I surrender.
Josh Allen is indeed, now, elite.
I do not take back my assessments of him up until Sunday night. He did, in fact, suck through two seasons with a 56 completion percentage, a rating of 78.2 and 21 interceptions. Last year, he was good — very good at times — but he was still prone to the big mistake in a big spot that cost his team (he tried in the wild-card and divisional round last year, before melting down in the AFC Championship loss to the Chiefs).
Allen's traits were always elite — huge arm, big and strong frame, ability to make plays with his legs — but he had yet to put it together for an entire season, especially in the biggest moments.
That changed toward the end of this year, and it culminated in his sterling performance (27 of 37, 329 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 136.0) in the crushing 42-36 Bills loss to the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes.
It was, indeed, a joke that people mentioned Allen in the MVP vote for about half the season. He was very up and down for most of the season, and the Bills were not winning because of him.
And it looked like we were going to get the same Allen when he contributed heavily to the Bills trailing the Bucs 24-3 at halftime of the Week 14 game that came on the heels of the embarrassing loss to the Patriots where Allen just needed to make one play to put the Bills over the top at home. Elite players do that. MVPs do that.
But his performance in the second half against the Bucs, where he put the Bills on his back and forced overtime, almost got me to convert. It was that good.
But I held off, like after last season, to see if Allen could do it again. And in the final four games of the regular season, even with the Bills dominating the Patriots at Gillette, Allen was middling with 55.3 completions, 8 TDs and 4 INTs. And the playoff victory over the Patriots — even Bill Belichick knew they couldn't match up with the Bills.
So Sunday night was the big test. If you thought Allen was one of the great QBs in the league before then, you hoped he was — there was only circumstantial evidence of that.
If he played well against Mahomes and in the place where he completed 58 percent, threw an interception and contributed to 4 killer sacks — even in a loss — this would be a true measure of a QB.
And it's true that the Chiefs' defense down the stretch was right there with the Patriots as the dregs of the league in the final month, and that was before Tyrann Mathieu left with a concussion early in the game. Three of Allen's touchdowns came on straight-up coverage busts by the Chiefs. And Allen had a few Allen moments — a fumble keeping a play alive that luckily bounced back to him, a pass behind Cole Beasley late that was nearly intercepted, and a checkdown to Devin Singletary that was nearly a disaster. Plus, two of the third downs the Chiefs ran on and had to punt as a result were plays that were checked into by Allen.
All of those would have been disastrous for Allen and the Bills in the past. But now, Allen is so much more consistently good on all the other plays that it has swung in his favor, big time. He now checks the ball down with regularity, often for good chunks of yards, when he used to try to be a hero. And his running to extend drives has also taken some of the roughness out of his play.
So, now, Allen is a finished product — and as unlikely an ascension as you'll ever see from where he started his first two seasons.
So, a tip of the cap, Josh Allen. A job well done, and I surrender my post.
Now, about your coach...
Other thoughts from divisional weekend:
• With 13 seconds left, the Bills HAD TO make the Chiefs return the ball and run some clock. It's not even a debate. There is no other choice — even if Tyreek Hill was back there (he was not). If 3-4 seconds run off, it's almost impossible for Kansas City to get in range for a makable field goal. That was a complete coaching blunder by Sean McDermott and one he should not live down. He even wouldn't answer specific questions about it after the game. The guy who called defensive timeouts before EACH of the final two Chiefs plays — great job by the Bills there, too, by the way — prides himself being all over everything (including the refs after every play), completely whiffed on that. That decision cost the Bills the game. If there's 9 seconds left, the Chiefs had one play to get into field-goal range.
• Allen was great, sure, but Patrick Mahomes was better because he made a good defense look silly (the Chiefs are not a good defense). He hasn't looked like himself dating back to the turf toe last year and offseason surgery, but he turned a corner in last week's outburst and he's back to being in complete command. That's scary for the Bengals, who are setting up to be the Bills from last year as the sacrificial lamb at Arrowhead.
RAMS 30, BUCS 27
• The Rams avoided being placed next to the 1986 Red Sox and 28-3 Falcons with one of the all-time gag jobs in sports up 27-3 midway through the third quarter. And their unraveling was all their own doing 25 total yards, three fumbles and a missed 47-yard field goal on 19 plays in six drives before the field-goal drive.
• Tom Brady had one of his typical games when he doesn't have protection and enough guys to get open. A great QB can only do so much, sorry, especially 40-somethings. Give Brady a great line or great weapons and he's fine. Bucs had neither. This was not another great Brady moment, not with one touchdown pass. This was 100 percent a Rams Heimlich maneuver.
• I don't expect this to be the end for Brady, but you never know. Can he get Bruce Arians out and his preferred coach for one final run?
• Rob Gronkowski had 4 catches on 11 targets. He didn't look great, and this was just his 13th game of the season. Imagine if he had played another five.
• The Rams overused Cam Akers, leading to his fumble. Sony Michel got one carry.
• Matthew Stafford exorcised some of his demons with a very good performance. That final pass to Cooper Cupp was a dime with Ndamukong Suh in his mug.
49ERS 13, PACKERS 10
• Jimmy Garoppolo beat Aaron Rodgers completing 11 passes for 131 yards and one interception. That's some unbelievable Eli Manning stuff right there.
• Rodgers was brutal in this game. Yes, the 49ers' defense played great but Rodgers always gets into trouble when he forgets about being a QB and tries to live up to something. He needed to spread the ball around and instead he threw 11 to Davante Adams, 10 to Aaron Jones and completed just two passes to anyone else.
• Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary were monsters for a very good Packers defense.
• Teams' weaknesses are usually exposed in the postseason. The Packers' special teams (punt block TD, FG block and big kickoff return) were just terrible and cost the team the game.
BENGALS 19, TITANS 16
• The Bengals didn't win this game, Ryan Tannehill lost this game with his three awful interceptions. He was one I definitely got right. If you lose a game when your defense gets nine sacks, you're terrible.
• Too much Derrick Henry in his first game back.
• Tannehill had the only TD pass on Saturday.
• Titans were 1 of 9 on third and fourth downs.
• If you're one of these that wants to use this game to make a Mac Jones comparison, you need help. Jones is way ahead of where Tannehill was early. Jones is a QB with balls and smarts. Tannehill was always an athlete trying to learn to be a QB. Two entirely different types of players.