Analysis: Josh Allen's audible to John Brown highlighted QB's huge day

Seattle had pulled within 27-20. There was 12:21 left in the game, and the Bills were at the Seattle 35.

The safe play was to drop back in zone coverage, force the Bills to kick a field goal in the 45-yard range and stay within 10 points.

Instead, head coach Pete Carroll instructed defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. to call an all-out blitz.

Maybe Josh Allen would have been flustered in 2018 or last season. Not in his third season.

The Bills quarterback audibled to a receiver screen to John Brown that went for 33 yards to the Seattle 1. The ensuing touchdown put the Bills in control for good, up 34-20.

“He made a great check on the all-out blitz to John Brown,” said center Jon Feliciano. “That was a huge play in the game. That’s all Josh’s preparation and the confidence of him noticing the defense, noticing they were bringing all out, and he got to the right play.”

Here’s a look at some of Allen’s big plays from the Bills’ 44-34 victory Sunday, starting with the key receiver screen.

Third and 16. Seattle had been hurting the Bills with heavy blitzes throughout the third quarter. On this play, the Seahawks rushed their four defensive linemen, both linebackers and both safeties, Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs.

“I made, contributed the call that they hit the screen on, third and 16,” Carroll said. “All the calls didn’t work out quite right, as it happens sometimes.”

Cornerback Quinton Dunbar was playing well off the line of scrimmage, with Brown lined up wide right. Allen fired the quick pass to Brown, who had a clear path up the middle of the field to the 1-yard line.

“They made it a little bit of a zero game late in that first half and then in the third quarter,” Allen said of Seattle’s all-out blitzes. “Then we hit the screen to John and kind of got them out of that. I got to recognize those earlier and get to our checks earlier, whatever the case may be. If we continue to see it, we’ll have to adjust and find different ways to attack it. As soon as you hit them once or twice there the team usually doesn’t go back to it.”

Brown caught eight passes for 99 yards. He has been battling a foot injury that kept him out two of the previous four weeks, and he had just one catch in the other two games the past month.

“He’s just another guy that you gotta worry about,” Allen said. “His route running, his speed, he’s a vertical threat. He’s a very smart, instinctive runner. He knows when to find zones. He’s a heck of a player and a heck of a guy. When he’s on the field ... now you have to worry about three or four different guys on the field at all times. As soon as you take attention away from him and that’s when we use him.”

Deep over TD. Allen hit Isaiah McKenzie for a 25-yard TD to cap the first drive of the game.

It was a deep over route from the right slot against Cover 3, with Diggs playing free safety in the middle of the field.

Allen pump-faked to Brown, who ran a hitch on the left side of the field, which drew the attention of the other safety, Adams. Diggs had no chance to keep up with McKenzie screaming past him toward the left side of the end zone.

“Josh made a great throw, great protection,” McKenzie said. “We worked on that play during the week and it was like, listen, if we got the look, you throw it no matter what.”

McKenzie did a nifty dance move to celebrate his second TD of the season.

“After a touchdown I’m always dancing, so I brought the little salsa moves out,” he said.

It’s good to be 237 pounds. The Bills’ second TD in the first quarter was set up by a 22-yard catch and run by Devin Singletary to the Seattle 5.

Seattle rushed five men, and Rasheem Green beat Cody Ford up the middle. Green got an arm around Allen’s legs but the big quarterback was too tough to bring down.

It looked like Allen was going to scramble, which drew Adams toward the line of scrimmage. But Allen had his eyes downfield and dumped off to a wide-open Singletary.

Bad slot matchup. Due to injuries, Seattle is on its third option at slot cornerback, undrafted D.J. Reed. Stefon Diggs abused him for a 21-yard gain on the Bills’ third TD drive. Diggs faked a curl from the left slot, then sprinted on a cross toward the right sideline. He was wide open for a 21-yard gain to the Seattle 36.

Bad wide matchup. On the next play, Diggs ran a hitch near the left sideline against Dunbar, who was giving a big cushion. Seattle sent a six-man rush, but the Bills kept both Singletary and Dawson Knox in to block. It was an easy throw, and Diggs ran away from Dunbar for another 21-yard gain.

“Yeah, he had a tough day,” Carroll said of Dunbar. “He was playing on a sore knee. Eventually we had to take him out.”

A Daboll special. The Bills capped that drive with a 4-yard TD pass from Allen to Gabriel Davis. Talk about scheming it up by offensive coordaintor Brian Daboll.

First McKenzie ran a jet-sweep motion to the left, and Allen faked a shovel pass to him.

Then Allen took a step toward the line of scrimmage, with running back Zack Moss leading the way as a blocker, as if it was a quarterback power run off right guard.

Then Allen stopped and threw a jump pass to Davis, who ran a slant against Dunbar. Wide open. The Bills had a 24-7 lead.

“We didn’t want to be off them as much as it wound up looking like at the end,” Carroll said. “That was not the plan. I’ve got to see why that happened. It’s such an out of character game across the board that I don’t even recognize us.”