Wins and losses are not a quarterback stat. Can we put that to be forever? What else could Josh Allen have done vs. the Rams?
He ran for three touchdowns and led the Bills with 82 yards on 10 carries. He threw for three touchdowns and 342 yards. Yet, this game goes down as a loss on Allen’s resume.
To quote Ted Lasso, “That don’t make no sense.”
A quarterback can make winning or losing plays. You see that with Patrick Mahomes all the time. However, the defense has to do their job to give him an opportunity to make the winning play. The offensive line has to block. The receivers have to catch. All this kind of stuff, and we sort of gloss it over as “Josh Allen can’t get it done.” It’s the biggest fallacy in the game.
I do not understand why the NFL has wins and losses as an official quarterback stat. Allen made history and was accountable for six touchdowns, yet it’s a loss on his resume.
But, the Bills losing 44-42 while Allen did what he did proves how singularly unique Mahomes is.
In games where the Chiefs have given up 24 or more points, Kansas City’s record with Mahomes as the starting quarterback is 34-20. The Bills record with Allen starting in games that Buffalo’s defense has given up 24 or more points is 11-24.
There is not an active quarterback that is above .500 in those situations, except for Mahomes. He is such an outlier when it comes to finding ways to get it done.
“Don’t start a fire that I need to put out.”
My buddy Mark Schlereth used to say that, and it’s sort of what A.J. Brown did on Sunday when he simply said “passing” when he was asked about what the Eagles’ offense needs to improve upon. You can slice it any way you want: When he says that, he’s telling you the quarterback isn’t doing his job.
Jalen Hurts is not playing at a very high level right now, which has been masked by what Saquon Barkley has done. Everybody knows, but now because Brown put it out there, everyone’s going to have to respond to it. Everybody’s going to ask Nick Sirianni about it. They’re going to ask other receivers and Hurts.
What Brown has done is he’s created an issue that everybody on the team is going to have to deal with. They all knew it was an issue, but they’re now going to have to deal with it in a public forum. That can sometimes be difficult.
Bears need to protect their future
Caleb Williams has been sacked 56 times. That’s the most in the NFL this season. Getting hit that often can ruin a young quarterback.
David Carr was sacked 76 times in his rookie year. He never recovered from that. Now, that was a time you could really hit a quarterback, so some of that has been mitigated by the NFL. But it also took Sam Darnold three years to get past “I’m seeing ghosts.”
Some of these sacks are Williams’ fault — he’s hanging onto the ball too long. But, the Bears need to be careful.
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