Another offseason, and another year of disrespect for Josh Allen.
The Buffalo Bills' signal-caller, as well as the team itself, are constantly under the microscope, so why would this offseason be any different?
After the Bills moved on from several veteran players, including Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse, and Tre'Davious White, many declared the Bills' Super Bowl window to be closed. Yes, mark it down ladies and gentlemen. The team that cut a 33 year-old safety, a 32 year-old center, and a cornerback who has played in just 10 of the team's last 34 regular season games is officially done. Stick a fork in them.
This brings me to my main point- when will Josh Allen get the respect he deserves? Because I don't see anyone claiming the Ravens' window is closed. Yet, Allen has more than twice the playoff wins that Lamar Jackson has, three times the amount of playoff touchdowns, fewer turnovers, and a passer rating that is more than 24 points higher. But apparently "Thou shalt not criticize Lamar Jackson" was the 11th commandment Moses forgot to tell people about.
Now, I'm not trying to turn this into a Lamar Jackson tar-and-feathering- he's a great quarterback. But Allen gets so much more shade thrown his way, yet had over 600 more passing yards and 15 more touchdowns than Jackson. He also finished higher in EPA and DVOA than Jackson. Yet Jackson was the MVP? Make that make sense.
My overall point to this is that Allen is far better, yet receives far more criticism and is painted as a guy who can't get the job done while Jackson doesn't face those same critiques. For someone who is a two-time MVP, I'd expect more backlash on him for being 0-4 in playoff games where his opponents score more than 13 points. Yet Allen can play a great overall game against the Chiefs while simultaneously be let down by his defense, and the conversation is "Maybe Josh Allen just isn't that guy." It's maddening.
It's likely that Allen will continue to be the superstar that fans outside of Buffalo choose to always throw tomatoes at for whatever reason, and maybe he and the Bills like it that way. Because while they give numbskull analysis such as "lol but the interceptions" (which I completely debunked how many interceptions of his were truly game-altering in a piece you can find below), Allen led the NFL in total touchdowns and total yards while leading his team to yet another division title after running a gauntlet that included wins over the Chiefs, Cowboys, and Dolphins, as well as a playoff win over the Steelers in which the result was never in doubt.
If you need more numbers, he has the second most total touchdowns in the NFL since 2018 with 221, behind only Patrick Mahomes who has 231- no one else has 200. Since 2021, he is third in the NFL in EPA per play, second in success rate, third in EPA + CPOE composite, and his five playoff wins are tied for the second most of any quarterback since 2020.
The constant disrespect that Allen gets thrown at him is embarrassing, but unfortunately expected at this point. However, the Bills' window is far from closed, and it will remain open as long as No. 17 is under center.
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