ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – There are several reasons Josh Allen spent much of Wednesday referring to the AFC East-leading Bills' much-hyped showdown against Patrick Mahomes and the undefeated Chiefs on Sunday as merely one regular- season game among 17.
Outside the practice facility, a long line of CBS transport trucks were pulling into the Bills parking lot to set up headquarters for their national TV broadcast, while the buzz heightened over whether Taylor Swift might pop into town amid a break in her six-show tour stop in nearby Toronto.
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Inside, Allen indirectly shed light on his just-another-game thought process when asked to reflect on how his and Mahomes’ numbers are remarkably similar over their previous seven meetings, including playoffs.
“Well, I know we haven’t beaten them in the playoffs," Allen said. “So that’s the only thing that kind of matters.”
And there’s the rub.
Though Allen has directed Buffalo to win three straight regular-season meetings since losing the first one in 2020, the Bills are 0-3 in the playoffs over the past four years.
And that includes a 27-24 loss in January decided when Buffalo’s final drive stalled at the Chiefs 26 with Allen throwing two incompletions, followed by kicker Tyler Bass missing a 44-yard field-goal attempt wide right with 1:43 left.
With the season not on the line Sunday for two teams in the driver’s seat to clinch playoff berths, Allen’s focus is less on the buzz and more on maintaining the complementary “everybody eats” approach that has Buffalo (8-2) enjoying its best record through 10 games since 1993.
“I know the media perception and the fan perception is of what this game means. But for us, it’s just Week 11,” Allen said. “Just continuing to trust the process, not changing anything because there’s no need to. ... It’s gotten us to 8-2 thus far.”
Allen is enjoying his most efficient season, even though his production is down considerably as compared to his numbers through 10 games in each of the past four seasons.
His 2,281 yards and 17 touchdowns passing are both Allen’s fewest since his second year in 2019. Also significantly down are Allen’s four interceptions after having as many as 11 through 10 outings last season.
This might also be Allen’s most complete season in how he’s adapted to the offense’s deficiencies such as injuries — rookie Keon Coleman will miss a second straight game, while recent trade acquisition Amari Cooper has missed two games and questionable to play Sunday. And this is an offense that opened the season with a receiver group that featured just one player, Khalil Shakir, who had previously caught a pass from Allen, following the offseason departures of Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis.
And yet, Allen has the Bills enjoying a five-win run, with their magic number to clinch a fifth straight AFC East title down to three.
“It’s hard to put a number on it. He just keeps improving,” backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky. “And that’s what we challenge him every week. Just keep going, like how far can you push this thing? How good can you possibly be?”
Trubisky, who returned to Buffalo this year after spending the past two in Pittsburgh, credited the work Allen puts in every offseason to address his weaknesses in making him a more complete player.
“When you really work on your weaknesses and maybe even take them out of your game, it’s like what do you do against these guys?” Trubisky said. “Like, they really don’t have any weaknesses. You could probably say the same for Josh and Pat (Mahomes).”
There are many similarities between the two.
Since 2019, Mahomes has a league-leading 181 touchdowns passing versus Allen’s 174.
In seven combined meetings, Mahomes has 2,243 yards from scrimmage (2,024 passing), 16 TDs (15 passing) with 5 interceptions, while Allen has 2,194 yards from scrimmage (1,801 passing), 20 TDs (16 passing), and three interceptions.
There remain a few notable differences, Allen said in referring to Mahomes being a three-time Super Bowl champion. The closest the Allen-led Bills came to making a Super Bowl appearance was losing the 2020 AFC championship game to — who else? — Kansas City.
“To be mentioned with him is very cool from the football aspect of it,” Allen said, referring to Mahomes. “But I don’t really get caught up in that too much. I just try to focus on what I can do for the Buffalo Bills.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl