Kyle Allen has seemingly overcome a disastrous opening performance in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game to narrow in on the Lions' backup quarterback job behind Jared Goff.
Following a two-interception shellacking during his debut with Detroit, Allen has put together a stretch of stellar play, leading coach Dan Campbell to sing his praises after his latest showing Saturday against the Dolphins -- a two-touchdown performance that saw Allen miss on only three of 17 passes while throwing for 124 yards.
"Yeah, I mean, he's playing better, he's playing better," Campbell said when asked if the QB2 competition was now Allen's to lose, per team transcript, "So I would say that right now, if you're saying -- if you had to go in with the (No.) 2 right now, 'Who would you trust more?' Yeah, I would trust Kyle more because he's proven more after these two games. But I'm still -- we're still going to coach (Hendon) Hooker up. We're still going to see what's there and see if we can get him better. I mean, we still got a little bit here."
Last week against the Falcons, Allen had a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He went 7 of 8 for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
His performance Saturday versus Miami brings his two-week total to 244 yards and four touchdowns with an 84 completion percentage.
He played the entire first half and took a while to get going. His first three drives traveled 34 yards and lost 30 to penalties. From there, though, Allen was difficult to stop. He led a balanced drive for six on his fourth try, completing passes of 8 and 13 yards around chunk runs by Jacob Saylors before hitting Jackson Meeks for an 11-yard score.
Faced with a two-minute drill on his fifth and final drive of the day, Allen promptly went 6 of 6 for 77 yards, the exclamation point on the drive a TD to third-rounder Isaac TeSlaa in the corner of the end zone.
It's exactly what the Lions wanted to see from their primary backup, an emergency pull cord who can deliver results should they ever have to go a stretch of this season without Goff. And Campbell's faith in Allen comes not just from this singular performance or the one before it, but Allen's ability to bounce back after a dud in the league's most high-profile preseason game.
"I mean, it's pretty confident," Campbell said, regarding his confidence level in Allen. "I mean, here we go. This is his second week in a row you, you know, in a competitive setting here that he's moved the football for us and made critical throws at critical times. I thought the two-minute drill at the end was awesome, right before half. I mean, that was -- he's got really good command of the offense, he communicates very clearly, he doesn't get frazzled, he doesn't worry about anything. If he does something that didn't (go) quite right or he makes a mistake, like, he doesn't get frazzled. He's onto the next play, which all of us appreciate that. So, he's done a good job, I do have faith in him."
Hooker, meanwhile, continues to fall behind.
The 2023 third-rounder, once thought to be a potential successor to Goff before the veteran fully cemented himself as the Lions' present and future the past two seasons, continues to have trouble acclimating.
Provided six possessions, he led Detroit to only three points as the Lions' halftime lead disappeared over the course of the second half. Similar to Allen, he orchestrated a good-looking two-minute drill, compiling four throws of 9 or more yards while trying to stage a fourth-quarter comeback -- only his moment stalled out due to an end-zone interception.
He finished the contest with 61 yards on 6-of-13 passing, bringing his preseason totals through three games to 16-of-29 for 117 yards and two picks.
Hooker has been noticeably outplayed by Allen this preseason, even getting pulled early last week after losing two fumbles.
It remains to be seen if Detroit keeps two or three QBs on its initial roster, but time is running short on Hooker ensuring he doesn't lose his grip on the all-important QB2 role, too.