OWINGS MILLS — The Ravens are spending the week watching film and game-planning for Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is off to one of the best starts of his career.
Buffalo has opened the season with three straight wins and Allen has been the catalyst for an offense that leads the NFL with 37.3 points per game. Allen has completed 54 of 72 passes for 634 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
“If you cover everything, he can escape the pocket and get a first down,” Ravens All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton said. “[He’s] strong in the pocket [and] doesn’t get sacked a ton, because he’s a big guy. He’s mobile and also has an incredible arm to go with it. [There are] not a lot of quarterbacks in our league like him. It will be fun to go against him and the Bills this week.”
Allen was named the AFC Player of the Week after leading the Bills to a 47-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night. He completed 23 of 30 passes for 263 yards and four touchdowns for a 142.1 passer rating.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Allen can beat teams in multiple ways.
“Well,I mean Josh Allen – pretty much everybody that watches football in this league understands those challenges that he poses,” Harbaugh said. “He’s one of the very best in the business at what he does. He’s unique; he plays his style; he does it his way. They build the offense certainly around him [and] all the attributes that he has – throwing, running, running the offense, the read stuff [and] reading things out in terms of the passing game – he throws it to every level. And he has a really good cast around him, so [it’ll be a] big challenge.”
The Ravens’ secondary has struggled this season. Baltimore is allowing 291.7 yards passing per game — ranked 32nd in the NFL. The Bills pose another challenge, but Hamilton is confident the secondary can bounce back.
“I think this week is a great week to prove ourselves, but it’s also every week in this league,” Hamiton said. “Everybody is good, and everybody can throw for 300-plus yards on you if you allow them to. I think it’s [about] us more so being consistent out here in practice and carrying over to the field with communication, execution [and] all that stuff, which I know we’re more than capable of.”
The Bills’ offensive line has allowed two sacks in three games. Allen can effectively handle pressure and his size — 6 feet 5, 237 pounds — makes him tough to tackle.
Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady has also done a solid job spreading the ball around and keeping a balanced offense. The Bills have run the ball 88 times, while Allen and backup Mitch Trubisky have attempted 73 passes.
“[Josh Allen is] just an incredible player [who’s] playing at such an extremely high level,” said Ravens outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who leads the team with four sacks. “I think [he] and Brady, the ‘O.C.,’, calling the plays, they’re in sync right now, and they have a great pulse of their offense, with their identity, and they’re doing an extremely good job of just getting everybody involved. … They’re just a really good football team.”
