If the Buffalo Bills are to claim their first-ever Super Bowl title this year and finally put the ghosts of their four consecutive 1990s defeats in the big game to bed, they will have to earn it.
After breezing past a young Denver Broncos team in the Wild Card round, Sunday night’s 27-25 win over the Baltimore Ravens saw the Bills hold off a late charge from Lamar Jackson, as Josh Allen earned bragging rights over a fellow MVP contender.
The Bills’ reward for their latest victory is a trip to Arrowhead Stadium, where another of the game’s elite quarterbacks in the shape of Patrick Mahomes awaits.
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The Allen vs Jackson battle was the big pre-match talking point last week and there will no doubt be plenty of column inches dedicated to Allen’s tussle with Mahomes in the coming days.
And rightly so, as this is quite possibly the defining rivalry of the current era, as both men enter what should be the peak years of their careers.
Both players took over the starting QB job in 2018, Allen as a rookie and Mahomes as a sophomore, and both have helped transform their teams into perennial winners — Allen winning 69% of his NFL regular season starts, Mahomes 79%. This is something you’re not supposed to do in this era of parity and the salary cap.
Sunday’s clash will be the ninth time the two players have faced off and while this series is split at 4-4, that mark only tells half of the story. That’s because three of Mahomes’ victories have come in the playoffs, including Championship game wins in 2020 and 2023, plus a wild 2021 Divisional round overtime victory.
Allen does possess the current bragging rights, however, as his late rushing touchdown sealed a 30-21 Bills win against the previously undefeated Chiefs in November, the only blot on the Kansas City copybook this season, bar their Week 18 dead rubber defeat to Denver.
So how will this contest pan out?
Allen has impressed in recent weeks with his ability to keep a lid on things, eschewing the opportunity to make the kind of flashy, risky plays that tended to catch up with him at pivotal times in previous campaigns. Against the Ravens, for instance, he was content to let his defence supply the turnovers and keep the offence ticking in tricky conditions.
And while that’s not to say he’s become a game manager, it does show a growing maturity that will be needed at Arrowhead this weekend if the Bills are to stop the irrepressible Mahomes.
Buckle up, as Allen vs Mahomes part IX could be the best one yet.
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