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Between 1986 and 1996, Jim Kelly rewrote the Buffalo Bills record books.
He led the team to four straight super bowls, was selected to five Super Bowls, earned his only first-team All-Pro nomination in 1991, ad threw for 35,467 yards and 237 touchdowns in 10 years at the head of the Buffalo Bills offense.
With the K-Gun offense, Kelly put the Bills on the map and logged an overall record of 101-59 as an NFL quarterback before he was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame.
Since he retired in 1996, Kelly and his wife Jill have been waiting for another quarterback to take the reigns of the Bills offense and lead the franchise back to its former glory. Earlier this season, Jill Kelly penned a special letter to Bills fans claiming that Josh Allen was the quarterback to do so.
“The torched has been passed,” Jill Kelly said in her post on Facebook.
On Tuesday, Jim Kelly appeared on One Bills Live to talk about a variety of topics and among them were the records he set while in Buffalo. This past week, Allen broke Kelly’s single-season touchdown record of 34, and Kelly believes that if Allen doesn’t break all of his records at some point, something is wrong.
“Especially in today’s game, with how much they pass and how much you’re not allowed to touch the receivers, and how you’re not allowed to put hands on the quarterback,” Kelly said during his appearance on One Bills Live. “So with all those rules, I would be surprised if Josh didn’t break all my records, then after he continues to grow he’ll start breaking his own records and that means we’re winning and doing well.”
Through three seasons in the NFL, Allen has thrown for 8,804 yards and 58 touchdowns while completing 60.9% of his passes, but this season has been his best yet. He’s thrown for 3,641 yards and 28 touchdowns while being intercepted nine times. He’s also improved his completion percentage by nearly 16 points compared to his rookie season.
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On the Verge of Seeing Something Special
The Bills are 10-3 for the first time since 1991 and they are on the verge of their first AFC East title for the first time since 1995, during years when Kelly was at the helm. As he has done since he retired in 1996, Kelly has stuck around the team and has followed them closely.
He’s happy with how well they’ve played this season and even compared them to his team when they were just starting to get going during his first few years in Buffalo. But, as there always is, he said there is room for improvement as they head into the later weeks of the season.
“I think that one of the things is the further you get into the playoffs, you have to have that running game going,” Kelly said. “I just hope that they do that, during the first half they almost fell asleep, I think like most people. But like we talked about, there is room for improvement in all three phases. I definitely think they are going through something similar like we went through during the third season I was there then, all of a sudden with Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed came into his own. I think we are on the verge of seeing something special. I just hope they continue to get better and get that running game going and take some pressure of Josh.”
The Bills are having one of their best seasons in the past 10 years and they are starting to resemble the Bills of old and Kelly hopes they continue to improve and peak at the right time.
Josh Allen is Having a Career Year
If Allen stays in Buffalo for a long time, there’s no doubt that Kelly’s records will fall but for right now, Allen is having his best season to date. It’s just his third year, but Allen is having an NFL MVP-caliber season and it’s due in part to the weapons he has around him and the work he put in in the offseason.
Earlier this month, Allen said he went through the process of having his mechanics digitally mapped which helped him with his accuracy and it actually improved his throwing power as well. In turn, Allen’s completion percentage has improved but he’s also started to make better decisions, he is cool, calm, and collected in the pocket and has shown the ability to make adjustments mid-game.
During his first two years, would become erratic during games if things weren’t going as planned and his decision making would suffer, along with his play in general. This year he is completely different and it showed during the Pittsburgh Steelers game this past Sunday.
He struggled to identify Pittsburgh’s blitz during the first half and was struggling to find receivers and move the ball. But, he made adjustments started to find Stefon Diggs, and started the second half by going 8-for-8 with 108 yards and two touchdowns.
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