Not even a bye week could knock Josh Allen off the top spot.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback remains No. 1 in FOX Sports’ NFL QB rankings, holding the edge over Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears even after sitting out last week on Buffalo’s bye. Allen’s season has been every bit as loud as the ranking suggests: through six games, the 2024 MVP has piled up 1,504 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, 240 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. That rushing total leads the entire NFL.
Allen’s latest on-field statement came in the Bills’ 33-30 win over the Las Vegas Raiders before the bye. He finished 23-of-33 passing for 255 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for the first time since Week 2.
The throw everyone will remember came midway through the third quarter, when Allen turned a broken sequence into a highlight. He juked, sidestepped defenders and leaped into contact before somehow shoveling a 12-yard pass into the arms of a wide-open Keon Coleman for a touchdown.
Afterward, Allen made it clear the play was not some backyard trick shot born out of nowhere. He said he knew Coleman was open, but once he got hit and spun around, he couldn’t tell whether the ball had been completed.
"Once it comes out, you kind of get hit and tumble around," Allen said. "It's so hard in these away games which feel like home games. Once you hear the crowd go crazy, you're like, 'I don't know if it's a touchdown, and I don't know if it's an interception.'"
That road crowd sounded a lot more like Buffalo than Las Vegas, and James Cook III noticed it too. The running back accounted for 153 scrimmage yards in the victory and said Bills fans made their presence felt.
"This is what Buffalo fans do," Cook said. "Like I said, they always show up and show out.
Coming from Buffalo or wherever they came from, just to show that they support us and care about us. It shows a lot of gratitude to those fans.
I want to say thank you and we appreciate you guys."
The Allen effect isn’t just landing with fans. It’s hitting his teammates, too. Left tackle Dion Dawkins said he usually tries to keep himself from getting swept up in the spectacle, but this time he couldn’t help himself.
"I went over to Josh and I said, 'I've been around you a while, bro, and I don't ever want to be like, 'Oh my God, Josh Allen you're the best! But you are him.
You are Himothy,'" Dawkins said. "We're seeing it in real time."
Buffalo now turns to a Week 8 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens, though Lamar Jackson’s status remains unclear as he deals with an ankle injury. The Bills are 5-1, while Allen’s career numbers with the franchise now sit at 31,606 passing yards, 229 passing touchdowns, 4,961 rushing yards and 87 rushing touchdowns. His record as a starter is 93-40-0.
The Bills have reached the AFC Championship Game twice in the Allen era and lost both times to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. And with Kansas City also at 5-1, there’s a path to seeing Allen and Mahomes square off again in this year’s AFC Championship Game.
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Greg Gaines was added to the injury report late after tweaking his lower body during Friday practice, adding another layer of uncertainty to Buffalos depth chart. On the back end, Damar Hamlin is set to start at safety with C.J. Gardner-Johnson serving a suspension, giving the Bills at least one clear answer as they sort through the rest of the roster before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]