The Buffalo Bills aren’t budging from No. 1.
After taking down the Detroit Lions in Week 2, Buffalo held onto the top spot in ESPN’s NFL power rankings, keeping its place atop the league despite the kind of early-season stress that usually sends teams sliding. The Bills opened with a road win over the Houston Texans, and at 2-0 they’re now one of eight undefeated teams left in the NFL.
What’s driving the ranking is pretty obvious: Josh Allen is playing like the best player in football right now.
ESPN’s Nick Suss pointed to the quarterback’s ability to punish defenses no matter how they line up against him, writing that Allen “is going to make defenses pay either way.”
“Allen has kept his eyes downfield through two games, averaging a career-best 9.7 yards per attempt on his deepest average depth of target (10.5) since 2018, his rookie season,” Suss wrote. “That has led to three touchdowns on throws of 20-plus air yards.
But Allen is just as dangerous when defenses bail out to protect against the deep ball. Of his 92 rushing yards on 20 carries this season, 70 have come on six scramble plays.”
The Week 2 performance backed that up. Allen completed 20 of 31 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns, then added 14 carries for 69 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground.
Through two games, the 2024 MVP has piled up 582 passing yards, five passing touchdowns, 92 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. He has not thrown an interception.
Bills center Connor McGovern said the way Allen has started feels unlike anything he has seen from him before.
“I’ve never seen him start out like this. This is like mid- to late-season form of him,” said Bills center Connor McGovern. “I think this can be the chance to put his statement on, like, this is going to be a career year.”
Buffalo’s offense has come out blazing, too. The Bills are averaging 38.5 points through two games, with Allen responsible for 90 percent of the team’s touchdowns and 79 percent of its yardage.
That’s especially striking because Buffalo is also living in some rare air for the wrong reason. The Bills are just the third team in NFL history to begin 2-0 while allowing 30-plus points in each game.
Still, Allen’s impact has kept everything pointed in the right direction.
“When you ask everybody on the team to empty the tank, you can watch how he plays,” coach Joe Brady said. “And it’s like, how does everybody else not feel like they need to empty it out?
Because he literally gave everything he had out there. He put the team on his back in a lot of those situations.”
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