Buffalo Bills: Is Josh Allen ready to start with AJ McCarron injured?

Josh Allen might be on the field for the Buffalo Bills before they expected

Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback Josh Allen might have caught his big break Friday night. Veteran quarterback AJ McCarron, who was competing with Allen and Nathan Peterman for the starting quarterback job, suffered a hairline fracture in his collarbone, according to Bills reporter Vic Carucci.

McCarron signed a two-year $10 million deal this offseason after serving as Andy Dalton’s backup for four years in Cincinnati.

Now with McCarron out of the picture for a couple of weeks, the Bills have a tough decision to make whether to throw their rookie quarterback into the fire, give Peterman a second shot, or pick up a veteran to steady the ship.

Allen has shown tremendous improvement during the preseason, and it showed on the film below.

The play everyone is talking about is the red zone touchdown with four minutes remaining. After twice failing to punch the ball in on the ground, Allen stepped up with one of the best plays of his young career.

Allen sidesteps a lineman running straight at him, scans the field, steps up in the pocket, and finds Rod Streater in the back of the endzone for six points.

Allen displayed tremendous athleticism, awareness, and arm strength on the play, reminding people why he was taken seventh overall.

There were, of course, plays Allen didn’t make the best choices on, but in the box score he came away clean going 9-13 for 60 yards, a touchdown, and a 104.6 QBR.

A play that caught my eye was the final drive of the first half; Buffalo and Cleveland are tied at seven with 30 seconds left and the Bills without timeouts on third and one within field goal range.

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With pressure coming, Allen is forced out of the pocket to his right, runs for the first down, and dives across the middle of the field past the 15-yard line. The issue with that play? Allen dove untouched across the green grass when the sideline was a couple feet to his right. The play forced Buffalo to lose 10 seconds, a down because they had to spike it, and a chance to put up more than three points.

Plays like that force quarterbacks to make adjustments coming from the college game where the clock stops after every first down.

Overall I thought Allen played well, granted against Cleveland in a preseason game. He was smart with the football, took the smart play instead of the big one, featured his athleticism, and ultimately helped keep his team in the game.

I’m sure the Bills would have preferred for Allen to sit some, if not all, of his rookie season. Those have been the plans of many NFL teams, but the league is about making adjustments. Buffalo will likely sign a camp arm, someone like a Stephen Morris, but I think it’s unlikely they extend an offer to someone like Mark Sanchez or Matt Moore.