This week's Meat-Eater Matchup brings a tyrannosaur that has excellent size, speed and range to make life miserable for opposing offenses and quarterbacks. The Jacksonville Jaguars' Josh Allen (not to be confused with Buffalo Bills' QB Josh Allen) is in his fifth year in the NFL. Playing as an outside edge rusher, most often he will be found rushing against the opponent's left tackle, in this instance Dan Moore Jr.
Standing 6-foot5 and weighing in at 255-pounds, Allen has a quick first step, resulting in excellent takeoff ability. A good outside edge rusher needs three things, a plan (know your move before the ball is snapped), a great takeoff and the ability to link pass rush moves together. And one trait Allen has for sure is the great takeoff. If the offensive lineman is late on the snap, Allen can take advantage of that in a heartbeat.
Demonstrating "cat-like" quickness, he can bend and tighten while running the arc with the ability to pounce on an unsuspecting QB or RB with a burst of violence. He uses quick and powerful hands to attack a blocker and has a variety of moves to draw from. Essentially a speed-to-power rusher, Allen has a nice hand trap akin to TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith. He will use his inside hand to try to knock down his opponent's hands/arms, then follow up with an uppercut using the same inside arm.
He has shown the ability to consistently pressure the quarterback. While quarterback hunting is his specialty, Allen has enough coverage ability to enable him to drop in short zones and he has enough speed to cover backs out in the flats. Like a true jaguar, he tackles in space consistently, and when he zeroes in on his prey, he hits with enough power to knock the ball out and create a takeaway.
One of the few knocks against him early in his career was that he would struggle at times when locking horns with physical offensive linemen and get locked up occasionally on a block and play more upright, which of course, makes the ability to root things out while taking on a powerful offensive lineman more difficult. From what I can see, he has improved in this area. He's shown himself to be proficient at holding the point of attack and setting the edge with a touch of violence.
Allen on occasion will take an inside rush with power, but if he doesn't beat his opponent clean, he can be moved off his track by strong leg drive from that offensive lineman.
Allen has seven sacks thus far, along with two forced fumbles, and an unbelievable 43 quarterback pressures. While I take pressures with a grain of salt, it tells you that his pass-rushing skills are prodigious. His ability to accelerate after disengaging from a blocker while on a quarterback hunting trip gives a clue as to why he is consistent in pressuring the opponent.
For the Steelers to beat the Jaguars, it will take another excellent performance by Moore to keep Kenny Pickett clean.
