Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - Coming to Orchard Park this week, I was curious to see what Kyle Allen might be able to bring to the table under center. He and Matt Barkley played all the quarterback snaps on Saturday in the Buffalo Bills' preseason win over the Indianapolis Colts.
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Allen played about two-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter and didn’t really impress. The quarterback that impressed quite a bit was the veteran Barkley.
In his fourth season with the Bills, Barkley has only played in eight games. Only one of those eight games was a start, which came back in the 2018 season.
In the preseason opener, Barkley was close to perfect on Saturday, making some really nice throws that included two touchdowns. Overall, the 32-year-old was 14-of-15 for 172 yards and the two scores.
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What impressed me the most is the accuracy of each type of throw he tried. On his second touchdown pass, he put some good arc on the ball, making it easier for Dezmon Patmon to catch the 13-yard score.
Barkley started things off with a perfect ball to Marcell Ateman coming over the middle for 20 yards. He followed that with another perfect pass to Andy Isabella for seven more yards.
KeeSean Johnson wanted to get in on the fun, running a slant, and Barkley had the ball on target and on time for 12 yards.
Tyrell Shavers didn’t help Allen’s case with a dropped ball, and then a pass that went right through the wide receiver's hands on the first drive of the third quarter and into the hands of Colts cornerback Darius Rush. That resulted in a 52-yard interception return for a touchdown, which gave the Colts a 13-10 lead.
Shavers did help himself on the next drive, though, as Barkley fed him a nice 22-yard touchdown pass as he left the Colts in the dust down the left side.
Barkley’s best throw was when he threw it in a tight window between two Indianapolis defenders to tight end Jace Sternberger for 19 yards. The problem was the tight end fumbled the ball to end the drive.
Barkley did miss Shavers when he overthrew the wide-open receiver at the five-yard line, but it didn’t count due to a defensive holding penalty.
I even liked the awareness of Barkley when he avoided a good rush by the Colts by dumping a pass off to tight end Joel Wilson.
He hit receivers in small windows, which helped him put together long drives. The Shavers touchdown drive was 11 plays for 83 yards, while the Patmon scoring drive was seven plays for 74 yards.
Allen has not been all that impressive in training camp, and that continued on Saturday. He was 8-of-15 for 122 yards and one interception. He wasn’t helped out by the two miscues by Shavers, and on a 3rd-and-15, wide receiver Khalil Shakir dropped a good pass that would’ve been a first down.
Allen’s first throw to Trent Sherfield was so bad, it was almost intercepted by Darrell Baker.
On a 3rd-and-12, Allen did better to Shakir, getting 20 yards and a first down. Allen had some good patience for Andy Isabella to come over the middle, and the speedy wide receiver turned it into a 30-yard gain.
Allen also hit Ateman for 21 yards on a 3rd-and-19, so it wasn’t all bad.
The problem was he seemed indecisive at times, and wasn’t always delivering the ball on time.
Both these quarterbacks are going to get two more preseason games to see who is going to be Josh Allen’s backup. In my mind, the early lead, by far, goes to Barkley.
