Breaking news out of Orchard Park: Josh Allen is quite good at football.
The Buffalo Bills’ franchise quarterback proved this notion yet again in the team’s Week 11 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, putting on his Superman cape in the game’s final moments to break off a 26-yard touchdown run that gave the Bills a late two-score lead and all but cemented Kansas City’s first loss of the 2024 campaign. The score was just the cherry on top of an otherwise stellar day for Allen, as he completed 67.5% of his passes for 262 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while finishing the game with 55 rushing yards.
He was simply spectacular, coming through when the lights were brightest to beat the undefeated back-to-back Super Bowl champions, and he’s thus, received national fanfare for his performance. He became the betting favorite to earn NFL MVP honors at some sportsbooks following the Week 11 win, with some pundits and analysts around the league already anointing him as this year’s most valuable player.
ESPN host Pat McAfee was among the national media personalities to get in on the Allen praise on Monday afternoon, praising the former All-Pro and the general Buffalo roster and culture during that day’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show.
“This Josh Allen guy, and I talked about it after getting a chance to watch him . . . watching Josh Allen in person, you really get to experience. It’s like an aura that comes from him," McAfee said. "There’s a moxie and a confidence that radiates from his body all the time, and with how big he is, how fast he is, and what that team has become, which is ‘Hey, this is Josh Allen’s team, we’re going to build around him. We’re going to trade some players out of here, we’re going to have to overhaul our roster, we might not know everybody, but we’ll make superstars because our quarterback is capable of doing as such.’ He definitely did that [Sunday].”
McAfee and his crew went on to talk about the raucous Highmark Stadium faithful, noting that their festivities started early as part of The NFL Today’s live broadcast from Orchard Park.
McAfee often has members of the Bills organization (namely general manager Brandon Beane) on his show, and thus, his soft spot for Buffalo is not all that surprising. That said, the Bills (and, more specifically, Allen) are playing with such spirit and tenacity right now that it's difficult for a neutral fan not to find them endearing. Buffalo will now benefit from a bye week before looking to build upon its recently acquired momentum to close out the season from Week 13 onwards.
