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During his three seasons as the quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen has drawn a lot of comparisons to other quarterbacks, both young and old.
Just last week, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh compared Allen to Cam Newton and Patrick Mahomes. He’s also drawn comparisons to other big quarterbacks who have been able to run and extend plays.
As the Bills prepare for their Sunday Night Football matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Allen has started to hear the comparisons between him and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“Josh Allen is a great quarterback,” Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward said during a video conference call. “He’s a heck of a competitor, he competes every play. He’s very similar to a young Ben who can extend plays in the pocket, and make plays with his feet as well.”
Of all of the quarterback comparisons that Allen has drawn through the early parts of his career, the Roethlisberger comparison is the one that makes the most sense.
Early on in his career, Roethlisberger was known for being able to extend plays with his legs and wait for teammates to become open downfield. He was one of the best in the NFL at doing it too.
Through his first three seasons, Allen has done the same. During his first two seasons though, Allen was known for running the ball rather than looking down the field. But Allen has adjusted that approach this season and has used his legs to extend plays until his receivers find an open slot.
Throughout their Monday Night Football matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, Allen did it multiple times, which made it so difficult to stop him. But that’s not the only similarity that the two quarterbacks share as they are both tough quarterbacks to bring down in the pocket or when they build up a full head of steam doing down the field.
Either way, Allen was honored to be compared to Roethlisberger.
“What he’s been able to do in his career, winning a couple of Super Bowls, just the consistency that he’s been able to do it on, too,” Allen said during a video conference call. “He’s been doing it a long time, he’s had a lot of success and I’d argue that he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
“Very humbled to be named in the same conversation as him.”
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Roethelisberger Considers Allen an MVP Candidate
The longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has been around the block a time or two. He’s seen opposing quarterbacks come and go in the AFC North. He’s also played against some of the same quarterbacks, Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, that were drafted in the same class as Allen.
To put things short, he’s seen a lot and he’s been in a lot of the same places as these young quarterbacks. So, what he says holds weight and after 12 games in 2020, Roethlisberger believes Allen is playing at an MVP level.
“They’re a very good football team, they’re playing with a lot of confidence,” Roethlisberger said during a video conference call earlier this week. “They’ve got a quarterback that’s playing at an MVP level,”
So far this season, Allen has thrown for 3,403 yards and 26 touchdowns and he’s also completed 69.9% of his passes this season. With the weapons that he has around him, Allen has taken his game to a whole new level in 2020.
Allen Beat Pittsburgh Last Season
On the way to their second playoff appearance in three years, Allen and the Buffalo Bills beat the Steelers last season in Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football, 17-10.
Against one of the toughest defenses they played all season, Allen threw for just 139 yards and one touchdown as well as an interception. He was also sacked four times in a tough matchup. But during that game, the Bills defense stepped up as well.
The Steelers played without Roethlisberger and backup quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges threw for 202 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions.
Sunday night’s contest will be a whole new challenge for the Bills though with Big Ben back in the fold as he’s having another great year with 3,105 passing yards and 27 touchdowns while only throwing seven interceptions.
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