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The Buffalo Bills playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, January 23, is not just a win-or-go-home matchup between two AFC rivals, it’s a highly-anticipated showdown between two of the NFL’s hottest young quarterbacks.
ESPN‘s Alaina Getzenberg and Adam Teicher said the budding rivalry between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes “could quickly become this generation’s Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning,” quarterbacks who played against one another 17 times through their careers.
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While Mahomes, a four-time Pro Bowler, has already won a Super Bowl Championship and an MVP Award, Allen, a one-time Pro Bowler, has yet to reach that kind of success. However, the Chiefs quarterback knows those aspirations will help fuel his performance on Sunday.
“What you see with Josh as he gets better and better every single year is he’s not satisfied with where he’s at,” Mahomes said. “He works through his throwing motion, he works on his feet, he does different types of stuff to give himself an edge and I think that’s what all the best quarterbacks do.”
“They put a lot on him,” Mahomes said of the Bills offense. “They make a lot of checks at the line of scrimmage to make all the right decisions, throw the ball, run the ball, do all that different types of stuff. I think that’s what’s put them at this level where they’re a dominating team. He’s definitely gotten better and better each and every year.”
As for the constant comparisons between him and Allen, Mahomes knows they aren’t going away any time soon. “I’m sure we’ll have lots of battles as both of our careers go on,” Mahomes said.
Sunday’s Playoff Game Marks the 4th Matchup Between Allen & Mahomes
The Brady/Manning comparison may seem a bit premature since the Allen and the Bills have only faced Mahomes and the Chiefs three times throughout their respective careers.
The first time Allen played against Mahomes and the Chiefs was during Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season. Kansas City beat the Bills 26-17. During the 2021 AFC playoffs, the Chiefs once again defeated the Bills by a score of 38-24.
In Week 5 earlier this season, Buffalo crushed Kansas City 38-20. While the Chiefs head into Sunday’s game favored by 2.5-points, per CBS Sports, Allen and the Bills are firing on all cylinders right now, and viewers can expect this upcoming revenge match to be an absolute dog fight.
During the regular season, Mahomes completed 66.3% of his passes for 4,839 yards, 37 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions, per Fan Duel.
As for Allen, he finished the regular season completing 63.3% of his passes for 4,707 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions.
The Chiefs Traded Up With the Bills to Draft Mahomes in 2017
Before Allen ever even put on a Bills jersey, the conversations comparing him to Mahomes were rampant. During the 2017 NFL Draft, the Chiefs traded up in the first round to take over the Bills No. 10 pick, during which they selected Mahomes.
Mahomes quickly established himself as one of the most promising up-and-coming quarterbacks in the entire league, throwing 50 touchdown passes in his first year as a starter, and the Bills were torched for passing up on drafted the young superstar themselves.
During the 2018 NFL Draft, however, the Bills traded up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in order to select Allen with the No. 7 overall pick. Buffalo, however, made it clear that they weren’t losing sleep over passing over Mahomes, resigning Allen to a six-year $258 million extension before the start of the 2021 NFL season.
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