One of these things is not true. Can you guess which one it is?
Josh Allen is the subject of serious trade interest from the Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen is stirring things up in the mayoral race at a small town in Maine. Josh Allen prepared for sinking Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on Sunday by dressing up as the title character from The Great Gatsby, mustache and all.
Josh Allen caused a Buffalo road to be renamed from Hurtle Street to Hurdle Street, and has an image of him jumping a defender situated atop the sign. Josh Allen has more passing yards than every other NFL quarterback this year after leading the Buffalo Bills to a 6-1 record and Super Bowl favorite status.
Believe it or not, it is the last one that carries the falsehood, and even that isn’t all it seems. After helping the Bills comfortably outlast the Packers to close out the weekend, Allen does have the most yards per game of any QB in the league this year, but his total number is 69 yards behind Tom Brady (who has played one extra game) in the overall chart.
Aside from that, as the other items on the list show, this season it’s all Josh Allen, all the time.
Allen is presently at the center of the NFL universe, making a serious claim for the MVP award and apparently on an absolute mission to reward Buffalo’s loyal fan base with the kind of glory it has waited for, well, forever.
His standard is so high that when his first half against Green Bay had the internet erupting to proclaim his excellence, but he followed it with a couple of second-half picks, all he wanted to talk about were his mistakes.
“I have a concern with making stupid decisions and not closing out the game that way,” Allen told reporters after Buffalo’s 27-17 victory that never looked like it would have a different outcome. “Things that we can do, things that I can do differently that changes the feeling and the outcome of that game. I have a crappy taste in my mouth right now.”
Allen is perhaps the most-talked-about player in the league right now, carrying a huge level of intrigue as to how far he can take this team and whether he can ride atop the wave of hype without slip or stumble.
Going back for a moment to the puzzler at the top, only part of it was a trick question, for the Josh Allen the Chiefs are reportedly looking at is the Jacksonville Jaguars edge rusher of the same name.
The mayoral race in Westbrook, Maine, has gotten muddled as a result of so many local Bills fans putting up “Josh Allen for Mayor” signs in their yards that voters got confused, and the mayor’s office had to put out a press release to clarify things.
Allen dressed up as Gatsby for a Halloween party (Stefon Diggs was a nurse, Micah Hyde was Frankenstein’s monster) that he hosts every year. As for the yards tally, hmm, yardage schmardage. More important to those willing the Bills onward is that Allen might just be the best player in football and his team are benefiting gratefully.
“That’s Josh man, he’s a true competitor,” teammate Von Miller said, when told Allen was critical of his own performance. “He wants to be perfect each and every time, and he did enough to win for us today. We are spoiled. We want to put our foot on guys’ necks and go for 40 points a game, but the reality of it is you just want to get the win and be grateful for wins. It is not like this for every team in the NFL.”
In a season where the only consistent thing is that almost everyone has experienced inconsistency, the Bills, and the still-undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, have been beacons of stability.
Next week brings a visit to the New York Jets before a meeting with the Minnesota Vikings that, barring intervening mishap, shapes up as a blockbuster showdown of two 7-1 squads. Buffalo, quite simply, is rolling.
Allen’s playmaking is its own, evolving beast, turning into something that’s seemingly all things at once. He’s strong and burly and resembles a tank when he is charging toward defenders in the open field. But he has a light touch, too, like when he scampered across the turf, then pulled the brakes up just before the line of scrimmage, before calmly flipping the ball to Dawson Knox for the touchdown Sunday.
Mixed in among it all are big throws and little throws, big plays and steady plays, and, once the game is done, back to all the accompanying paraphernalia that comes with the fact that you’re becoming really, really famous.
The current version of Josh Allen is … all things to all people. A hard taskmaster to himself, a big personality and cheat-code performer to everyone else. And, most pertinently, the leader of the most dangerous team in the NFL.
