How did Josh Allen play vs. Cardinals? Jim Kubiak’s analysis

Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills persevered through a shaky first half to post a 34-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in the season opener Sunday at Highmark Stadium.

Allen’s overall performance grade was 89%. He completed 18 of 23 attempts (78%) for 232 yards, accounting for two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns.

Without Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, Allen completed passes to nine different receivers, and the offense did not appear to miss a beat. This game featured a little of everything for Buffalo, including a four-play first quarter, an early deficit, a few questionable officiating calls and a signature Allen hurdle that sealed the victory.

The Bills revived themselves in the second half as Allen ripped the Cardinals through the air and with his legs. The Bills converted two key fourth-down plays to keep critical drives alive, and Allen accounted for a pair of touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. Allen’s efficiency in the second half was impressive, completing 13 of 18 passes, flipping what was a lopsided time of possession into the Bills’ favor.

In the end, Allen and the Bills held on to a victory that almost got away.

Play selection: 4 plays (2 passes, 2 runs)

Allen: 1 for 1 passing, Sack-fumble

On the Bills’ opening drive, Allen had the Bills first-and-10 on the Cardinals’ 19-yard line when this sack and fumble resulted in the first turnover of the game.

1. Allen sack and fumble on Bills’ first drive

On this play, Allen was out of system trying to extend the play. As he reset in the pocket and then reset again, the Bills’ offensive line could not anticipate his next action or hold up in protection any longer. Allen was hit and stripped. Should he have thrown it away or run? Conventional wisdom says there is definitely a time and a place to throw it away and give up on a play to preserve the possession. Here, Allen waited too long, which ultimately resulted in a turnover.

The Cardinals capitalized with another long drive that resulted in a field goal to begin the second quarter, going up 10-0.

Allen and the Bills’ offense only possessed the football for four plays. Obviously, this was not the start Sean McDermott was hoping for.

Play selection: 15 plays (4 passes, 11 runs)

Down 10-0, the next offensive possession took on a real sense of urgency. On the fourth play of this drive, offensive coordinator Joe Brady showed fans what he’s been working on this offseason with this great play design. On second-and-5, Allen completed this unique version of a “pop pass” to tight end Dawson Knox:

2. Fake Toss, 88 POP-PASS, pulling center – great design

Brady used three tactics to fool the Cardinals’ defense and free up Knox. First, Mack Hollins lined up to Allen’s left and motioned across the formation to Knox’s side. Allen faked a toss to Cook to his right, and to complete the play-action fake, the Bills pulled center Connor McGovern. All of this movement to the right influenced the Cardinals’ defenders, allowing Knox to slip out from his three-point stance undetected and wide open for a simple 5-yard throw that resulted in a big gain. These are the kinds of plays that I love to see from Brady, because he specifically tries to make the game and the reads easier for Allen. This play was a good example of his quarterback-friendly tendencies.

This thundering drive faltered, however, as a touchdown run by Allen was negated by a face-mask penalty called on second-year right guard O’Cyrus Torrence. Instead of a 10-7 Cardinals lead, Tyler Bass kicked a 37-yard field goal to make the score 10-3 Cardinals.

The scrappy Cardinals put together another touchdown drive that again soaked up 7 minutes to extend their their lead to 17-3 with just 2:40 remaining in the half.

Allen got another opportunity to score, and, situationally, the Bills would get the football to start the third quarter.

On the Bills’ third series, they overcame three offensive penalties and went 70 yards in 2:41 to set up an Allen score before the break. This opportunity was almost squandered by three false starts – first Quintin Morris, then Dion Dawkins and finally Spencer Brown.

It is difficult to say why these false starts were happening, but they did happen with regularity on this drive, and this nearly sank the Bills’ chances. Despite these hiccups, Allen persevered – and the Bills were also the beneficiaries of two penalties on the Cardinals. The Cardinals’ defense was called for holding and then for roughing the passer.

The key play on this drive was this great completion and run after catch by Khalil Shakir.

3. third-and-6: Shakir arrived, catch and run for 18 yards

Here, Allen stepped up and then reversed his escape to find Shakir sitting underneath the coverage in Allen’s line of sight.

The incredible aspect of this play was what happened after Shakir caught the ball. We tend to think of him as a light, small, jitterbug type of receiver – but on this play, he took a jarring hit from cornerback Max Melton. The ferocity of this hit was impressive, yet it seemed to have no effect on Shakir as he bounced off and continued forward for additional run-after-catch yardage. If you thought Shakir was a lightweight slot receiver, think again. His ability to absorb this impact and proceed demonstrated how tough and physical he really is.

4. Second-and-3: Allen zone-read TD run

This touchdown was masterfully set up and executed. Consider that the Bills only had one timeout with 25 seconds remaining, and conventional wisdom indicates this second-and-3 play would have been a pass to give Allen the ability to stop the clock with an incomplete pass.

But Brady did it again, outfoxing the Cardinals’ defense on a zone read with a nub tight end and a fake-motion. The magic here was in the details. Watch how running back Ty Johnson faked a motion, as though he were going to shift outside, and then reset.

This tiny detail demonstrated how much thought went into this play. That designed fake movement by Johnson caused the cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting to put his eyes on Johnson. When he reset, Murphy-Bunting was influenced more to the inside than his original alignment. This was important, because Knox was responsible for blocking him and had an easier time gaining leverage, which ultimately allowed Allen to score. This was a remarkable detail and an incredible run by Allen to score on the play.

The story of the first half for the Bills was the time of possession in favor of the Cardinals: 20:06-9:54. This trend would flip into the Bills’ favor in the second half.

Despite the offensive hiccups, Allen completed 5 of 5 passing in the half, ran for a touchdown and had the costly sack-fumble. His efficiency was actually extraordinary, despite the choppiness of the game itself.

Play selection: 17 plays (10 passes, 7 runs)

The opening drive of the third quarter gave the Bills confidence as they hummed down the field in nine plays and Allen threw his first touchdown pass of the season to newcomer Mack Hollins.

5. Third-and-10: TD pass to Mack Hollins, slant vs blitz

Here, on third-and-10 from the 12-yard line, the Cardinals came with an all-out blitz. This seven-man pressure meant that the defensive secondary of the Cardinals was in Cover 0.

Allen saw and read the blitz before it happened, and changed the play. What I liked most about the “alert” call was that it gave Allen easy reads to attack with. He had a fade to his left with a slant and a corner to his right with a hitch. These concepts would have been effective, even if the Cardinals didn’t blitz, which was Brady’s strategy.

An inside slant is virtually unstoppable and so simple, and the quickness of the decision allowed Allen to complete the touchdown pass without being touched by the defense. This was outstanding preparation and execution by Brady and Allen.

This tied the game 17-17 as Bills fans everywhere took a breath of relief.

Later, with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, defensive end Greg Rousseau stripped Kyler Murray and Dorian Williams recovered, giving the Bills offense the opportunity they had been waiting for – the chance to take the lead.

It took five plays for Allen and the offense to score from the Cardinals’ 20-yard line, including a tush-push fourth-down conversion. On first-and-10 from the Cardinals’ 10-yard line, Brady again called a unique and unexpected play for that area of the field – a receiver screen.

6. WR screen TD to Shakir; Dion Dawkins pancake

This was another unique play-call by Brady, in the sense that receiver screens such as this are generally more successful in the open field.

Here, Brady released left tackle Dion Dawkins to account for the third defender, safety Jalen Thompson. The result was a pancake as Dawkins destroyed Thompson, who had no chance of taking on Dawkins.

The execution of this play depended on Allen’s lightning-quick throw and another fake motion, this time by Cook shifting from Allen’s left to the right with some additional window dressing to gain the attention of the defense.

The Bills had the numbers to block and account for the defenders on the left side.

Shakir showed us again why Bills general manager Brandon Beane didn’t worry about releasing Diggs. Shakir made this play on will and hard-nosed effort alone.

The Bills finally took the lead 24-17 with 2:40 remaining in the third quarter. Allen was nearly perfect, completing 8 of 10 passes with two touchdowns.

Play selection: 19 plays (8 passes, 11 runs)

Allen: 5 for 8 passing, rushing TD

The Cardinals answered with a field goal to tighten the score 24-20.

On the Bills’ next possession, their drive began with 13:32 remaining. Allen orchestrated a 10-play drive that chewed up 4:48 and resulted in a signature touchdown leap, giving the Bills what seemed like a commanding 31-20 lead. This drive included five passing plays and five rushing plays, as Allen ran for a critical first down on a fourth-and-2 and scored on this electrifying touchdown leap. He literally took the game and the plays into his own hands.

7. Second-and-goal Allen leap TD

The 11-point lead was gone in a flash, as DeeJay Dallas returned the next kickoff for a touchdown. The Cardinals not only erased Allen’s incredible touchdown; they also converted a 2-point conversion to make it just a three-point game, 31-28, with 8:31 to play.

The Bills punted on their next possession, as did the Cardinals on their next drive. This set up Allen and the Bills’ offense on the Cardinals’ 43-yard line with 4:30 left.

The focus at this point was to drain the clock while simultaneously putting themselves in position to score.

Cook ripped off three straight runs to move the offense to the 20-yard line before Allen was stopped short on a third-and-2. This brought on Bass for a 39-yard field goal, which gave the Bills a six-point lead with 1:56 remaining.

Next, Bass made a critical mistake on his kickoff, sending it out of bounds. This gave the Cardinals excellent field position, from their own 40-yard line with three timeouts.

The Buffalo defense held with a combination of timely blitzes, which forced Murray to throw the ball before he wanted to on several plays. McDermott and new defensive coordinator Bobby Babich did not sit back. When the most critical time of the game arrived, they attacked with creative and overwhelmingly chaotic blitzes that affected the Murray’s rhythm.

The Bills came away with a much-needed victory to begin their 2024 campaign, but this game certainly did not go as planned. In the end, however, the result helps us draw several conclusions.

First, Allen is awesome. His performance was remarkable as his physically fearless and reckless running combined with his passing efficiency were too much for the Cardinals. The abandon that he plays with also creates risks, as he appeared to injure his left hand during his acrobatic touchdown hurdle.

The other takeaways from this win have been areas of worry for Bills’ fans coming into this season. Clearly the Bills have a solid receiving corps with Shakir, Hollins, Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdez-Scantling.

From last season, it appears that the passing game has actually improved, because all of these talented receivers have slightly different skill sets. They shared the load, which makes the Bills’ offense more difficult to defend overall.

The Bills’ offensive line, despite their penalties, was also improved with more downhill runs as McGovern moved to center and big David Edwards started at left guard. This plays directly to the fantastic skill set of a running back like Cook, who has the speed and agility to get downhill and then cut back to openings. The Bills ran for 130 yards on 33 carries, and Cook himself accumulated 71 yards on 19 carries. The Bills were pushing the Cardinals down the field on a routine basis as Bills’ running backs were getting north.

Finally, as McDermott’s defense almost always does, it found a way to hold, patched together with players who have developed over time in his system.

It is truly impressive and satisfying to see this defensive group find ways to maximize their abilities.

Final passing stats: 18 of 23 (78%), 232 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 fumble

Final rushing stats: 9 rushes, 39 yards, 2 TDs