Rookie QBs expected to compete Sunday
If all goes well for the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets over the next few years and beyond, Sunday’s matchup between rookie quarterbacks Josh Allen and Sam Darnold could be the kickoff to one of the league’s next great rivalries. Or not.
Making this jump is getting way ahead of things considering that Allen, Buffalo’s No. 7 overall pick in 2018, and Darnold, taken No. 3 overall by New York, have combined to play just 17 games in their rookie years. It’s probably too early to predict something on the lines of Jim Kelly vs. Dan Marino in the 1980s and 1990s when the two Hall of Famers battled twice annually, and even a couple times in the playoffs.
However, because Allen and Darnold were part of the celebrated first-round quarterback class, and they play in the same division, this has a chance to be something special.
The first meeting was supposed to have taken place on Nov. 11 in New York, but both players sat out with injuries. Matt Barkley, in the only game he has played for the Bills, led a 41-10 rout over Josh McCown and the Jets.
Allen returned to action two weeks ago and has injected much-needed life into one of the NFL’s worst offenses. Darnold has missed the last three games, but the Jets cleared him to return to play when the teams meet at New Era Field.
Allen helped the Bills defeat Jacksonville on Nov. 25, and very nearly produced a last-minute come-from-behind victory at Miami, only to see tight end Charles Clay fail to catch Allen’s slightly-underthrown fourth-down heave to the end zone. Allen finished with 231 yards passing and 135 yards rushing, producing 85 percent of the Bills’ total offense.
“He’s a competitive player,” said Bills’ offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. “Tough, strong obviously, has made a lot of plays with his legs over the last two weeks. Can make them with his arm, too. I’m sure there’s a few plays that Josh would like to have back, just like all of us when we don’t come out on top. We’re working each week to try to improve. I think he’s taken steps, he’s getting better.”
Naturally, Allen got off to a tough start after being thrust into the lineup in the third quarter of the season opener in Baltimore. He wasn’t ready to play, and it showed as he struggled right up until the Oct. 14 loss in Houston when he suffered an elbow injury that knocked him out of the next four games.
However, Allen has come back with more confidence, and it looks as if the time on the sideline, plus the mentoring he’s getting from veterans Barkley and Derek Anderson is paying off. He made several key plays in the win over the Jaguars, then was the best player on the field in Miami. Still, Allen remains a work in progress.
“There’s a lot of things, though, that we need to keep working on and harp on and improve on,” said Daboll. “But each week he’s been in there, there’s been improvement. You’d like to hit all of those throws that we have and make all the right reads and all the decisions, but the young man is really fun to work with. Takes his craft really serious for a young player. There’s going to be some downs. He’s done OK the last couple weeks. I think that we’ve just got to keep grinding it out and really improving in all the stuff that we can.”
SERIES HISTORY: 116th regular-season meeting. Bills lead series, 61-54. On Nov. 11, the Bills blew out the Jets 41-10 in a game started by Matt Barkley, his only appearance as the Bills’ quarterback. The teams split the series in 2017, while the Jets swept in 2016 and the Bills swept in 2015.
