The Buffalo Bills lit up the scoreboard against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with six touchdown drives led by quarterback Josh Allen. Even more remarkable than the sheer volume of points was the quirkiness of the day. There were three rushing touchdowns, but all by Josh Allen. That doesn’t mean running backs were left out. Both Ty Johnson and James Cook III found the end zone, but both were receiving touchdowns.
Even more zany, in a game that was supposed to be limited by wind, Allen landed two long touchdown passes right where he wanted them. It was fun to look unstoppable, so lets review all six touchdowns with analysis that’s thinly veiled celebration.
The Touchdowns
With the really short break between Weeks 11 and 12, all the clips here are crammed into a single video. My thoughts on each will follow the video in quick-hitter style.
- On Josh Allen’s first rushing touchdown, we have a Shnowplow for the score. As Allen is known to do, he traveled left to get behind left tackle Dion Dawkins. Make no mistake, this is like any other QB “sneak.” There’s no intent to actually deceive. Everyone knows what’s coming. It’s just incredibly tough to stop the offense from gaining a yard or two. Allen was assisted by fullback Reggie Gilliam, who got a hell of a push going and flung Allen forward.
- Pressure comes somewhat quickly on the Bills’ second touchdown. Allen went Yakety Sax mode to buy time while wide receiver Tyrell Shavers worked his way behind the defense. Allen flung the ball to the end zone on a day that was supposed to have extraordinarily high winds. Shavers needed to adjust some to the ball but there’s not much indication the pass was impacted a whole lot by the wind.
- For Ty Johnson’s touchdown, this isn’t a play design intended to get it all in one shot. The screen pass required a lot of blocks to go well just to get the five yards needed with Johnson starting off about 6-7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. A narrow lane opened up and Johnson slipped through, off to the races. Shavers had the honor of sealing the final block for Ty Johnson.
- James Cook’s route looked intended to take it the distance, or at least give him a shot to do so. My favorite part of this play is linebacker Anthony Nelson’s (#98) reaction. He looked absolutely desperate to get in Cook’s way seeing him slip out from the backfield and through the line. A slight change of direction by Cook led to Nelson having zero chance to impact the running back.
- On Allen’s second and third rushing touchdowns, both plays were designed in a manner that can open up a few potential lanes for him. Clearly Allen made good decisions on both, but the real story for me is how his feet supported the decision. The clean mechanics help the big man QB turn...
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