By Alex “MereKat” LeMere
Josh Allen has been nothing short of a godsend for the Buffalo Bills this season.
The development he’s shown both as an NFL signal-caller as well as a leader of men for the Bills this season has been prodigious and it certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. Allen has been fully embraced by his teammates, #BillsMafia and even the national media, outside of ass hats like Cian Fahey and Nick Wright(hope you like your new Wikipedia page bud).
Although Allen had a great second half of his sophomore season, he still came into this year not receiving the level of respect he was capable of obtaining. Everyone respected what the Bills had built under McBeane but still doubted Allen’s ability to cement himself as a franchise QB.
Many of those doubts were quickly put to rest just four weeks into this 2020 season after Allen’s emergence lead the Bills to a 4-0 record in historic fashion.
Josh Allen’s stats through the first four games (by game):
- Week 1 vs. NYJ: 33/46 (71.74 percent), 312 yards passing & 2 touchdowns. 14 rushes for 57 yards (4.07 ypc) & 1 touchdown. 104.6 Quarterback Rating. Won 27-17.
- Week 2 @ MIA: 24/35 (68.57 percent), 415 passing yards & 4 touchdowns. 4 rushes for 19 yards (4.75 ypc). 146.7 Quarterback Rating. Won 31-28.
- Week 3 vs. LAR: 24/33 (72.73 percent), 311 yards passing, 4 touchdowns & 1 INT (that wasn’t an INT). 4 rushes for 8 yards (2.00 ypc) & 1 touchdown. 128.9 Quarterback Rating. Won 35-32.
- Week 4 @ LVR: 24/34 (70.59 percent), 288 yards passing & 2 touchdowns. 3 rushes for -1 yard & 1 touchdown. 115.8 Quarterback Rating. Won 30-23.
For the first three games, he earned the NFL’s honor for the AFC Offensive Player of the Month, including AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his insane Week 2 performance against the Dolphins. He also became just the second Bills’ QB to have three consecutive games, week 1-3, with over 300 passing yards (shared with Jim Kelly), which he would’ve broken with 13 more yards in week 4.
Allen’s 1,326 passing yards (331.5 ypg) is a number that Allen didn’t eclipse last year until Week 7, and his 15 total TDs was more than half his total for the entire year last year. He was among the NFL leaders in yards, touchdowns, and accuracy with the likes of Dak Prescott, Patrick Mahomes, and Russell Wilson…elite company, to say the least.
He’s already shattered his previous career-highs of both passing yards and TDs in a season from last year (he had 3,089 and 20) with 3,403 and 26 through just 12 games this season.
An unexpected start paired with the rapid growth from Josh Allen was quickly garnering him heavy MVP buzz around national and social media that #BillsMafia embraced with arms wide open.
We saw pundits like Pro Football Focus, admitting to Allen’s talents. Jalen Ramsey, Former All-Pro CB of the LA Rams, making a 180 on his “he’s [Allen] trash” stance, now saying “He’s talented,” before getting beat by Allen and the Bills a second time in his career this season (an Allen led Bills beat Ramsey and the Jaguars 24-21 in 2018).
The hype train started to derail a bit after the opening stretch, though, as Buffalo lost 2 of 4 games weeks 5-8, and Allen started to have people questioning if his start was merely a fluke. A lone 300-yard game (307 Week 7 @ NYJ) and just five total scores matched with five turnovers wasn’t the best run, but this kid doesn’t dwell on bad games or concern himself with stats.
In Week 7 against Russell Wilson and the 6-2 Seahawks, Allen burst right back into the MVP consideration with the show he put on (albeit against a historically bad Seahawks D).
Allen went absolutely, and I hate to use this term about anyone other than Marshawn Lynch, BEAST MODE on the Seahawks en route to a 44-34 route. The win got the Josh Allen hype train back on the tracks and put the spotlight right back onto him. Allen put on an aerial assault with a whopping 415 yards and three TDs on 31/38 (81.58 percent) through the air and another score with his legs.
He took full advantage of the favorable matchup in front of him to get his team to 7-2 for the first time since 1993.
With the highlight reel game, Josh Allen became THE FIRST QB IN NFL HISTORY with 400+ passing yards, 3+ pass TDs, 0 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of at least 130 in multiple games in the same season (Week 2 @MIA the other).
I was going to say that it’s an impressive company to be in…but it’s just him. He stands alone.
Not too shabby, Josh.
The next two weeks saw Allen and the Bills split and go 1-1, losing to the Cardinals 32-30 thanks to the infamous “Hail Murray” and bouncing back to win 27-17 against the Justin Hebert driven Chargers. In those two games, Allen amassed a pedestrian 441 yards in the air with another 70 on the ground and accounting for five scores and four turnovers. Not “MVP-caliber” but not terrible and, without the last-second loss to the Cardinals, should’ve still went 2-0.
Coming into the Monday Night matchup with the 49ers earlier this week, the 49ers shifted from three-point underdogs to favorites, and a lot of that was a lack of confidence in Allen to step his play up against the defending NFC champions. Questions on the quarterback’s legitimacy were starting to bubble up again, and few outside of Buffalo believed in him to end Buffalo’s 21-year winless streak on MNF…
Well, they were flat fuckin’ wrong.
Josh Allen delivered a master class on executing an offense behind one of the best game plans I’ve seen from Brian Daboll in Buffalo. Allen delivered a Madden on rookie mode-esque stat line of 375 yards and four TDs on 34/40 (80 percent) through the air against one of the better secondary groups in the NFL.
Just wow.
The stats aren’t personal highs for Allen, but I think this might have been his best performance as a pro this far. His ability to extend plays (seemingly forever) make multiple reads across the entire field, and unmatched moxie are something we haven’t had in Buffalo in…forever?
On Monday night, the eye-catching performance also saw Allen be awarded AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the THIRD time this season. He now stands alone again, this time as the only player in franchise history to get the honor three times in a single season.
Allen’s on pace (shout out to my on pace guys) to finish this year with 4,537 passing yards and nearly 35 touchdowns. Those would both be Buffalo Bills’ franchise records, passing Drew Bledsoe in yards (4,359 in ’02) and Jim Kelly in total TDs (34 in ’91). On top of that, his current completion percentage of 69.9 percent (niceee) would be a Bills’ record for those with more than 35 pass attempts.
I won’t get into my undying love for Allen or my non-hesitation to follow him into a war as I’ve written all about that (Check out “A Letter to Josh Allen” for my sentiments here: https://www.trainwrecksports.com/a-letter-to-josh-allen/ )…but I am excited that he’s our guy.
I’m 25, so I hear about the Kelly years and don’t really remember Bledsoe’s historic season. So, for Josh to have a chance to break these old records while bearing witness to it would be special.
Let’s raise a glass to Josh Allen and hope for his and the Bills continued upwards trajectory…because I think we have our guy not just to break records…but to lead us back to the Super Bowl. Who knows? Maybe he’ll mess around and bring the MVP trophy back to Buffalo for the first time since Thurman in ’91.
*All stats are from https://www.pro-football-reference.com*
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com