NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
The Kansas City Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes who has 2 Super Bowl titles and 3 appearances under his belt. The Cincinnati Bengals have Joe Burrow who has an SB appearance under him. But the Buffalo Bills are still waiting for Josh Allen to deliver one for them. While he’s viewed as an elite QB, Allen has yet to win the “big game.”
The Buffalo Bills are in trouble. Despite reaching the playoffs for the past 4 seasons with Allen at the helm, what exactly do they have to show for it? Mahomes has 3 Super Bowl appearances and a pair of Super Bowl rings to his resume while Allen has an outstanding regular season record to his. It’s time the Bills begin to make some hard choices.
In no way am I saying get rid of Allen. He’s a keeper for the next 10 years or so if he can stay healthy. However, the Bills team as we know it today, their window is closing and it’s closing faster than Bills Mafia would like to admit.
Outside of Stefan Diggs, who can Allen rely on? The ground game has suffered and for some strange reason, the front office continues to ignore that. While Allen is a great runner, he often puts himself in harm’s way when he doesn’t have to. For all the talk of Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, or Justin Fields doing too much, Allen is of that same breed.
Heading into the 2023 season, the Bills are now faced with huge challenges in their own division. The New England Patriots missed the playoffs but finished the regular season at 9-8 with one win against the Bills. The Miami Dolphins were playoff bound and if it wasn’t for the injury to Tua Tagovailoa late in the season, there’s no telling if the Bills would have won the AFC East. They also split the season series with the Bills.
Can The Buffalo Bills Win With Josh Allen
Once the laughing stock of the division, the New York Jets finished their campaign at 8-8. Every team in the division is improving while the Bills are just treading water waiting for a miracle to happen. How much longer can they keep this up while Allen is still in the better part of his career?
For the Bills, they can’t even compare failures with the Jim Kelly-led Bills who lost 4 straight Super Bowls as Allen and company have yet to even reach their first. He still has time, but with each passing year, it does get harder. The AFC East is steadily improving and with the Cincinnati Bengals and Chiefs headed for what appears to be an AFC Championship showdown every season, that leaves Allen and the Bills on the outside looking in.
The “widow is closing” is a metaphor used to not just gauge whether a team or good or bad, but to put the onus on what other teams are doing as well. The Buffalo Bills can still salvage something here but they also need more from their QB. Even with his gaudy stats, the fact remains that Allen is Peyton Manning before he finally broke through. As good as Manning was while with the Indianapolis Colts, he and the cots had a tough time breaking through the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. This is what Allen is going through right now.
Once again, this is not taking anything away from the talent of Josh Allen. But to label him as one of the best with the likes of Burrow and Mahomes is not fair to either party. Stats are cool but the measuring stick for any QB in the NFL will always be championships. And right now, Allen has none and if he and the Buffalo Bills are not careful, the window will close on this bunch.
