapons at his disposal, including new number one receiver Stefon Diggs, to increase his accuracy through the air beyond the 60% threshold will go a long way to making him a legitimate higher-tier passer in the NFL and thus have the Bills’ all-around quality utilised in the most effective way.

What do you think Bills mafia? Will Allen take the next steps in year three? Will he remain what he is or will he step up and become one of the better passers in the league? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!