When Josh Allen was coming out of the University of Wyoming and entering the NFL in 2018, one of his biggest attributes was his arm strength. This was expected to be a big advantage throwing through wind and snow in Western New York during the winter months for the Buffalo Bills.
On Thursday, Allen is going to have a chance to show off that arm strength when he will throw out the first pitch in the Toronto Blue Jays game against the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays are currently playing their home games at Sahlen Field, which is home to the Buffalo Bisons, due to the pandemic.
The Bisons are the Triple-A affiliate to the Toronto Blue Jays. This is the second year in a row that the Blue Jays are playing in Buffalo as they played most of their home games there last season.
For Josh Allen, he is coming off one of the best seasons ever for a quarterback in Buffalo Bills franchise history. He threw for over 4,500 yards and had 37 passing touchdowns, along with eight rushing touchdowns.
One thing that should help him on Thursday is his improved accuracy over the three years in the NFL. As a rookie, he had a completion percentage of 52.8% and raised it six percentage points to 58.8% in 2019. This past year though that number jumped to a career-high 69.2%.
The Blue Jays returned to Buffalo on June 1st and have played five games at Sahlen Field this season. They started out with two wins over the Miami Marlins before dropping two of three to the Houston Astros. The Blue Jays are currently 33-31 and in third place in the AL East.
It will be interesting to see if Josh Allen throws a better first pitch than his head coach Sean McDermott. In 2017, McDermott threw out the first pitch before a Buffalo Bison game and the pitch was a little high.