My top concern about Allen remains whether he shrinks under external pressure.
I'm not talking about big moments during games. He's made enough ridiculous plays at really BIG moments during games for me to feel comfortable that way.
But every time he played in front of a huge or raucous crowd, or on a big stage, he had a really bad game overall. The only exception was his last game, this year's bowl game. Not a big crowd, but a lot of television and press attention, he went out and performed. Otherwise, bad games in front of big crowds, bad game in the BYU bowl game. Now he's not necessarily connecting in front of scouts in a big pressure week at the Senior Bowl, and it's not surprising.
Look at him from an interview standpoint. I often feel like he's nervous in those interviews. Look at him from just the standpoint of a big YEAR. He showed up to 2017 bright eyed and bushy tailed, had really not a great year under so much strain, and by the end of the year every time you saw him he looked like a college kid that had spent 72 straight hours in the library during finals week.
He gives that interview that showed up in Dolphins fans inboxes this week, talking about how he'd love to play backup for Ryan Tannehill. I want my quarterback to say he's fine with being a backup, say all the right things, be a team player, etc. But I want a sense from him that he's really not OK with it, deep down. Allen did TOO convincing a job here. He starts talking about backing up in Miami as if it would be the biggest RELIEF for him, which only feeds into what I've noticed with him about external pressure. He's there talking about how being a backup would be great because he could learn the playbook with no pressure, he could buy a house and set up his marketing stuff without being worried about it distracting from his football duties, etc. Where's your head at, kid?
When you hear it, you hear it, and I heard it. I heard the relief in his voice. And who does that sound like to you? What uber talent have we seen capable of playing like an All Pro, even leading his team to a Super Bowl, but has trouble handling the stress of big games, big expectations, even to the point of benching himself? Remind you of anyone?
There's a bit of that in him, and that's the biggest thing I'm worried about.
Can it get better? Absolutely. Anyone that's ever done anything from a performance standpoint knows that the 100th time you get on that stage, in front of that crowd, or into those high pressure roles, is not anything like the first 10 times you try and do it. It was really encouraging to me to see him in that bowl game this year come out of the gates swinging, and then really enjoying and insisting on staying in the whole game, keeping up his intensity.
