PLAYER STORIES- JOSH ALLEN
Player Story 1,
The Josh Allen Story
INTRODUCTION -
Allen has been nothing short of spectacular… but how spectacular is what has been the best story of the past two seasons of the National Football League. Allen is a 6’5”-240 pound behemoth of a quarterback. He was the 7th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, after a trade during the 2017 draft made it possible.
COLLEGE CAREER (2014-2017) -
He’s a Wyoming grad, and was one of the best stories of the 2018 draft as well. Coming out of high school he had no division 1 collegiate offers, deciding to enroll at Reedley Community College. After an amazing year playing community ball, and throwing for 26 touchdowns, 2,055 yards, and sporting 660 yards on the ground which led to a total of 10 touchdowns, Allen finally got his offer to play at Wyoming.
Allen would sit his Freshman year, or Sophomore year depending on how you think of it, before balling out his Sophomore year at Wyoming. This would start getting the attention of NFL Scouts. Allen would demonstrate extreme potential, as well as amazing arm strength. With a total of 35 touchdowns, (7 rushing, 28 passing), and 3,726 yards of total offense, (523 rushing, 3,203 passing). He’d advance into his total 4th year of college ball on a high note, and with a lot of expectations. Allen wouldn’t post the same numbers, however scouts fell in love with the athleticism, and versatility he showed.
He had good measurables at the combine, and his 127.8 quarterback rating was good enough to be considered the second or often third best quarterback in the draft class. As you know, he was the 7th pick by the Buffalo Bills.
EARLY NFL CAREER (2018-2019) -
Allen sat behind second year quarterback Nathan Peterman until, well, you know. Allen played above average for a rookie, and maybe I’m just being biased when I say that, but any fan, player, coach can admit that he definitely had his moments. Allen would go 5-6 as a starter that year, finishing with 2,074 passing yards, 10 touchdown passes, and 12 interceptions. He was a threat in the run game as well, finishing the season with 631 rushing yards, 8 touchdowns, and 51 rush yards per game.
Allen would make major strides in the off-season, easily becoming the starter in his second season. He had his first marquee performance of his career, as during the Bills 10th game of the season, week 11, against the Miami Dolphins, Allen would help lead the Bills to a 37-20 victory. Passing for 256 yards, 3 touchdowns, as well as adding 7 rush attempts for 56 yards and a touchdown. He’d finish the season 10-6 leading the Bills to the postseason for the first time in his career.
Sadly, Buffalo would choke a 16-0 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter of the wild card round. The game would head to overtime where Deshaun Watson would play hero. Chucking up a 34 yard completion to Taiwan Jones that set up the game winning field goal. It was a heartbreaker to say the least. Allen had a mediocre performance by regular QB playoff standards. However, for a second year player with nearly no offensive weapons, it was definitely a little more impressive. Despite this his 264 yards through the air was not enough. Allen came into the summer with determination, as the thought of the Bills’ offensive future was left lingering in the air over the off-season.
THE BEGINNING OF PRIME JOSH ALLEN (2020-) -
The Bills were projected to finish second in their Division that season, behind the Bill Belichick-led New England Patriots. They were also projected to be in a tough battle for the wild card spot all year with Miami.
Little did the NFL know they had 5+ years of arguably the greatest show on turf, pt. 2 coming their way.
The off-season acquisition of a top 20, arguably 15 wide receiver in the NFL Stefon Diggs was huge. Diggs was known as a deep ball guy before his first few seasons in Buffalo. He had reached back to back 1,000 yard seasons with the Vikings beforehand, but was most notably known for his “Minneapolis Miracle” he delivered in the 2017-2018 playoffs. Giving us one of the greatest and most clutch plays ever: a walk off 61-yard touchdown as time expired to beat the Drew Brees, Michael Thomas-led New Orleans Saints in the NFC Divisional round.
Allen was centerstage entering the 2020 season… and boy did he shine under the lights. Delivering us one of the best seasons by a third year Quarterback, Allen, and Diggs dominated the AFC East. Allen extended his streak of never throwing a pick in the red zone to over 3 consecutive seasons, and Diggs had a monster year. Reeling in 1,535 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 127 receptions. He led the league in receptions, and yards as Allen finished second in MVP voting. The Bills would finish the season 13-3, one of the best franchise marks ever, winning the AFC East. Allen would cap off his stellar season with 4,544 passing yards, and a 37/10 touchdown/interception ratio. He would post a 107 QBR rating, as well as finish with 421 yards, and 8 scores on the ground.
The Bills would enter the 2020-21 postseason hungry. They would beat the Colts 27-24 in the Wild Card round with monster games by both Allen, and Diggs. They’d shut down Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in the Divisional round, winning 17-3, fueled behind Taron Johnson’s clutch 101-yard pick six to seal the game. Despite all the amazing achievements that took place in both the regular, and postseason, Buffalo would fall short in the AFC Championship to the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-24. The Bills season didn’t die in vain, as there was tremendous momentum, as well as things to build off of coming into the 2021-22 season.
Buffalo would lose the opener to the Steelers, however would bounce back with wins over the Washington Football Team, Miami Dolphins, and Houston Texans.
Week 6… Bills vs Chiefs…. AFC Championship rematch.
To put it simply, it was a statement game for the Bills. Proving that they are the best team in the AFC. Even with big wins against the Patriots, Chiefs, and Jets, the Bills would be robbed of what would’ve been an amazing comeback against the Buccaneers. Let me just get this moment to announce to the world that no matter who you were routing for, officiating was the worst I’ve ever seen, period. I mean I get I’m freakin 12, but when you have veteran refs saying that you sucked and cost the Bills the game, that’s kinda bad.
Anyways, my short rant is over, (although it felt very good).
The Bills entered week 18 10-6, although not expectedly, the Bills were arguably the most complete, super bowl caliber roster in the NFL. Even at 10-6, they would have easily been around 13 wins, if the Steelers, Bucs, and Jags games had all gone their ways in certain fashions.
I’ll stop making excuses.
But you get the point.
The Allen-Diggs combo was f-ing good, and so were the Bills.
No matter what records or scoresheets said.
Heading into week 18, the Bills had a chance to lock up the AFC East Title for the second straight year, something that only the great 1990’s Bills’ teams had done last. They would either need the Patriots to lose their road game against the Miami Dolphins, or to win versus the New York Jets. They would get both, as the Dolphins would upset the 10-6 Pats to advance to 9-8, and in a dominant defensive performance, the Bills would light up the Jets in the second half. With 9 total sacks on the defensive end, and a total of 10 punts, blocking one in the process. The offense would produce well, with Allen completing 24/45 of his passes, 239 yards, 2 passing touchdowns and 5 rushes for 63 yards. Allen would connect to Stefon Diggs 9 times, finishing the game with 81 reception yards and a score. Diggs would break the record for the most receiving yards in a player’s first two seasons with a team, the record was previously held by Wes Welker. They’d get the dub 27-10, being crowned 2022 AFC East Champions.
Allen would finish the regular season with great numbers. Throwing for a 36/15 touchdown/interception ratio, Although he threw for a little more picks, overall he looked much more refined than the year before. He’d also tally up 4,407 passing yards, a 92.2 Quarterback rate, and a 63.3 completion percentage. With 763 rushing yards and 6 rushing touchdowns, Allen was just as big of a threat on the ground as well.
Like Allen, Diggs wouldn’t match the same numbers to the same extent that they did the year prior, however would still put together great ones. Diggs would record 103 receptions, 1,225 yards, and his first ever double digit touchdown season with 10 catches in the back of the endzone. He was an even bigger part of the Bills’ red zone offense which was a great sign. Along with Diggs’ 4th straight 1,000 yard season, the emergence of second year wideout Gabriel Davis, and third year breakout player Devin Singletary, especially during the end of the season brought life for Buffalo’s future beyond Allen, and past the Stefon Diggs era.
He’s already broken numerous records, as the first player ever to record 100 passing touchdowns, and 25 rushing touchdowns in their first four seasons in the league as the biggest one. Allen also holds the record for the longest streak without throwing a pick in the red zone to start a career, with nearly 4 full seasons. Even then, he’s still only thrown 2 total picks, both of which were deflections.
Allen was a never-supposed-to-be, but he’s defined the odds with back to back MVP Caliber seasons, already making his case for the NFL Hall Of Fame.