Originally Posted by Megatron96
Allen has the stats, no question.
And we'll skip the dumb plays both QBs have a tendency to make too regularly.
I'm talking about things like pre-snap reads, blocking adjustments, accuracy, understanding ball placement, and so forth.
Allen is a great, but still fairly raw talented QB. Kind of in the Tannehill mold, but better arm strength, arm talent, and even better runner. Where Allen falls short is mostly between his ears, and maybe to a degree absolute accuracy.
Baker obviously isn't the same kind of athlete, and doesn't have Josh's arm strength. But he is more accurate with tight window throws, exhibits better timing, and throws with more anticipation.
If all we did was look at off-schedule throws, Allen would probably win there as well due mostly to his crazy arm talent/strength, but most passing plays in the NFL are either timing/rhythm plays, or reads from the pocket, which is where Baker shows more competence, both in orchestrating his offense and throwing accurately on time and with anticipation. Though if you get some pressure on him, a lot of that goes out the window. Or up until Monday night this seemed to be mostly true.
Again, we're not talking about pure stats now, we're talking about how comfortable both QBs look from the pocket on typical passing downs.
Now, I do believe that Allen can and probably will mature into a better pure passer, so my opinion might shift next season or whatever.
This shouldn't be that much of surprise, considering their relative experience at the position from their college careers up to now. What's surprising to me is the big improvement Josh has made from last season to this one. Though having Diggs as his safety blanket has likely made the biggest difference for Allen statistically.
Anyway right now, Baker looks more like a true NFL QB than Allen does.
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