Josh Allen was the most-improved quarterback in the NFL this season -- there is no debate. Allen set Bills franchise records in completions (396), passing yards (4,544) and passing touchdowns (37), becoming the first player with 4,500 passing yards, 35 passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns in a single season in NFL history.
Allen's play transformed the Bills from good to great, as Buffalo improved from 10-6 in 2019 to 13-3 this season in winning its first division title since 1995. Buffalo had its first 13-win season since 1991, when the Bills reached the second of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.
The Bills weren't sure if they would reach this level with Allen's play over the first two seasons. Allen was a quarterback that completed 56.3% of his passes with 30 touchdowns to 21 interceptions in 2018 and 2019, with his struggles coming full circle in the team's wild-card game last year. Allen completed 52.2% of his passes (24 of 46) for 264 yards and a 69.5 passer rating in that game. He was sacked three times and lost a fumble, as the Bills blew a 16-0 lead before falling to the Houston Texans in overtime.
That failure motivated Allen as he prepares to make his second playoff start, 371 days after last year's debacle.
"The main lesson was not to press -- understand the situation we were in ... If I could change it, I obviously would," Allen said to reporters Tuesday. "I'm glad I can't. I'm glad the lessons that I've learned throughout that game and throughout the three years I've been playing so far. Without failure, people don't know success."
Allen cut his bad throw percentage (throws that weren't catchable with normal effort from the receiver) from 20.3% in 2019 to 16% in 2020. His on-target throw percentage (throws that would have hit the intended receiving target) improved from 73.2% to 79.1% -- jumping from 21st in the league to seventh. He's the third quarterback in NFL history to throw 35-plus touchdown passes and rush for seven-plus touchdowns in a season, joining Steve Young (1994) and Cam Newton (2015). Young and Newton both won MVP that season and took their teams to the Super Bowl. He completed 69.2% of his passes this year, a significant improvement from 56.3% the previous two seasons.
That playoff failure where Allen had a bad throw percentage of 21.4% showcased where the Bills quarterback needed to improve. Allen is looking to eliminate the demons from last postseason in a year where he's improved across the board.
