He’s an acquired taste — and a Chiefs fan who believes Allen needs to prove his worth as a quarterback
As a media personality, Nick Wright thrives off of hot takes. His brand of spice knows no boundaries outside of his chosen Kingdom.
Recently, Wright devoted a segment to dissecting the career of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, claiming that he’s under pressure to perform well and needs to put together an “awesome season throwing the football” for the first time in four years. First off, yes, there’s pressure on Allen to perform well this coming season — but that isn’t different from any other franchise quarterback.
You can argue that Josh Allen will be tasked with carrying the Bills in 2024 unlike any season before, so the idea of pressure is relevant, but not in the way that Wright sees things. In his constant need to remind people of Patrick Mahomes’ greatness, Wright believes that past failures have levied intense pressure on Josh Allen moving forward.
What this stance of Wright’s does is open up the door for plenty of debate and criticism of someone who doesn’t see the entire field, if you will. Framing the conversation around Pete Prisco’s top-100 NFL players list for 2024, in which Josh Allen was the only Bills player to make this season’s list (at six overall), Wright slammed Allen and claimed if he was actually good that he’d win with the Bills.
Seriously. To properly spice his intro, Wright derisively labeled the Bills as the Chiefs’ “alleged” rivals. No doubt a nod to their failure to win any of their postseason matchups.
Chris Broussard took a much different stance than Wright, claiming the pressure on Allen to win a Super Bowl this season just isn’t there thanks to what most observe as a restart roster-wise. Wright took exception to that idea, noting Allen’s current MVP odds (second-best odds) and mocking the idea, specifically his lack of proven receivers, in stating “...who could ever win the Super Bowl that way?”
Certainly not Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV.
Wright doesn’t seem willing to acknowledge the roles tight end Travis Kelce, head coach Andy Reid, and the Chiefs’ defense played in bringing home another Lombardi Trophy. He also didn’t mention the fact that when Mahomes joined the Chiefs, he was the last piece needed to compete for NFL supremacy. Right player, right time.
Danny Parkins appears to understand that Allen hasn’t seen the same sort of benefits laid out for Mahomes, countering with “Mahomes also has some career-long advantages that Josh Allen hasn’t had in Andy Reid, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, etc.”
It’s fair to wonder if Josh Allen has ever had a consistently reliable postseason receiver. That certainly wasn’t Stefon Diggs. Gabe Davis could make a case for one game. One game. An incredible game, too — but single instances don’t mingle with consistency.
Parkins does point out that with Allen’s status as the NFL’s second-best quarterback behind Mahomes, there will always be pressure on him to win a ring as someone who’s been paid accordingly as an excellent franchise player in their prime.
Clearly, Wright understands that discussions about Josh Allen make for great ratings. His credibility takes a hit when he says things like the following:
“(L)ast year when they did have Stefon — when they were 6-6 or 5-5 to start the year, it was because Josh was giving games away. And when they went on their run, it was because they took the ball out of his hands, and then they were in position at home to finally slay the dragon, and Josh came up short on the biggest drive of the year — tried to fumble the game away, they recovered it, they couldn’t — wait, if you’re the second-best player in the sport Danny, come through!”
I suppose it makes sense for Wright to fully ignore the dropped passes by multiple Bills receivers against the Chiefs in the playoffs. He might have learned to block them out after the regular-season effort KC’s receiving unit produced. Yet in the biggest game of their season, the Bills and Chiefs reversed roles, where suddenly every Chiefs receiver was able to make every improbable catch.
Interestingly, Mahomes’ regular-season numbers were down in 2023 thanks to his receivers failing to produce. Wright didn’t appear interested in discussing that fact.
Football is a team sport, and even the best franchise quarterbacks need a strong supporting cast. Try as we might, wins are not a QB stat, though quarterbacks will always have a W-L record tied to their numbers. Fair or not, the metric is simply a convenient way to discuss the greatness or otherwise of any QB.
One idea that may not be discussed enough is the Buffalo Bills’ preference to move on from Davis and Diggs because they routinely dropped the ball in the biggest moments. That wasn’t always the case, but it became the norm last season. Do their failures in the biggest moments amplify the pressure on Josh Allen moving forward?
Julian W. Lucas notes in his commentary over the Wright bit:
“(I)t’s just so disingenuous that we’re saying that Josh Allen if he’s a great quarterback he should be able to do and win with the Bills, when the reality is — is Patrick Mahomes has not won with the equivalent of Josh Allen. That is a fact.”
Lucas also points out Mahomes’ failure to win a Super Bowl against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wright didn’t bother to bring up any of that, unsurprisingly. Perhaps that was a point when it didn’t matter how great or otherwise Mahomes was?
Wright would go on to implore “if we’re gonna keep just talking about Josh Allen in these terms here’s what I would ask: Can Josh Allen for the first time in four years have an awesome season throwing the football?”
What?!
No one’s saying Patrick Mahomes isn’t in an elite tier as the best NFL quarterback, yet he continually bashes Josh Allen while trying to prove his point.
On that note, I’ll allow you all to discuss whether or not Josh Allen is under pressure in 2024, and if he needs to finally put together a great season throwing the football.