The Allen Affect: How Josh Allen Made The Bills a Playoff Team
Photo Credit: Joe Robbins, Getty Images
Josh Allen is a California kid who grew up excelling in athletics. In his younger years he played basketball, baseball, and football. When he graduated from high school, he struggled to find a scholarship to play football, ending up at Reedley College in 2014. The next year, he entered the transfer portal and was picked up by the University of Wyoming after being guaranteed playing time. He played the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons for the school and made history with his passing efficiency. During his college career at Wyoming, he posted a career 5,066 yards with a completion percentage of 56.2 percent. Allen entered the 2018 NFL Draft after his final season with Wyoming, being drafted at No. 7 overall by the Buffalo Bills.
Since Allen entered their roster, the paradigm within the Bills organization changed. A team that had not made the playoffs since 1999 has made it to the postseason in every single year since drafting Allen. In 2019, the Bills played the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card Round, losing 22-19 in overtime. The next year they made it even further, winning a Wild Card matchup against the Indianapolis Colts and a Divisional Round game against the Baltimore Ravens. They fell short of the Super Bowl that season, losing a 38-24 heartbreaker against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. In the 2021 playoffs, they blew out the New England Patriots, but fell to the Chiefs in a 42-36 overtime thriller. In 2022, the Bills found themselves once again in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, but could not seal a win against the Cincinnati Bengals at home. On Jan. 7, they defeated the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football by a score of 21-14, clinching another AFC East title and the No. 2 seed in the 2023 playoffs.
Josh Allen has a career 167 touchdown passes, throwing for a total of 22,703 yards for the Buffalo Bills. Allen has completed just under two thirds of his passes thrown in his NFL career, with his current completion percentage sitting at 66.5 percent.
The drafting of Allen has also sparked a new life into the Bills’ fanbase, often known as “Bills Mafia”. The net worth of the franchise has grown from $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion over the course of four years (2019-2023).
Allen’s efforts have near single-handedly turned the entire franchise around from one of the worst teams and saddest fanbases in the NFL landscape to a perennial contender for the Super Bowl. The question that remains is simple: will Allen be able to bring a Super Bowl to the city that lost four straight years ago, or will the curse of the franchise catch up with him, too?
