The Buffalo Bills’ bye week can be a bit of a double-edged sword for content. On one hand, without a game to look back on the door is wide open to explore ideas. On the other hand, exploration can take
time and energy. The routine of a “normal” week allows that time and energy to be more focused.
What I’m getting at is that I sat down to write tonight not knowing precisely what the topic would happen to be. I think I found something fascinating, and hope you enjoy it too.
Josh Allen’s internal passing clock has been astonishingly consistent.
Time to Throw
I set out looking for something wild in the stats to share with all of you and to be candid, I nearly came up blank. I found some neat stuff, don’t get me wrong. Like, did you know that on 1st & 10 when the Bills decide to throw the ball they get enough for a first down over one-third of the time? That seems pretty wild to me.
When I got to the Next Gen Stats site I wanted to look at Josh Allen’s time to throw this season. He’s never been known for getting the ball out quickly, but with the increased pressure he’s had this season I wondered if a decline in protection was also resulting in a changed time to throw. As it turns out, Allen is going to get rid of the ball when Allen feels like he needs to get rid of the ball, circumstances be damned.
In 2025, Allen’s average time to throw sits at 2.91 seconds. That’s tied for seventh-longest in the league. For more 2025 stats, he’s been sacked on 6.32% of his passing attempts. The only seasons that are higher are his first two.
In 2024, when Allen had a preposterously low 2.82%, his average time to throw was 2.89 seconds. It was 2.88 seconds in 2023, and 2.87 the year before that. In 2021 he averaged 2.9 seconds to throw. His 2020 result was a somewhat different result with 3.04 seconds, 2.86 seconds in 2019 and 3.22 seconds his rookie season.
Aside from that first season and a small deviation in 2020 his time to throw has been startlingly consistent. Looking at a competitor’s time to throw over the years, here’s a quick list for Patrick Mahomes: 2.91, 2.82, 2.89, 2.84, 2.89, 2.88, 2.81, 2.56
It’s not that Mahomes is inconsistent mind you. It’s just Josh Allen’s times are insanely close together for most of his career. Taking a quick peek at other quarterbacks, I came away with an even greater impression that Allen is remarkably consistent in this metric.
In his time in the NFL, Allen has had multiple offensive coordinators and related changes to scheme, etcetera. There have been changes to the offensive line. There have been significant variations in personnel usage such as how often tight ends are on the field blocking, six offensive lineman formations, wide receivers available, and more. Opponents have changed how they play Allen too with differences in blitz rates, coverage concepts and more.
These changes have led to fluctuation all over in Allen’s stats. Take a look at completion percentage over the years. From 2018 to current, Allen has had completion rates of: 53%, 59%, 69%, 63%, 63%, 67%, 65%, and 68%. Allen’s interception rate has been as high as 3.8% and as low as 1.2%. Allen has had two seasons above 3.0% and two seasons below 2.0%.
What does this have to do with how successful the Bills might be this season? I don’t think a single darn thing. I just find it interesting as all get out that Allen’s internal clock seems to function on actual gears.
