Bills quarterback Josh Allen is the AFC Offensive Player of the Month. Allen's head-turning three games to start the 2020 season have attracted the attention of national media, players and coaches all over the league. He is the first player to earn this honor since former Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2011.
Allen attributes some of the success to the time his coaching staff spent with him during the offseason.
"The patience that he coaching staff has had with me, the things that we've worked on in the offseason à la Jordan Palmer, coach [Ken] Dorsey, Shea [Tierney] and [Brian] Daboll," Allen said. "I really think that diving into the playbook as much as we did, I really feel like I know answers to the questions. I wouldn't say all the time, but I feel like I have a good grasp of what our offense is doing.
"I think the better I play, the more I know, the more comfortable I feel and it's just kind of a cycle. So I have to stay on top of it, understand what the defense is doing, understand that it's not really about what they do, it's about how we react to what they do. So I think that's kind of where we've progressed in that area, and I know we're going to have to keep progressing."
In three games, Allen has totaled 1,038 passing yards and 12 total touchdowns. The QB is completing 71 percent of his passes and averaging 9.1 yards per passing attempt, both career highs. His 71 percent completion rate is up 12.2 percent from last season, which is double the rate he improved after his rookie season going from 52.8 percent to 58.8 percent.
After four passing touchdowns helped secure the win against the Rams, Allen became the only Bills quarterback in franchise history to record back-to-back games with four passing touchdowns. He also accomplished something only Jim Kelly has done—three-straight games of 300 passing yards or more.
When Allen earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week after his winning performance against the Dolphins, Allen explained he thinks of the honor as one for his team. He's playing at a level that has brought his name into early MVP candidate conversations, but Allen knows none of this would be possible without the team around him.
"We've got some serious weapons here, and the job of myself is to get the ball into their hands on time accurately and allow them to make plays after the catch," Allen explained. "So that's all I'm trying to do, and we understand that here. It's fun to be out there. It really is guys that really care, guys that are awesome at what they do and guys that want to see each other succeed. It's a very good vibe that we got going on right now but again, we're going to see adversity we're going to have to find different ways to win football games."
