The stars were bound to align for Josh Allen at some point. That point seems to be 2024, as the Buffalo Bills QB’s odds of winning the NFL MVP award this year skyrocketed after yet another massive performance in an upset win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. However, Stephen A. Smith says Allen still has a ways to go to become the “scariest” QB in the league.
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take on Monday, Smith was asked who was the scarier QB between rivals Allen and Mahomes. While he did acknowledge that Allen is elite and scary in his own right, the leading analyst still believes that the Kansas City Chiefs QB, with the ball in his hands at the end of a game, is “more scary” than any other scenario in the NFL.
“Ya’ll have both taught me over the years, resume matters. And I’m gonna tell you this right now to answer the question directly… about who’s the scariest quarterback in the National Football League. Is there anything more scary than the game being on the line, and Patrick Mahomes having the ball? There is not. So I’m still going with Patrick Mahomes, Mahomeboy, absolutely.”
Smith is not the only one who feels that way. In fact, it would be hard for anyone to argue otherwise. Mahomes has seven game-winning drives this season, three more than the next-best quarterback.
Mahomes’ clutch factor and playoff success give him the edge
Since the Tyler, Texas native’s first Super Bowl season in 2019, he has engineered 20 regular season game-winning drives, most in the NFL over that span. He’s even better in the postseason.
He has cobbled together six game-winning playoff drives since 2018. That’s twice as many as the next-best quarterback, the retired Tom Brady. Allen had 18 game-winning drives over the same regular season span, but he has never put together a game-winning drive in the postseason.
It’s not just Mahomes’ clutch factor that gives him the overall edge over Allen, but also his consistent playoff success compared to Allen’s comparatively shaky record. Smith acknowledged the same during the show, noting that Allen’s individual numbers in the playoffs are impressive, but that they haven’t been “enough to upend a Patrick Mahomes or a Joe Burrow”.
“Josh Allen is 0-3 against him. He’s 0-1 against Burrow. I’m talking postseason. His record in the postseason is .500, he’s (Allen) at 5-5. 27 touchdowns, six turnovers, I get that part but… Josh Allen’s got to show me he can get it done in the postseason. We’ve seen him perform well in the postseason, and I’m definitely not trying to imply that. But it still wasn’t enough to upend a Patrick Mahomes or a Joe Burrow.”
The rivalry between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen is a strange one. Allen has dominated the regular season engagements, winning four of five, including this year’s 30-21 win. That was just the 4th time Mahomes started and lost a regular season game by multiple scores. Allen also beat him by 18 points in the 2021 regular season.
But it’s Mahomes and the Chiefs who have Buffalo’s number in the postseason, holding a perfect 3-0 record when the two clash in January. That includes the infamous ’13 seconds’ game, where Allen led two touchdown drives in the final two minutes yet still came up short.
Allen has been a different QB this season, eliminating the turnovers that have saddled him for so many years. Mahomes and the Chiefs, meanwhile, have shown off some serious warts. They have won many games by the skin on their chinny-chin-chin, thanks in large part not to their own prowess, but because of boneheaded mistakes by the opposition.
Mahomes is on pace for career worsts in passing yards per game (239.1), TD rate (4.4), yards per attempt (6.7), and passer rating (91.0). What people aren’t talking about as much is something that has likely been a major factor for the dip in form: the offensive line. Mahomes has been sacked 35 times (9th-most) this year for a sack rate of 6.52. Those are already career highs by some margin, even with a few games to go.
Josh Allen is going to win his first NFL MVP this season. Especially since Mahomes and the Chiefs seem to have some deep underlying issues this season. If there was ever a year to get the monkey off their back, it’s 2024.
2024-12-16 19:03:53
