Josh Allen is heading back to the place where a lot of people first got a real look at what he could become.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback will return to Minneapolis for the first time since that rookie-season breakthrough in 2018, the game that helped announce him to the league. Back then, Buffalo was coming off a 0-2 start and had been outscored 78-23 through its first two games. The Bills had used the seventh overall pick on Allen, but there wasn’t much expectation around the team as it tried to rebuild despite making the playoffs in 2017.
Then Week 3 against the Minnesota Vikings changed the tone fast.
Buffalo jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter after Minnesota turned the ball over on its first two offensive drives. The Bills’ first touchdown came on a 10-yard rushing score from Allen, who darted to the corner of the end zone and dove with the ball in one hand to reach the pylon.
That was only the beginning of the highlight reel. Late in the first quarter, with Buffalo facing a third down, Allen dropped back to pass, felt pressure, and took off up the middle. Anthony Barr met him in the open field, but Allen went airborne, leaping over the Vikings linebacker and clearing roughly 3 yards to move the chains.
Buffalo rolled to a 27-6 win, and for plenty of fans, that was the day Allen went from intriguing rookie to a quarterback everybody had to know.
It also served as the opening chapter of what he has become since then: one of the most dynamic players in the game, a quarterback who owns plenty of Bills records and has piled up NFL history along the way.
Now he gets that same stage again. Allen returns to Minneapolis for the first time since that statement game, and this time the Vikings bring a defense led by Brian Flores. Kickoff is tomorrow night at 8:15PM EST.
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