Well, another game, and another big opportunity squandered away by a QB who just doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes. The way the defense played yesterday, I am pretty confident that just not playing awful would have gotten the job done. Allen came out of the gate missing targets left and right, got sacked twice while in field goal range, and capped it off by throwing 3 more interceptions. It is quite frustrating to see the same pattern repeated by Allen week after week, especially when you have a Super Bowl caliber defense shutting down the “golden boy” Tom Brady.
Allen has the capability to play a great half (see Cinci game) but can never seem to put together a full outing where you look at him and confidently say “he has turned the corner.” What’s very disappointing is that the Patriots were ripe for the picking yesterday – it’s as if they were trying to hand us the game. As far as the hit on Allen, I have no doubt that if that had been on #12, not only would the player have been thrown out of the game, he most likely would have been suspended as well. The league probably would have sent him to Siberia if “Tommy” actually missed some time due to a helmet to helmet hit.
With the Titans on the road next week, Buffalo needs to put this behind them as soon as possible, as they can ill afford to fall to 3-2 now that the only chance for playoffs is the wild card. Whether it is Allen or Barkley starting, the team as a whole needs to not only stop taking points off the board (when in scoring position), but also stop giving away free touchdowns due to head scratching gaffs (block punts). Heading into the bye week would look A LOT more attractive with a 4-1 record as the team would earn some well deserved recovery time.