Josh Allen: Is the Buffalo Bills quarterback the NFL’s new number one at the position? | NFL News

Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms on Josh Allen: “The things this guy is capable of doing on an everyday basis, he is a freak of nature”; watch the divisional round clash between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL playoffs, live on Sky Sports NFL from 11.30pm on Sunday

Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills travel to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs

Tom Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, Aaron Rodgers is favourite to be named league MVP for a second-straight year and Patrick Mahomes is eyeing up a third-successive Super Bowl appearance. And yet, does the best quarterback in the NFL actually reside in Buffalo?

Josh Allen produced a “historic” performance in the Bills’ Super Wild Card Weekend win over the New England Patriots, according to former NFL offensive lineman Brian Baldinger.

“It’s as close to perfect as you can get in the game of football,” Baldinger said on Inside The Huddle (Sky Sports NFL, Tuesdays, 9pm) after Allen threw more touchdown passes (5) than incompletions (4) in the 47-17 hammering of their AFC East rivals last Saturday.

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Brian Baldinger joins Inside The Huddle to discuss the ‘historic’ performance by Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen in their Wild Card win over the New England Patriots

“They ran 54 snaps on offense and they didn’t have one negative play [except for an offensive pass interference penalty],” Baldinger added.

The Bills scored touchdowns on every single offensive possession, with the exception of some kneel-downs to kill the clock at the end of the game. They did not punt once, have a field goal attempt or turn the ball over – the first team to ever do so in the same game in NFL history. They did all of this against the No 4 total defense in football, and No 2 scoring defense.

Baldinger added: “The only description that is really fair after a game like that is ‘perfection’. We may never see a performance like that again in another 100 years of football.”

Former NFL QB Chris Simms was also full of praise for Allen on Pro Football Talk (Sky Sports NFL, weekdays, 7pm): “I don’t know if the football world is grasping what we’re seeing here.

“Is Josh Allen the best player in football? I think that is a legitimate question.

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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw five touchdowns in their Super Wild Card win over the New England Patriots

“I know Mahomes is right there. Rodgers too, still playing at a high level. But Allen has had a bunch of games where I just go, ‘I don’t know if there is a better player in the game’.

“The things I see: him running away from defenders, stiff-arming defensive tackles, throwing touchdowns with defensive ends on his back, a power running game Cam Newton-style, making unbelievable decisions from the pocket, putting every ball on the money. And, oh yeah, he’s doing it while it’s -8 degrees outside. No big deal.

“The things this guy is capable of doing on an everyday basis, he is a freak of nature. One of the most talented quarterbacks we have ever seen in football – he is that good.”

Allen and his high-powered Bills offense are going to get a stern test of their title credentials on Sunday night, in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, as they face an AFC juggernaut to rival their own in Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs – at Arrowhead Stadium.

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Watch all of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ best throws from his five-TD game against the Pittsburgh Steelers from Super Wild Card Weekend

Mahomes is coming into the contest off the back of his own epic five-touchdown strong display as KC took down the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-21 in their Wild Card clash. He is already a Super Bowl winner – leading the Chiefs back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to the San Francisco 49ers, with 21 unanswered points in the final six minutes.

Mahomes took his team to the title game yet again last season, beating Allen’s Bills in the AFC Championship, though this time it certainly did not go his way as Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers triumphed 31-9.

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs watches on as the Kansas City Chiefs celebrate their AFC Championship win last season

The Conference Championship loss was one of two Allen suffered against Mahomes last year – Buffalo also beaten in the regular season encounter – but he earned some revenge with a 38-20 road win in Week Five of this campaign.

Simms, however, does not believe that clash counts for much with regards to Sunday’s rematch, though he does think “it’s personal” between the super-talented Allen and Mahomes as they aim to prove which of them is the true No 1 of the league.

“I don’t look at the early-season matchup as dictating my decision too much,” Simms said. “This is a bit of a coin-flip game.

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Highlights from the Week Five matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 NFL regular season

“It was when the Chiefs were in the midst of giving up turnovers and blowing defensive assignments. It’s a different Chiefs team now; they’ve figured out the personnel they want to play with on defense and the scheme.

“It is going to be exciting. It really is the two stars of the league; two of the most unstoppable forces in the league.

“With these two, I’ll watch games where the defense are perfect but Mahomes still picks up a 30-yard gain or Allen throws a laser to a receiver, who then breaks a tackle for a 40-yard completion.

“I think there’s a bit of a rivalry between these two – they’re both a little threatened by the other.

“They look at each other and think, ‘I’m the most physically gifted quarterback, I’m the biggest magician in football’.

“I think it’s personal between them; they both think of themselves as the guy.”

For Allen to truly take on the mantel of being ‘the NFL’s best player’, he must end Mahomes’ run atop the AFC on Sunday night.

Baldinger certainly believes he’s capable: “You can’t say enough how important the quarterback is in the game of football. And, if he [Allen] plays at that level again, nobody can beat him.”

Watch the Buffalo Bills at the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, live on Sky Sports NFL from 11.30pm on Sunday night.