The first-half "MVP" chants raining down on Josh Allen from giddy Buffalo fans during Monday night's 47-10 shellacking of the Jacksonville Jaguars might be a tad early, but they're no less correct.
Allen dominated, leading five consecutive scoring drives to open a comical 34-3 halftime lead. Allen finished 23-of-30 passing for 263 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. It marked Allen's eighth career game with four-plus pass TDs and zero INTs. The quarterback's 142.1 passer rating was the third-highest of his career. He also led the Bills with 44 rushing yards.
Teammates concurred with the "MVP" chants.
"Personally, I think he's the best quarterback in the league," cornerback Cam Lewis said, via the Buffalo News.
Added guard David Edwards: "He's just special. What he does throwing the ball, it's really hard to describe how good of a player he is. I think he's one of the all-time greats."
"Close to a perfect game," chimed in tight end Dawson Knox, per ESPN.
The Bills entered the season needing Allen to carry the load after an offseason of change. He's been better than even the Buffalo brass could have expected.
Through three games, he's the only player in the NFL with nine total touchdowns and zero interceptions. It marks the first time in his career he's had zero INTs through the first three games.
The Bills' 37-point win was their second-largest in the last 30 seasons (40-0 over Houston in Week 4, 2021) and the second-largest win in a prime-time game for the club all time (38-0 in Week 3, 1992 over Indianapolis). The performance marked the most first-half points for Buffalo since Week 12, 1992, versus Atlanta.
"It feels good, I'll tell you that. This could have easily been a game where we had 10 days off and let up on the gas, didn't sense that from our guys, a lot of urgency throughout the week, practiced really hard, had a really good game plan," Allen said, per the team's official website.
Allen lost a fumble on the opening drive of the 2024 season. Since then, the quarterback has been sublime, avoiding turnovers that plagued him in previous seasons, playing within Joe Brady's offense, making the right call at the line, distributing the pigskin like a supped-up point guard, and using his legs to extend drives when needed.
The Bills are 18-0 and average 35.8 points per game when Allen does not record a giveaway since 2020, per NFL Research.
Monday night underscored the pick-your-poison offense the Bills employ this season. Allen hit 10 different targets before exiting the game early in the fourth quarter of the blowout. Six different players scored touchdowns.
Keon Coleman, who was benched for the first quarter due to tardiness, noted that the lack of one key target makes preparing for the Bills offenses more dangerous for defenses.
"The motto -- we all eat. So, everybody's gonna eat, everybody's gonna get off and do what they need to do when the ball gets in their hands. So just showing the versatility of our team and showing we have playmakers," he said.
As one of three undefeated teams left in the AFC (Chiefs, Steelers) the road gets tougher for Allen and the Bills. Four of the next five games are on the road: at Baltimore (1-2), at Houston (2-1), at New York Jets (2-1), versus Tennessee (0-3), at Seattle (3-0).