Without key pieces, it’s time for Bills QB Josh Allen to be transcendent

National Football League

Published Jul. 24, 2023 4:32 p.m. ET

Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs are a terrifying combination of playmakers, perhaps the most terrifying combination in the NFL. But when the 2022 postseason arrived, even they couldn’t carry the rest of the Bills‘ roster, which seemed to drag the offense down.

Don’t get me wrong. Running back James Cook, receiver Gabriel Davis and tight end Dawson Knox are all solid players. But they all struggled to produce in the team’s AFC divisional playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals, a 27-10 loss for Buffalo.

Yes, it’s just one game. The week before, Davis had a huge performance. Cook strung together a handful of good games to close the season. And Knox actually led the team in receiving yards (65) in that playoff elimination game against the Bengals.

But that divisional-round game was an all-around lackluster performance for the Bills offense, which posted just 328 yards and 10 points after a regular season when it averaged 397.6 yards and 28.4 points per game. Diggs managed just four catches for 35 yards, in part because Cincinnati focused all their attention on stopping him.

And that halted the entire offense.

Buffalo didn’t exactly go hard after a solution on offense this offseason. Instead the Bills actually looked more aggressive in acquiring defensive talent: edge Leonard Floyd and safety Taylor Rapp. The Bills lost their defensive centerpiece in linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who signed with the Chicago Bears in free agency. But perhaps All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano and an up-and-coming group of defensive linemen can compensate for that departure.

The Bills signed a guard in Connor McGovern, who will plug and play. And then they drafted potential starters in tight end Dalton Kincaid and guard O’Cyrus Torrence — though Buffalo has made a habit of slow-playing their rookies under general manager Brandon Beane. Kincaid seems like a really good solution for Buffalo’s woes, but tight ends almost always need time to make an impact in the NFL.

In other words, the Bills told Josh Allen: We’re running it back on offense.

The thing that’ll change? Well, that’ll have to be Allen.

He’ll have to be better.

Yeah, I totally get that sounds insane.

How can he be better? He finished the year completing 63.3% of his passes for 4,283 yards, 35 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He added 762 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. He finished third in MVP voting.

The winner, of course, was Patrick Mahomes. And the reason why Mahomes won over Allen was simple: The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback generated more production with less talent.

Joe Burrow, Josh Allen among best non-Mahomes bets for NFL MVP

Mahomes has been and will always be the model for Allen. Peyton Manning was the model for Tom Brady, only to have Brady eclipse Manning in Super Bowl wins. So Allen might not be able to do to Mahomes what Brady did to Manning. But if the Bills are going to win a Super Bowl, then Allen will have to do more of what Mahomes is doing. And that’s finding ways to win without a truly elite cast.

Where Mahomes has Travis Kelce, Allen has Diggs. But Allen’s job in 2023 will be to get more out of Buffalo’s other skill players — and at key moments. In the Super Bowl, Chiefs receivers Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore scored touchdowns. In the AFC Championship, Marquez Valdes-Scantling had six catches, 116 yards and a touchdown. Mahomes (and the Chiefs coaching staff) did that as much as the pass-catchers did.

Beane didn’t give Allen the help that Buffalo fans and media members expected — with the Bills electing not to sign Odell Beckham Jr. and DeAndre Hopkins. The Bills are basically giving Allen the Mahomes treatment. The QB has his stud playmaker. He’s getting help on the offensive line. But otherwise, Buffalo gave Allen a massive contract for a reason: The Bills expect him to carry an offense.

There’s reason to believe he’s capable of that. He had the offseason to recover from a nasty UCL injury that he suffered in Week 9 — an injury that perhaps went under-discussed. He completed 64% (191 of 298) of his passes through that Week 9 game. Past that injury, he completed 61.7% (216 of 350). It stands to reason that a healthier throwing elbow should help him perform at a higher level in 2023.

That said, it has been a weird offseason for the Bills. Diggs failed to practice on the first day of minicamp after coach Sean McDermott sent the star receiver home following a conversation in which they were not on the same page. It seems everything is OK, but McDermott admitted he was “very concerned” about Diggs after the receiver missed practice.

And then on Monday, one day before Bills veterans were scheduled to report to camp, it was revealed that running back and returner Nyheim Hines will miss the season after suffering a serious injury in a jet ski accident.

Allen has been a stabilizing presence throughout the offseason. He’ll need to do more of the same during the regular season. It’s Allen’s time to be a transcendent quarterback. It’s a lofty goal. But it’s clearly what he wants — his top priority is a Super Bowl ring. If he’s going to get it, he will need to find a new level of performance. That’s just the truth of how the Bills’ current roster is constructed.

Allen needs to get to the point where he gives the NFL world pause about who is the best quarterback in the league. He needs to have a season where people legitimately consider whether he might be better than Mahomes.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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