Josh Allen Has Gone From Being a Problem to The Problem

Josh Allen's march to an NFL MVP award, along with the Buffalo Bills' march to a Super Bowl has hit some black ice as temperatures have dropped. After building a lead on Sunday at home against the Minnesota Vikings, Allen made a series of unfortunate, careless decisions while Justin Jefferson defied all preconceived laws of physics as the visitors left with an overtime victory. Buffalo no longer controls its own destiny in the quest for the AFC's No. 1 seed. And may very well have an enormous, Allen-shaped problem if Nick Wright is to be believed.

Here's his take from this afternoon's First Things First.

It wouldn't be a football Monday if there wasn't some powerful overreaction afoot. This is tremendous content and makes all the sense in the world coming from someone who might have Patrick Mahomes' initials tattooed on his body somewhere. And there's some merit, too, because you cannot be going full Dave Krieg and hope to accomplish big things in late January and mid-February.

But I think we all need to pump the breaks here. Allen is dinged-up. The Bills are 6-3 and quite clearly either the best or second-best team in the conference. They have already beaten Wright's beloved Chiefs at Arrowhead. In part because a guy named Patrick Mahomes doesn't always set the world on fire the way he's capable of doing.

There are months before Allen gets his chance at playoff revenge and dead air is uninteresting. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the Bills. Or, and I think this is more likely, it's a bump in the road.

Is Allen perfect? No. Would you rather have him than virtually anyone else — even with the concession he gets a bit too loose and generous with the football? Also yes. Emphatically yes.