The Wide World of Dirt

After a thorough beatdown at the paws of the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo QB Josh Allen ended the day 25/42 for 265 yards with no touchdowns and a garbage-time interception.

Allen has taken four straight trips to the postseason with Buffalo, and after a walloping by the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Championship game, the Bills haven’t exactly returned to form in January.

The University of Wyoming product has a .500 record in the Playoffs through five seasons in upstate New York after Sunday’s loss at home to Cincy, so his elite status should be called into question.

The Buffalo Bills are filled to the brim with talent on both sides of the ball but especially so on offense.

The Bills’ receiving corps consists of second-team All-Pro receiver Stefon Diggs, a rising deep-threat guy in “Big Game” Gabe Davis, and a fantastic tight end in Dawson Knox. While Buffalo doesn’t have a great running game to compliment Allen, Devin Singletary and Nyheim Hines provide enough of a punch to keep defenses honest.

Speaking of honest defenses, the Bills boast one of the more complete units in the entire league with playmakers at every position, but injuries have certainly hindered their true potential.

With such a complete team, an elite quarterback should be winning games at home in the postseason, and Josh Allen isn’t getting it done even when everything should be going his way.

Look at last week against Miami.

In a game where the Bills were at home, mostly healthy on offense, and facing a Miami team down to their rookie 7th-round pick at quarterback, the Bills eked out a win against the group of porpoises, 34-31.

The close contest was due in part to Josh Allen’s three turnovers, including one returned for a touchdown by Dolphins DL Zach Sieler. They were lucky enough that Thompson sent two back to Buffalo via interceptions and had no sense of the play clock for a majority of the second half.

This didn’t happen in the divisional round.

The vaunted Bills pass rush certainly felt the loss of Von Miller. After putting Thompson on the turf four times last week, Buffalo’s defense couldn’t find their way to Burrow despite an O-line weakened by injuries to three starters.

Though Cincy only sacked Allen once, they made any time the 6’5” gunslinger had in the pocket was absolute hell, hitting Allen a whopping eight times. Cincy also had their noses to the football, getting their hands on 20% of Allen’s 42 passes.

For a QB of his stature, he can’t be having that many problems getting the ball out. He can run fast and has great weapons. He should be able to make something happen against a defense of Cincinnati’s caliber, and Josh Allen shrunk like a cotton t-shirt.

There will be calls to get him better weapons, but this is the best team the Bills can afford to field. They’re giving the keys of the franchise to Josh Allen and the offense, and if the defensive depth and quality dips because of that, so be it.

They’re giving him an average of $43mil over the next six years, a significant cap commitment for a guy that hasn’t won an MVP, hasn’t been first-team All-Pro, and hasn’t taken the team to a Super Bowl.

Elite quarterbacks either absolutely ball out and earn MVPs when they don’t have the requisite parts to win right away or they play well and win big games.

Joe Burrow is an elite quarterback. He is cool as a cucumber under pressure, and much like contemporary Patrick Mahomes II, he’s able to play his best at the tensest of moments.

Josh Allen has not proven that he can perform in the postseason. He reminds me a lot of Philip Rivers and post-2010 Ben Roethlisberger. You can give them all the parts, and he just gets in his own way trying to make the big play and be the hero.

If Tom Brady is proof of anything, you can become the hero just by following the system and taking what the defense gives you.

Think about all the game-winning drives Brady’s gone on in his career — hardly any of them included a massive game-breaking play made by Brady. Touchdown Tom usually dinked and dunked his way methodically down the field until his team found the end zone or the uprights.

Just when we all thought Josh Allen was capable of doing that last year in the divisional round, Mahomes and the Chiefs hastily orchestrated a 13-second drive to lineup a game-tying field goal to force overtime.

This is a moment that can make or break an athlete going forward, and the returns right now are saying that Josh Allen still might be shellshocked from that game based on this year’s playoff performance.

If he is truly elite, Allen needs to come back as a more accurate passer and stop turning the ball over. He needs to be smarter and take less risks. Relying on the home-run play isn’t an effective plan for success in the postseason.

Until then, Josh Allen won’t be in my top-5 QBs in the league, and he shouldn’t be in yours either.