It’s a little early to hand over hardware for MVP honors. But it’s not too early to declare Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen the leader in the clubhouse. No quarterback in the NFL is hotter than Allen heading into Sunday night’s Big ATM showdown featuring last season’s MVP Lamar Jackson.
Once again, it’s early. But of the five remaining undefeated teams in the NFL, none has amassed more style points than the Bills (3-0), who lost three straight and rolled into Baltimore, averaging 37.3 points per game. This is an astonishing number that ranks him at the top of the NFL.
Naturally, it starts with one of the best players in the league getting off to the best start of his career. Allen is the league’s highest-rated passer (133.7), completing 75 percent of his throws. Still a dangerous runner, he has an NFL-high total of nine TDs. However, these numbers only tell part of the story. Two other factors are now in play.
What happened to sales? Allen has yet to throw an interception this season, although he caused more drama by frequently spitting out the football in his first six seasons. After committing a career-high 22 turnovers in 2023, he has just one turnover (a lost fumble) this season.
It’s also impressive that Allen, who hit four of his seven TD passes in the first half against Jacksonville on Monday night, got off to a bright start despite the absence of Stefon Diggs. The Bills traded their former No. 1 receiver to the Houston Texans in April in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick. Diggs is off to a strong start in Houston, but hasn’t missed much in Buffalo. Allen completed passes to 10 different targets on Monday night, with four different players taking scoring shots.
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The Bills’ revamped receiver corps, with the departure of Diggs and Gabe Davis as free agents, highlights Allen’s growth in a diversified offense. Indeed, third-year pro Khalil Shakir, a field-expanding Blazer, continues to step up. Shaquille has been targeted 14 times and has recorded 14 catches. Still, balance was key for Allen.
“I think he’s spreading the ball out a lot more,” Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr told reporters this week. “You never really know where the ball is going to go. All of his receivers, including the running backs and tight ends, could get the ball at any time and in any situation.”
That’s not all. The Bills have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and have allowed the fewest sacks in the league (2). The rushing attack, which once relied too much on Allen’s legs, continues the expansion that took hold last season with the arrival of running back James Cook. Allen can still burn up defenses by extending plays with planned power runs and bolts from the pocket, but he seems to have better support even if he could potentially build an MVP case . Perhaps it will finally help the Bills graduate from being a Super Bowl contender to the championship unit coach Sean McDermott has promised.
The Ravens’ defense ranks first in the league against the run, but ranks last when it comes to pass defense, which is quite a challenge. No, Baltimore’s defense isn’t as dominant as it traditionally is – especially considering the Ravens’ tendency to squander big leads. Baltimore had to sweat to come away with a win against Dallas last weekend, but before that they lost to the Raiders and gave up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Ravens and Bills last met in October 2022, when Buffalo came back from a 20-3 deficit to win.
It’s going to be a bad game for Baltimore (1-2). Again, it’s the NFL. And it’s early. The Ravens’ chances of slowing down Allen could hinge on pressure and turnovers. And perhaps two-time MVP Jackson can help the defense outperform the MVP front-runner.
Either way, after a Week 1 onslaught to beat Jacksonville and Miami and finish off Arizona, the test gets tougher for Allen and the team, starting with a swing of three straight road games. After Baltimore, they’ll head to Houston (hello, Stephon) to take on four-time Meadowlands MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Jets.
For Allen, it’s just a challenge to go further to win MVP honors.
Big miscalculation
With each passing day, the New York Giants’ decision to let Saquon Barkley leave as a free agent looks more foolish against their division rival.
During Thursday night’s prime-time loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Giants running back Devin Singletary gained 24 yards on 14 rushes (1.7 yards per carry); He gained 26 total yards (1.1 yards per carry).
And it was against a Cowboys defense that was shredded for 274 rushing yards by the Ravens four days ago and 190 on the ground by the New Orleans Saints the year before that.
Meanwhile, Barkley entered Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Tampa Bay as the NFL’s leading rusher, gaining 351 yards at an average of 5.8 yards.
Barring some miracle, the decision by general manager Joe Schon and coach Brian Daboll to downgrade Barkley will cost them their jobs. And the fact that that line of thinking was included in the offseason version of Hard Knocks makes it all the more embarrassing — potentially adding to the pressure on Giants owner John Mara to do it all over again. It will increase.
Barkley landed in Philadelphia on a three-year contract worth $46.75 million.
And now, in many ways, the cost will be even higher for the Giants, who were counting on an average quarterback in Daniel Jones rather than an elite running back.
quick slant
— Jaden Daniels enters Sunday’s game at Arizona with a league-best 80.3 percent pass completion percentage (minimum 40 pass attempts) through three games, the best by any rookie in NFL history. There’s another thing that highlights the Washington Commanders quarterback’s quick impact. The Commanders have scored on every drive in the past two games (save for a knee down), something no NFL unit has managed since 2000.
— The Vikings’ defense led the NFL with 16 sacks and showed a noticeable difference from Lambeau Field in the NFC North game against the Packers. The unit, coordinated by Brian Flores, is the first since the Los Angeles Rams in 1988 to record at least five sacks and one interception in each of its first three games.
–Up until Week 3, kickers were making 42 of 55 field goal attempts (76.4%) from 50 yards or more, while Ravens’ Justin Tucker was 0-for-2 from 50 yards or more. That still seems strange. Tucker holds the record for longest field goal in NFL history with a 66-yard strike and finished with 58 treys from at least 50 yards in his 13th season. However, it may only be a matter of time before Brandon Aubrey breaks Tucker’s distance record. The Dallas Cowboys phenom has made 6 of 7 attempts from 50 yards or more this season and has made 16 of 17 kicks of 50 yards or more since entering the league in 2023. There is.