It's Time for Josh Allen to Leave His Mark

The Buffalo Bills signal caller has the chance to make a major statement against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is on one of the greatest runs in NFL history. Since the start of the 2020 season, he’s scored 213 touchdowns, gained 24,272 yards, and won 61 games, 68 including the postseason. Allen’s transformation from a talented but unrefined player to an all-around dominant force has changed how the NFL scouts quarterbacks and turned Buffalo into a perennial contender.

From a pure ability standpoint, it can be argued that Allen is already amongst the greatest to ever play the game. The Wyoming product has displayed complete mastery of the quarterback position and paired his freakish physical gifts with an ever-improving football acumen.

Whereas the Allen of old would oscillate between breathtaking highlights and indefensible errors, his play has begun to stabilize under offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Allen is still among the league leaders in explosive plays and big-time throws, but he’s cut back on the negative plays considerably.

Allen’s turnover-worthy play rate dropped to a mere 2.3 percent this season, marking the lowest of his career and the ninth lowest in football, according to PFF. Furthermore, his sack avoidance has continued to improve. Allen finished the regular season with the best pressure-to-sack rate in football and elevated his offensive line with his instincts and mobility.

While early indications are that Allen will come up short in this year’s MVP race, no one can deny the strides he’s made as a player. Allen has continued to build on his foundation and solidified himself as one of the best players of this generation.

However, Allen has little to show for his immense gifts. He’s made three Pro Bowls and been named a second-team All-Pro twice, but his resume lacks the flare and luster one might expect. If Allen’s career ended today, what would his legacy be? That he was the second-best quarterback for five straight years? That he could’ve won multiple Super Bowls had he not played in the same era as Patrick Mahomes?

Legacies are defined just as much by what a player doesn’t accomplish as what they do. That’s why Allen is bound to be mistreated by history. Fans 20 years from now won’t care about Allen’s innate ability or statistical output. They’ll hyper-fixate on the lack of MVPs and Super Bowls and make a superficial judgment on who he was as a player.

At 28 years old, the story of Allen’s career is far from finalized. Peyton Manning didn’t win a Super Bowl until he was 30, and Matthew Stafford didn’t win a playoff game until he was 33. Allen and the Bills have plenty of time to leave an indelible mark on the sport.

Still, it’s hard not to feel like Sunday’s AFC Championship matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs is a legacy game for Buffalo’s starting quarterback. Allen remains in search of a signature playoff win and Super Bowl appearance. He can check both of those boxes with a victory over Mahomes.

Despite being 4-1 against his nemesis in the regular season, Allen is 0-3 against Kansas City in the playoffs. While these defeats haven’t necessarily been on Allen, it doesn’t change the fact that his teams have continually come up short when it matters most.

Players’ memories are generally reduced to a couple of sentences or phrases that summarize their greatest feats. For Tom Brady, it’s that he won seven Super Bowls and appeared in 10. For Peyton Manning, it’s the five MVPs and single-season passing records he set in the 2013 season.

Without any Super Bowls, MVPs, or major postseason victories to speak of, Allen’s legend is a blank slate. Everyone knows he is phenomenal, but his greatness hasn’t translated to a large number of accolades or awards.

Fair or not, these are the games that define players’ careers. A win over Mahomes would put the Bills in prime position to capture the franchise’s first Super Bowl and put an end to many of the narratives that have been ascribed to Allen. At the same time, another loss would only evoke more questions and critiques of Buffalo’s franchise quarterback.

It’s time for Allen to stake his claim as one of the game’s all-time greats or risk leaving the seventh season of his career wondering if the breakthrough will ever come.