Henry McKenna
NFL Reporter
For most of Josh Allen’s career, he’s been chasing Patrick Mahomes.
Here’s the draft Allen entered in 2018, a year after Mahomes. There is a contractual element to Allen signing a massive extension in 2021 after Mahomes signs a contract in 2020. Mahomes has three Super Bowl titles and two MVPs, while Allen has none of the on-field performances.
In terms of NFL maturity, Allen is at least one step behind Mahomes.
Except for one category: security blankets.
Mahomes still has that one. Tight end Travis Kelce has been the No. 1 option in the Chiefs offense since Mahomes took over as QB1. Allen lost his alpha this offseason in Stefon Diggs. And while many have compared it to Mahomes losing Tyreek Hill, that comparison is flawed. Because even after Hill left, Mahomes remained the best pass-catching tight end in the history of the game. Allen? After the Bills traded Diggs last offseason, the QB has had nothing of the sort.
I’m not saying Allen is better than Mahomes. However, the Bills QB is currently outperforming the Chiefs QB empirically. Let’s just say that Allen and the Bills have long been emulating Mahomes and the Chiefs with their team-building strategies.
until now. Things are different now.
So Sunday’s game, in which Allen beat Mahomes, felt like a reminder of how Allen’s career diverged from Mahomes’. Allen rushed for the game-winning touchdown and led the team in rushing yards. And he completed a touchdown to his 11th pass catcher. It’s a good thing the quarterback is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds. Because all he does is put the Bills on his back.
“I think we can play as the alpha on the team because we all have quarterbacks,” fullback Reggie Gilliam said. “You never know who’s going to fly 100 yards that day.”
“There are stars in this league, and he’s one of them,” receiver Amari Cooper said. “He is truly an incredibly talented person.”
The Bills offense experienced setbacks during the season. Their problems were on full display in losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. The Bills scored as much against the Chiefs (30 points) as they did in both matchups. And at that time, the situation with Allen and Buffalo seemed a bit ambiguous. maybe they did We need Diggs.
But since then they have won six straight.
And that’s partly because Allen has had more command of the offense. It’s not just in conference rooms or boardrooms. It’s about the relationships he maintains with his teammates.
“He did a great job all week asking us what we liked, what we didn’t like and how we viewed certain plays,” Dawson Knox said. “We have player-only meetings, where he goes through every receiver, every tight end, every running back. ‘Hey, what plays do you like? What plays don’t you like? What plays do you like? Call early.’ Do you want to see me get it?’ So just seeing him go the extra mile to make us feel comfortable, the communication with him has been awesome, he’s done a great job so far.”
Is it fair to call Josh Allen the best QB in the NFL right now?
Knox referenced the team’s Friday meeting that offensive coordinator Joe Brady conceptualized but did not attend. Brady leaves the room to let Allen run the show. This pushes the QB front and center, making sure he’s connecting with his teammates just as he would on the field. The conference began in the middle of last year when Brady replaced Ken Dorsey. And Buffalo has continued it this year, helping spark more discussion among players for 2024.
(Read more: Inside Josh Allen’s meeting with the Bills revitalizing Buffalo’s offense)
So how different is Allen this year when it comes to offense?
“It’s evolved,” Knox said. “He’s always done that, but he’s taken it to a new high level where we’re actually going to sit down with everyone and have meetings and take you one-on-one. So I’d say he does that a little more consistently.”
This is how players like Khalil Shakir turned into Allen’s new security blanket. Shakir is the team’s leader in receptions (56) and receiving yards (599). He saw his workload increase late last year as Diggs’ production slowed. And Shakir continued his upward trend.
“He’s a really great football player. He’s focused on football,” Allen said of Shakir last September. “He’s very unselfish in his approach. Any day of the week he might catch a couple of passes in practice, and again he’ll find a way to be in the right place at the right time. And he makes the play. That’s his That was my MO. I fucking love that guy.”
It’s easy to see why. Shakir has the highest catch rate (84.8%) of all receivers with at least 25 targets. He has the third-most yards after the catch (473). He’s not that fast. He’s just a threat in the open field, which makes Allen’s life easier.
However, as mentioned, the Bills had a tough start to the season against playoff-bound opponents. And Buffalo traded for Cooper in part because tight end Dalton Kincaid, a former first-round pick, wasn’t at the top of the leaderboard.
Buffalo has emphasized an “everybody eats” mentality in the conference, but Cooper projects to be the team’s No. 1 option. Because he joined the Bills in a mid-season trade, he doesn’t have a complete handle on the team’s playbook and doesn’t have a ton of hands-on experience with Allen. Despite this, they seem to have an unspoken connection that allows them to find each other even in difficult situations.
Allen found Cooper for a touchdown on the receiver’s first touchdown of the game. On the scoring play, the Bills QB warned against a one-on-one matchup with cornerback Cooper because Allen liked the matchup. And for good reason, as Cooper was easily open for a touchdown.
We saw more of that relationship on Sunday. Cooper may have only had two catches, but he was great. 30 yard over the shoulder catch And then there was the 20-yard contested reception in tight coverage. The Bills are not doing any manufacturing work on the new receivers. Allen and Cooper are making it happen in part because it’s an integral part of the offense.
Cooper has a completely different personality than Diggs, but he is a similar receiver. And perhaps Allen used his experience to accelerate the connection.
“Some quarterbacks have been playing this game for a long time. They can see similarities in a new receiver’s game and that helps with timing if it makes sense,” Cooper said. “But we definitely communicate, especially on plays where we know there might be a good opportunity to get the ball. We’ll communicate so we can get a mental rep before it actually happens.”
Cooper praised the Bills for being “different” in that they all go out to eat together and are “tight-knit” in a way he hasn’t seen much of in his 10-year career. And perhaps that’s what made the team’s win over the Chiefs all the sweeter. Cooper seemed to really enjoy playing with Allen, who rushed for a team-leading 26-yard touchdown on fourth down.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve actually felt happy about winning a game,” Cooper said. “If you’re a kid and you dream of playing football, this is the stage you dream of. You dream of playing meaningful games against the best teams. … To answer your question about Josh Allen’s experience — this size (of Sunday’s game) Ro — It was phenomenal… You know the old saying: Big players make big plays in big time situations, and that’s exactly what he did.
Allen is doing so many little things this year. He’s sharper than he was before the snap, with warnings and sounds setting the offense up for success. The quarterback is avoiding critical turnovers and playing better situational football. He’s playing smarter.
“Josh is a lot smarter than that. I don’t know how people rate him in terms of cerebralness, but he’s very smart. He’s a very smart guy,” Cooper said.
Put it all together, and the Bills have a quarterback who doesn’t need continuity among pass catchers to lead one of the NFL’s best offenses. There is a jokey proverb joe burrow: “F— that, Ja’Marr’s down there somewhere.” It’s antithetical to the Bills’ identity.
“The thing about Josh is that he never feels like he has a favorite,” Gilliam said. “It doesn’t matter who you are. He believes in you. If you’re in the room with us, he believes in you. So, ‘I don’t know if I want to pitch to him. We don’t have that much chemistry.’ He threw a deep ball to Quintin Morris (against the Chiefs).”
No one says, “F— that. Quintin’s down there somewhere.” None other than Josh Allen.
This is how he took a step back from Mahomes, which ultimately brought him one step closer to closing the gap between the two QBs.
Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter @henrycmckenna.
(Want great stories delivered straight to your inbox? Create or log in to a FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive personalized newsletters every day..)
Get more information from the National Football League Follow your favorites for information on games, news, and more.
