In the first half of Sunday night’s game in Buffalo, an “M-V-P” chant could be heard on behalf of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. By the end of the game, few who pay any attention to football would doubt that the current MVP of the league plays for the home team in the Sunday night opener.
Josh Allen established himself as the way-too-early leader for the top individual prize in the sport by leading a f—kin’ nutty comeback win for the ages in the first game of the final season at the Bills’ long-time stadium.
Here’s the stat of the year (perhaps): Per ESPN Research, via Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.com, Allen had 251 passing yards in the fourth quarter. It’s the most in any quarter of his entire career.
The next question is where does that performance rank as to any quarterback in any quarter at any time in league history? (Get on it, nerds.)
The number is staggering. It projects to 1,004 yards passing over the course of an entire game. And it came at a time when the Bills desperately needed it.
Only eight other quarterbacks had more than 251 passing yards in their entire Week 1 games.
Allen finished with 394 passing yards, the most of any quarterback in Week 1 (with one game to play). He completed 33 passes to nine different players.
Far more importantly, he helped the Bills score 16 points in the final four minutes of the game, turning a 15-point deficit into a one-point win in a 41-40 barnburner that was the best game of Week 1 — and possibly will be (when it’s all said and done) the best game of the year.
More importantly to the aftermath of Week 18, the comeback positions the Bills to potentially force the Ravens to return to Buffalo for what could be the last game ever played in the team’s long-time stadium. The Bills hold the critical tiebreaker, in the event that Buffalo and Baltimore end up tied for the best record in the conference.
Yes, there are 16 games to go. Last night’s game, thanks to Allen’s incredible final 15 minutes, could resonate deep into January. And it could be a key piece of a complex puzzle that could propel the Bills to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1993.
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