On a snowy afternoon in Buffalo, with the Bills trailing by two scores and facing a critical fourth-and-4, Josh Allen did what Josh Allen does. The pocket collapsed, pressure surged, and yet somehow, Allen rolled right, extended the play just long enough, and zipped a pass between two Bengals defenders to Khalil Shakir in the end zone.
Touchdown. Just like that.
For most quarterbacks, that's a career highlight. For Allen, it’s just another Sunday.
“There’s no perfect word to explain how unreal this dude is. He’s amazing,” Shakir said, speaking about his quarterback with the kind of awe that’s become common around One Bills Drive.
And you get it-because when Allen flips the switch into improvisation mode, it’s like watching a magician who doesn’t need a stage. The play breaks down, the structure dissolves, and Allen starts painting outside the lines.
That’s when the Bills’ receivers know it’s time to react.
“Our job as receivers and the tight ends is to scramble drill,” Shakir explained. “It’s just trying to make a play, get open for him, and we know that we have the best player in the league on our team.
He’s going to make plays and make unreal throws. For us, it’s showing that we’re available for him.”
This isn’t new for Allen, who’s now in his eighth NFL season. But even with nearly a decade of jaw-dropping highlights under his belt, he still manages to leave teammates speechless.
Cornerback Christian Benford likens his game to something out of Madden. Head coach Sean McDermott calls it the “it-factor.”
And Shakir? He’s just trying to keep up with the weekly wizardry.
“The stuff that he does every single game-and it’s multiple times a game-every game you’re like, ‘Oh, that might be his best play.’ And then the next play happens, you’re like, ‘No, that might be it,’” Shakir said. “Every time he touches the field, he just does stuff that your jaw drops and you’re just sitting there, ‘How did he do that?’”
Shakir didn’t arrive in Buffalo until 2022, but his familiarity with Allen goes back further. Before they were teammates, they were Mountain West foes-Shakir at Boise State, Allen at Wyoming.
Josh Allen. Khalil Shakir. OMG. 🤯#ProBowlVote + @JoshAllenQB#ProBowlVote + @king_khalil2
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 7, 2025
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/2uyyjDy8Nt
Even then, Allen’s presence lingered long after he left. Shakir remembers his defensive teammates breathing a collective sigh of relief when Allen made the leap to the NFL in 2018.
“‘Thank God that quarterback is gone,’” Shakir recalled them saying. “And of course, they’re talking about Josh.”
Fast forward four years, and Shakir was the one joining Allen in Buffalo, a fifth-round pick stepping into a locker room led by one of the league’s most electrifying quarterbacks. From the moment he got the call on draft day, Shakir knew it was the right fit.
“When I got the call that I was coming to Buffalo, man, I was just excited,” he said. “It’s seeing him and the plays that he was already making, and having the opportunity to be a part of that. It’s just a blessing in itself.”
And now, after four seasons in Western New York, Shakir’s not just watching Allen’s greatness-he’s part of it. “You hear all the stories about it, but getting to be there in real time and see him do it in person is a whole other level.”
As the regular season winds down and the playoff race tightens, the Bills are once again looking to ride Allen’s arm-and improvisational brilliance-into January. The postseason is familiar territory for this team, but the goal remains the same: bring home the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy. And if Allen keeps doing what he’s doing, Buffalo just might have the magic to make it happen.