Inside the Bills: When it's good vs. good, Josh Allen has a tendency to be great
The numbers are too good to be a coincidence despite what Josh Allen might say publicly: When matched up against an elite quarterback on the other sideline, Allen has found a way to raise his game to another level.
The numbers are too good to be a coincidence despite what Josh Allen might say publicly.
When matched up against an elite quarterback on the other sideline, Allen has found a way to raise his game to another level. Take a look at his numbers this season for the Buffalo Bills against the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals: 97 of 133 (74.6 completion percentage), 1,235 passing yards, 9 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 35 carries, 167 yards, 8 rushing touchdowns.
That’s Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow on the other sideline. The best of the best. Every time, Allen has delivered in leading the Bills to a 4-0 record in those games.
“He is very competitive,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “Early on in his career, we used to talk about, ‘Hey, let's just play the defensive coordinator, let's play the defense you're playing, not the opposing quarterback.’ He's just matured so much and developed so much, he knows what he needs to do to get himself just right for those games.”
Allen and the Bills face a similar game Sunday when they visit Gillette Stadium to face the New England Patriots. Second-year quarterback Drake Maye has quickly established himself as one of the NFL’s elite at the position, with a very good chance at taking the league MVP award away from Allen.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen was in full command of the offense during last week's win over Cincinnati.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Thanks in large part to Maye’s steady guidance, the Patriots are riding a 10-game win streak and at 11-2, have the opportunity to wrestle the AFC East title away from the Bills for the first time in six seasons with a win Sunday.
Allen is not one to give the opposing team any type of bulletin-board material. Not surprisingly, he showered Maye with compliments this week.
“Drake is playing at an extremely high level right now,” Allen said. “He's extremely fun to watch. He's obviously put their team in a really good position and helped get them to where they're at.”
Allen said the Bills can’t be concerned with what Maye and the Patriots’ offense are doing. The Bills have to focus on taking care of the football, something they didn’t do well in the first meeting between these teams, with three giveaways – and recognizing that points will be at a premium against a defense that ranks seventh in the league in yards allowed per game (296.4).
If there is a common thread to Allen’s performance against the game’s best quarterbacks, he wasn’t sharing.
“I think it's a privilege to go against some of these guys in the NFL, and to really even just play in the league,” he said.
Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, however, didn’t find Allen’s numbers in those four aforementioned games to be a surprise.
“Any time I matched up against another great quarterback, the first thought in my mind wasn't, 'Oh, I've got to beat the other team's defense.' The first thought was always, 'I've got to outperform the guy on the other sideline. I know how great he is, I know he's going to play great and if our team is going to have a chance, it's going to start with me outperforming him,’ ” Warner said in a phone interview with The Buffalo News. “That was always my mentality when I would play against those guys.
“Does it surprise me when a great quarterback is playing against another great quarterback and they step up their game and they have to play well? It doesn't surprise me at all. The great competitors look forward to those games and look forward to playing their best football in those moments. We've seen Josh do that a lot.”
New rivalry takes shape
Maye’s performance has resurrected the Patriots, who for a time looked lost in the post-Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.New England hired former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel as head coach in the offseason, and one of his first moves was installing Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator. It’s the third stint in that role for McDaniels, the first two of which came with Brady at quarterback. McDaniels has installed a similar offense to the one Brady ran, and Maye’s ability to see the field, understanding his reads and going where he needs to go with the football has improved greatly.
Physically, he throws an effortless ball, and has emerged as one of the best deep-ball passers in the league. According to analytics website Pro Football Focus, he’s 25 of 45 on pass attempts that traveled 20-plus yards in the air for 809 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
“I'm always more impressed mentally when these young guys can show they have the ability to process and get through their reads and find the right guy and get to the right place early in the process,” Warner said, “because that's half the battle is playing fast and getting the ball out when opportunities present themselves. He's done an excellent job of that this year.”
Maye currently is second in the MVP odds at DraftKings at plus-200, behind only the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, who is at minus-180 (meaning you have to wager $180 to win $100). They have good separation from the rest of the field, with the Packers’ Jordan Love third at plus-1,000, followed by Allen at plus-1,500 (meaning a $100 bet returns $1,600).
While the MVP race is an interesting subplot to Sunday’s game, the bigger stakes are what it means for the AFC playoff race. The Patriots can clinch the AFC East with a win and move closer to earning the No. 1 seed. A Bills win, meanwhile, keeps their faint hopes of a sixth straight divisional title alive, while moving one step closer to securing a postseason spot.
“These are the kind of moments that can separate MVPs – late in the year, playing against another good team and outperforming another really good quarterback, that goes a long way,” Warner said. “The something to prove is you want to prove to everybody, including and probably most importantly to the guys on your sideline, that you're the best quarterback on the field that day. That's a motivating factor for all of us.”
The quarterback fraternity in the NFL is a tight one. There is a healthy respect that is shared among those who carry the weight of not just an organization, but in many ways, a community on their shoulders. Along with that comes a burning desire to beat the other. That’s been reflected in some of the battles Mahomes and Allen have had in the postseason.
The next great rivalry could be forming, too, between Allen and Maye, given their status as division rivals. The two quarterbacks share the same agent, Patrick Collins, and that has led to them spending some time together off the field. Allen said most of their conversations have had little to do with football and focused more on life.
Maye ranks second in the league with 3,412 passing yards and a 111.9 passer rating this season. He could become the sixth quarterback in NFL history under the age of 24 to lead his team to 11 consecutive wins in a single season.
“He's playing like a veteran quarterback,” Allen said. “He's seeing things extremely well. He plays at a great pace. It looks like things have slowed down for him. Which again, we hate to see that, right?
“But I'm happy for how well he's playing because he's a great human being on top of being a football player. We’ve just got to find a way to win on Sunday.”
Given their place in the standings and Sunday’s game, it’s natural that Maye has started to draw some comparisons to Allen, which he called an honor.
“I think I’m a … long ways away from playing like him,” Maye said. “He’s, like I said, the best in the game.”
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is congratulated on a touchdown run against the Panthers on Oct. 26.
Harry Scull, Buffalo News
Peaking at the right time
McDermott appreciated the word choice.The Bills’ coach was asked Monday about the “audacity” of Allen’s touchdown throw to Khalil Shakir the day before during a 39-34 victory over the Bengals at Highmark Stadium. It came on a fourth-and-4 play from the Cincinnati 11-yard line during the second quarter.
“Audacity, that’s a great word,” McDermott said.
Truthfully, the ball had no business being thrown. Shakir was triple covered. There was no window until Allen simply decided there was.
“It amazes me every time, just the stuff that he does,” Shakir said. “Us as skill players, we know we're always an option, because no matter what, he's going to fit the ball in the tightest windows. That's just what he does. He's that good, to where he can control the game with his throws and his feet. He's amazing.”
Shakir is understandably biased, but he considers Allen to be the best quarterback in the game every time he steps on the field.
“He has this switch that he flips,” Shakir said. “He's a sicko, man. The stuff he does is unreal. He has that mentality of being a dog every time he steps on the field.”
For most quarterbacks, it’s the type of throw that might earn them a seat on the bench despite the result. At the least, it would earn them a “great throw, don’t ever do that again,” message from the coaching staff.
Allen isn’t most quarterbacks.
“He's just got this 'it' factor that is hard to question and hard to defend,” McDermott said. “So it's just a special quality that not a lot of people have, not a lot of players, not a lot of performers have.”
Allen showed against the Bengals that he can still put on the Superman cape when the team needs him. What has set him apart in McDermott’s mind, though, is his willingness to balance discipline with the “wow” plays that only Allen can make. Taking the check down when that’s what the defense is giving him or throwing the ball away don’t make SportsCenter’s top 10 plays, but they’re sometimes the right move.
“I'm speaking like a true coach, I know, but that's the balance of discipline and him being so special, right?” McDermott said. “It's one thing to run around and make these special plays, it's another thing to go, 'Hey, when the situation calls for it, there's my check down. I'm throwing this ball away in the high red zone yesterday when we get another chance to play another play.' So that is to me, the combination of an elite player playing on a high level.”
How’s this for a crazy stat? The Bills are 3-0 this season when giving up at least 32 points in a game. There have been 72 times a defense has given up at least that many points in a game, and only six times has a team other than the Bills won the game.
“We learned from the first game of the season this year that as long as there’s time on the clock, the game is not over,” Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady said. “When you’ve got Josh Allen at quarterback, as long as there’s time on the clock, you’re going to be able to score points and the game’s not over. We have full confidence that however many points the defense gives up, we’ve got to score one more point. There have been games when they’ve held good teams and we didn’t get it done. Complimentary football. But as long as you score one more point than them, that’s all that matters to us.”
Brady, who served as Allen’s quarterback coach in 2022 before taking over as offensive coordinator midway through the 2023 season, said the quarterback’s consistency in preparation is unmatched. While it’s natural to pit quarterbacks against each other – despite them not being on the field at the same time – Brady hasn’t noticed any change in Allen during weeks like this one, when he’s going up against another elite passer.
“Maybe that’s just a coincidence. I don’t think he prepares any differently knowing that, ‘Hey, I’m going against Burrow this week,’ or at least if he does, he doesn’t say anything differently. But I thought he was outstanding (against the Bengals). I mean, it was one of those games where you feel like … even the bad plays, he’s going to find a way to get it done.”
The Bills enter Sunday on a two-game win streak that has strengthened their playoff positioning. Allen seemingly has found the delicate balance of doing what he needs to do to help the team win without pressing, which isn't always easy to accomplish. The throw to Shakir and the third-down scramble to ice last week's win are the latest examples.
"He wants to be the best athlete on the field," Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins said. "Whatever he has to do to be that, it's obviously showing. It's kind of cool he's doing that against some prime opponents."