Why Josh Allen doesn’t have to be one-man show for Bills anymore

Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills shouldn’t make it look this easy.

For one, Allen is dealing with what seems like a serious injury to his left hand. (Just look at the size of the glove he was wearing on Thursday night.) Allen also lost star receiver Stefon Diggs in the offseason and the Bills replaced him with Mack Hollins, Keon Coleman (a rookie) and Curtis Samuel. None of the new guys have been all that effective. 

And then there is the defense. The Bills said goodbye to Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer and Tre’Davious White in the offseason. Then they lost star linebacker Matt Milano to a biceps injury before Week 1, cornerback Taron Johnson to a forearm injury in Week 1, and linebacker Terrel Bernard to a pectoral injury in Week 2.

None of that mattered. 

Buffalo stomped the Dolphins 31-10.

Allen and the Bills took control last Thursday from the jump. It was probably over before Tua Tagovailoa left the game with a concussion — one that overshadowed the game. But by the time Tua exited in the third quarter, there was no doubt that the Bills would win.

The defense was more important than the offense. We’ll get back to Sean McDermott’s unit. But after Allen was a one-man offensive unit in Week 1, he went to his reliable guys from the second half of last season: James Cook and Khalil Shakir. Those two players are clearly going to be at the center of this offense as the Bills try to keep Allen away from contact, which they could not do in Week 1, hence the hand injury.

But that’s the plan for Buffalo: Have a different plan every week.

Not every team can feel comfortable saying goodbye to a guy like Diggs (in the same offseason as they said goodbye to WR2 Gabe Davis, by the way). But clearly, the Bills did. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have traded him. At the end of the 2023 season, they diminished Diggs’ role and you could see the birthplace of this year’s offense, with Cook and Shakir taking center stage. 

“The biggest thing is, throughout the season, just finding different ways to win — whether it’s being able to maintain up front and running the football,” offensive coordinator Joe Brady said Friday. “There’s going to be a time where we have to throw the ball 50 times. It’s about us being willing to adjust to the game being played — and dictate the terms also. … Watching a guy like Josh loving life whether he’s throwing it 10 times or whether he’s throwing it 50 times.”

[McKenna: Inside the Bills’ meeting that revitalized Josh Allen and Buffalo’s offense]

Josh Allen is becoming the best version of himself, a quarterback who can elevate his supporting cast — and grow away from needing a star receiver to buoy the offense.

Here’s a look at some of the brilliant work Allen and Brady are doing together. At a pivot point of the game, the Bills went for it on fourth-and-3. They called the perfect play — a check down to the flat that seemed simple. In reality, it was quite intricate. Allen confirmed the Bills were facing man defense with motion from Cook, who then ran into the flat — which multiple receivers had cleared with decoy/pick routes. No one was near Cook when he caught the ball, thanks to Mack Hollins and Shakir crossing the formation and getting in the way of Miami linebacker David Long Jr., who was supposed to cover Cook.

When asked about Allen, McDermott pointed to an incompletion as one of his biggest plays on the night — and that’s because Allen knew when to throw the ball away, rather than force a play that wasn’t there. Both McDermott and Brady discussed how pleased they’ve been with Allen’s decision-making thus far this season. Allen has zero interceptions and one fumble lost after two games. At this point last year, he had already racked up four turnovers.

McDermott also went out of his way to mention Allen when asked about the Bills’ team-first mentality. It’s unusual to have a coach single out a player when discussing the team-first mentality — but also somehow fitting.

“I’m extremely appreciative of the guys and their mindset,” McDermott said Friday. “I really believe that starts at the top with Josh. Very unselfish. I love watching Josh celebrate when his teammates do great things. Watching the film of our offense — James goes off tackle and is about to score a touchdown and you see Josh in the background with his hands raised. … Same thing when the defense makes a big play — first person to celebrate is Josh Allen. Special teams, no different. When your top guy, when your best player embodies that [team-first mentality], it just has a tremendous amount of influence across the team.”

Allen didn’t have to do much against the Dolphins. He was 13 of 19 for 139 yards and a passing touchdown. He ran just two times for two yards. The hand seemed to lead to a fumbled snap on a third down, which then killed the Bills’ chances to convert. But otherwise, Allen looked comfortable and in control. And he didn’t have to score four touchdowns (like he did in Week 1 against the Cardinals) to dominate the game. That’s in part because Cook had 11 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Cook also had the receiving touchdown.

And then there was the defense.

I promised I’d get here!

We confirmed a few things in these first two weeks: 1) The Bills’ CB tandem, Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford, is the NFL’s most underrated 2) McDermott is better at plugging and playing defenders than maybe any other coach in the NFL and 3) Von Miller is back, baby.

When it comes to the cornerbacks, it helps that Tagovailoa doesn’t seem to see the field clearly when he’s playing against McDermott’s defense. The Dolphins quarterback threw a pair of first-half interceptions that seemed like his receivers’ fault. But even there, Tua must take some of the blame, because he was targeting Grant DuBose and Robbie Chosen on the interceptions — when he has, you know, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle on the roster. That third interception for Tua was inexcusable, a ball he tried to get to the sideline but left short and into the hands of cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram.

And Ingram is the perfect example of McDermott plugging in backups successfully. The cornerback is 27 years old, on the older side for being in his third NFL season. He went undrafted in 2022. But he had two interceptions in his 30% of the defense’s snaps. He was stepping in for Taron Johnson, the team’s top slot cornerback.

It helped, too, that the Bills pass rush was married to coverage.

“Von Miller looked like Von Miller tonight,” Allen said after the game.

Miller finished the game with four pressures and one sack on 22 rushes. That brings him to nine pressures and two sacks on the season. Edge Gregory Rousseau, who had three sacks in Week 1, and defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who had a sack in Week 2, look like formidable contributors in passing situations.

All that adds up to a defense Allen can count on. We know Allen can step up and carry this offense. And we are starting to see Allen sit back and play mistake-free football while the rest of the team takes care of business.

Allen, Brady, McDermott and GM Brandon Beane might have something special figured out.

Maybe it’s addition by subtraction.

But Buffalo is off to a far better start than anyone could have expected. With Allen playing as well as he is — and the defense looking as dangerous as ever — this team should threaten the Chiefs in both the regular season and in the postseason.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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