Over the last week, we heard it all.
- "Josh Allen can’t play in front of fans."
- "Allen was letting the pressure of his new $258 million contract get to him."
- "Allen's 2020 season was surely a fluke."
Allen answered a lot of those questions on Sunday with the most complete performance of his young career in a 43-21 win over the Washington Football Team at Highmark Stadium.
The 25-year-old signal caller was on top of his game in Orchard Park. going 32-of-43 for 358 yards and four passing touchdowns. Allen also added a rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put the final nail in Washington's coffin.
I mentioned during "Countdown to Kickoff" on Bills Radio Network pregame coverage that it was very important for Allen to get off to a hot start on Sunday. After throwing an incompletion on his first attempt of the day to running back Devin Singletary, Allen completed his next six passes down the field, leading the Bills to an opening drive touchdown.
He was in rhythm, and it finally felt like his feet were underneath him. He trusted his offensive line to keep him upright, giving up just one sack to the Washington defensive line that features four first round picks.
On top of that trust of the offensive line, Allen finally took what the defense was giving him, which opened up the shots down the field throughout the game.
Cole Beasley should be leading the National Football League in catches and targets, based on how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins defended Allen and the Bills offense. They say the NFL is a copycat league, and Washington took a page out of the Steelers' and Dolphins' playbooks, dropping back seven and trying to get after Allen with four pass rushers.
Unlike his last two weeks, Allen continually found the underneath passing game, seeing Beasley amass 11 catches on 13 targets for 98 yards. I believe that directly lead to the Emmanuel Sanders breakout game we saw, posting two touchdown catches on six targets.
Then there was Bills tight end Dawson Knox, who secured his second touchdown in as many weeks, rewarding Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for his increased roll. Since moving away from all of the empty sets, five wide receiver formations we saw in Week 1, there has been a notable shift in success since the commitment to 11-personnel and featuring Knox in the gameplan more.
We still haven’t seen that patented Stefon Diggs performance yet, putting in another workman’s-like performance with six catches on 10 targets for 62 yards, which likely bodes well for Allen and the offense the rest of the way. Diggs, the NFL’s leading pass catcher in 2020, will undoubtedly get his, and it says a lot that the Bills offense is finding their way without having Diggs and Allen hit their stride.
There’s a ton to like about the Bills' victory over Washington, including a third-straight quality defensive output, turning the ball over three times and holding Washington's offense to just 290 yards and 13 first downs.
The Bills will host Davis Mills and the Houston Texans next week at home before their first true test of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs for a "Sunday Night Football" showdown at Arrowhead Stadium.
Surprisingly, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs dropped to 1-2 on the 2021 season after losing to Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3. Frankly, the Chiefs could, and probably should be 0-3 this season.
The Bills have a real opportunity over the next few weeks to create some separation in the AFC en route to the No. 1 seed for the playoffs.
