Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills have never had a better opportunity to end their agonising wait for a Super Bowl - but could a lack of support for their MVP quarterback cost them?Â
Buffalo have been knocked out of the playoffs by Kansas City in four of the last five seasons - including two AFC Championship Game defeats - but enter the postseason without Patrick Mahomes and his eliminated Chiefs standing in their way.
Question marks loom, however, after Allen and his offense were stifled for much of the game during Sunday's 13-12 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles.
While the Bills have ranked among the league's most potent offenses, there remains uncertainty over their depth of difference-makers outside of Allen and star running back James Cook.
"What we saw was Josh Allen trying to do too much ultimately," said Your Site NFL's Phoebe Schecter. "There's the second-and-two where he turns it over and it becomes points for the Eagles.
"I do feel he doesn't have the receiving core around him. There's a lot of injuries, no Dalton Kincaid on Sunday, I'm not saying it would have changed the trajectory but I do think it's something long-term, if you're going to make a deep playoff run it can't just be Josh Allen."
Allen himself did have a chance to win the game in the closing seconds when he missed his throw to a wide-open Khalil Shakir while attempting a go-ahead two-point conversion.
Buffalo's fightback had proven too late in the day having been manhandled by a dominant Vic Fangio defense, which finished the game with five sacks on Allen.
Mid-season acquisition Brandin Cooks led the Bills with four catches for 101 yards as Allen's leading vertical threat, while Cook was limited to just 74 yards on the ground.
"Is the Bills way of playing sustainable? It feels to me like they're waiting for that magic every week," said Your Site NFL's Neil Reynolds.
"I know, law of averages, even the great ones are going to have an off day or a bad throw here and there. Their margin for error is so thin because they're waiting for 17 (Allen) to get the job done."
Allen's two-yard touchdown run against the Eagles saw him become the fastest and younger player in NFL history to reach 300 career offensive touchdowns. With 25 passing touchdowns and 14 rushing scores, he is now also just one touchdown away from posting a sixth campaign of 40-plus touchdowns, which would see him draw level with Aaron Rodgers for most of all time. That record might have to wait, with Allen expected to be rested against the New York Jets in Week 18.
The Bills lean on him for a reason. But Super Bowl champions of years gone by will attest to it taking more than one man.
"There's a tendency, and you saw this a little bit with Patrick Mahomes and you saw a little bit with Tom Brady, that when you have a guy who's transcendent, that guys will stand around and wait for him to make a play instead of making plays themselves," said Your Site NFL's Jeff Reinebold.
"And I think to a certain degree, I think that Joe Brady called the game that way, right?"
A rampant defensive performance from the Eagles was evidenced in key flashpoints as Allen fumbled to set up Dallas Goedert's opening touchdown before surrendering a sack for a loss of 19 while chasing the game in the fourth quarter. With blanket coverage came relentless pressure up front and, as a result, a stuttering Bills offense.
"You just kept waiting for Josh Allen to make one of those Josh Allen plays," Reinebold added. "And really, if you look at it, and certainly not putting the blame on him because it's a team game, it's the ultimate team game, but he made two really critical mistakes, actually three really critical mistakes in the game.
"He fumbled the ball, early in the game while trying to extend a play, then he took a sack trying to extend the play again when they had a chance, and then at the end of the game, there was some pressure, there was nobody in his face and he didn't set his feet and he rushed the throw and threw it in the dirt to a wide open Shakir who would have won the game.
"It was not a Superman performance by Josh Allen."
Here is how the playoffs would look if the season ended today:
AFC Wild Card round:
First-round bye: (1) Denver Broncos
NFC Wild Card round:
First-round bye: (1) Seattle Seahawks
Saturday January 10-12: Wild Card round
January 17-18: Divisional Round
January 25: AFC and NFC Championship games
February 8: Super Bowl LX
Watch the 2025 NFL season live on Your Site, including every minute of the playoffs and Super Bowl LX; or .
