Josh Allen and Justin Herbert are similar in some ways and drastically different in others.
They’re arguably the NFL’s two most physically intimidating quarterbacks. Allen is listed at 6’5” and 237 pounds. Herbert is 6’6” and 236 pounds on the Chargers official website. They both have rocket-launcher arms.
But the number of differences between the two towering passers has grown over the years, particularly after Herbert’s tremendous rookie season in 2020.
Allen and Herbert took the league by storm that
season. Allen erupted to the tune of 4,544 yards with 37 passing touchdowns and eight on the ground with only 10 interception. Also that year, Herbert set plenty of league records for a first-year quarterback en route to winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
One superhuman feat from Herbert’s debut season as a professional has not stayed with him to date in the NFL.
In that legendary 2020 campaign, Herbert had the league’s highest passer rating under pressure at 99.4 (among qualifiers).
Given his mobility, arm talent, and plus accuracy, it felt like Herbert was bound to regularly rock while pressure mounted inside and outside the pocket.
Since then, he’s done a 180 against pressure.
In Herbert’s second season, his passing rating in those situations was 77.9, the 21st-best in football. The following season, his under-pressure rating was 70.3, the 28th-best among qualifiers. In 2023, Herbert only managed a rating of 62.6, which ranked 40th out of 50 qualifiers. In 2024, it raised slightly to 72.1, the 29th-best in the NFL.
Last year, Herbert’s pressure it stabilized at 74.2, which was the 27th-highest among 50 qualifiers. So for as much as his drastic dip from his rookie season in this key area originally felt like a prime example of how under-pressure play isn’t sticky year-to-year, we’ve now seen him struggle in this area five-consecutive seasons.
Through two games this season, it’s only 61.8, the 19th-highest in the NFL.
Allen has been inside the Top 20 in under-pressure passer rating every since 2021, and is currently second with a rating of 106.3 while under duress through two games. Another area in which these two quarterbacks are different.
How Herbert performs, when pressured behind a reserve-laden offensive line on Sunday against the Bills, will be a key storyline of this Week 3 game.
