Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills opened the new Highmark Stadium in style on Thursday night, defeating the visiting Detroit Lions 41-31. Thursday night football. The win moved the Bills to 2-0 and with a 36-31 win over the Houston Texans and their vaunted defense in Week 1, Buffalo put 77 points on the board through two weeks.
And in the process, Allen made a strong, albeit early, case for his second MVP award.
On Thursday night, Allen was nearly flawless against an injury-depleted Lions defense. He completed 20-31 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions, and added another 69 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns.
In doing so, Allen returned himself to one of the league’s smallest rosters.
In the words of the great Tony Kornheiser, “That’s it, that’s the list.
Again, this performance comes from Allen’s performance against the Texans and what many consider the league’s best defense. In Week 1 against Houston, on the road, Allen connected on 20-of-29 passes for 334 yards and a pair of touchdowns and is coming in with another rushing touchdown. Yes, one of those incompletions was a dropped potential interception, but he did so in the next screenshot.
Third-and-11, a perfect tightrope between a man-coverage cornerback and a single-high safety. You know, the usual stuff.
Although this is indeed a new year, the The Texans did not allow a 300-yard passer campaign throughout 2025.
For the year, Allen added another four rushing touchdowns and completed 66.7% of his passes for five touchdowns with no interceptions. He posted an astronomical 10.4 adjusted net yards, a career high to date, ahead of the 8.0/A he posted in his previous 2024 MVP season.
Yes, all those numbers can come crashing back down to earth, but when you dive into how well he’s looked on the field, you can see why he’s off to such a hot start, and it makes that “first season MVP” issue a little easier. There are moments of the overhead throw to Joshua Palmer, and there are other moments like this throw, under pressure and in his own end zone to Dalton Kincaid:
Or if this absolute laser for DJ Moore, inches in the other direction, is incomplete. or worse:
Then this moment from Thursday night against the Lions, rolling down the chain to his left, defenders in his face, throwing his back foot through multiple defenders.
You know, the usual stuff for a quarterback.
Of course, the biggest caveat to all of this is that he’s one of only two quarterbacks with a pair of games under his belt this season. Some other MVP-caliber players will get a chance to respond this weekend, perhaps with Lamar Jackson making his first case for another MVP award in last Sunday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts.
In that win, Jackson completed 17-of-25 passes for 324 yards and a touchdown, adding another touchdown, and if you still insist Jackson can’t play from the pocket, look at plays like 2nd-and-16 Mark Andrews from early in the second quarter.
But who’s the quarterback?Broke the math” The prospect may have some more numbers on his side this season.
Again, we have another little detail on it.
Along with some history on the side.