After a wildly emotional Week 18, the Buffalo Bills begin their quest for the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory as the No. 2 seed in the AFC, guided by one of the league’s premier quarterbacks.
Josh Allen has played his way into the forefront of the 2022-23 NFL MVP conversation, alongside Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. Passing for 4,283 yards (5,045 total yards) with 35 touchdowns to 14 interceptions, Allen has guided the Bills to a third consecutive AFC East crown — a first for the franchise since winning four straight from 1988 to 1991.
Bills All-Pro edge rusher Von Miller believes it’s an open-and-shut case for Allen as the league’s most valuable player.
“You know they say the MVP is, you break it down as the most valuable player in the whole entire league,” Miller said during a December 2022 appearance on Heavy’s The Matt Lombardo Show. “There’s not anybody that does it like Josh Allen. We’ve got great quarterbacks all around the league, but nobody does it like Josh Allen.”
As Miller accurately predicted, Allen has heated up and been instrumental to the Bills’ success, as one of the more consistently dominant teams in the league.
“Nobody’s able to run around and find an open receiver and hit ’em like that. Just change the game for one player. Of course, you got other guys that’s in the [MVP] race as well, like Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, but Josh Allen, he’s gonna heat up. He’s gonna heat up again. He’s gonna take over that race. We’ve still got four weeks left – he’s gonna take it over,” Miller told Heavy in December.
Over the final four weeks of the regular season, guiding the Bills to the playoffs, Allen had a strong closing stretch, leading Buffalo to four consecutive wins while tossing 10 touchdowns to 3 interceptions.
Von Miller on Josh Allen: ‘We Can’t Do It Without Him’
Allen’s 2022 season has been defined by big plays, both with his legs — rushing for 762 yards and 7 touchdowns — in addition to highlight reel throws such as his game-sealing 49-yard touchdown strike to Stefon Diggs to close out the New England Patriots in the season finale.
Buffalo’s defense, which has held opponents to 20 points or fewer 10 times in the regular season, including three of its final five games, has also been instrumental.
Miller, who turns 34 in March, is out for the season, after tearing his ACL in a Bills’ thrilling come-from-behind win over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. But, the future Hall of Fame edge rusher understands after winning his second Super Bowl ring last season with the Los Angeles Rams, that Buffalo’s and Allen’s biggest games remain in front of them.
“We need him deep in this last stretch of the season, we need him deep into the playoffs to go win a Super Bowl,” Miller said. “We can’t do it without him. And I think he’s gonna show people exactly the type of player that he is with these games that we have left.”
Why Von Miller Says Bills Are 2023 Super Bowl Favorite
The Bills begin the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the NFL.
Entering Sunday’s January 15 Wild Card showdown with the division rival Miami Dolphins in Orchard Park, Buffalo has won seven straight games as the Bills’ offense begins the playoffs with the league’s second-most prolific offense (397.6 YPG) and No. 6 ranked defense (319.1 YPG allowed).
Buffalo certainly has talented playmakers on both sides of the ball, and the postseason experience after taking the Chiefs to the brink at Arrowhead in the AFC Divisional Round in 2022, to make a lengthy run at the Lombardi Trophy over the next month.
Miller has been part of two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos, and sees the pieces in place for Buffalo to bring home a championship.
“They say defenses win championships,” Miller said. “And it takes a great quarterback and great offense to get there. And we got all of that stuff. On top of that, we got at least four or five head coaches on the staff, and we got another four or five coaches who will be head coaches after that. We’ve got an amazing front office, we’ve got amazing infrastructure on this team, and I think that’s why the Buffalo Bills will be successful in the 2022-23 season.”