Two of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, both of whom have yet to win a Super Bowl, could be one step closer to that ultimate goal as Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen meet in the playoffs.
As the Kansas City Chiefs looked for an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl victory, Jackson and Allen were often the collateral damage left in their wake by their five-year dynasty.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Jackson and Buffalo Bills QB Allen were both drafted in 2018, a year after the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes, sparking their sudden rise to the top of the NFL.
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Mahomes has led the Chiefs to four of the past five Super Bowls, winning three of them, and while Jackson has matched him for league MVP awards in that span (two), Allen is the favorite to claim his first pair this season is in the playoffs.
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s best game of the season made him the 2024 MVP favorite.
Jackson is 3-4 in the playoffs, Allen improved to 6-5, but neither can match Mahomes’ astounding 15-3 record.
One of their records will be improved this weekend as Jackson’s Ravens and Allen’s Bills meet in Buffalo in an AFC Divisional Round matchup. live on Sky Sports NFLSunday, 11.30pm – but the other will put another “L” in the playoff loss column.
“It’s a legacy game (for Jackson and Allen).” Sky Sports’ Neil Reynolds said on the latest episode of the Inside The Huddle podcast: “They’ve both struggled in and out of the divisional stage.
“Lamar Jackson is 1-3 in the division or later, and Josh Allen is 1-4.
“Their Super Bowl window is open, but Patrick Mahomes is out there ready to spoil all the fun if he has to.
“One of these quarterbacks has to get that Super Bowl at some point.”
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And indeed, Mahomes could be lurking again as the winner’s reward as the Chiefs host the Houston Texans; live on Sky Sports NFLSaturday, 21:30 – another FFA divisional round clash.
While Mahomes and Kansas City are the conference’s No. 1 seed and have Super Bowl-like pedigree, the 2024 season has been a strange one, with 11 of their 15 wins coming by just eight points or less.
They ranked 17th in tackles per game (327.6) – best in Baltimore at 424.9 – and 15th in points per game (22.6), compared to second-best Buffalo in the NFL at 30.9 , and the Ravens are giving up 30.5.
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Best plays from Derrick Henry’s debut season for the Baltimore Ravens, a campaign in which he broke the franchise’s single-season touchdown record
Sunday’s matchup is also the first in playoff history between two quarterbacks with 40-plus TDs and fewer than 10 turnovers in a season (Jackson: 45 total TDs, nine giveaways / Allen: 41 total TDs, 8 giveaways).
That’s why this split-round matchup between the pair is so highly anticipated, because while the Chiefs may be waiting for the winner, could the Ravens and/or Bills end up being too much for Mahomes and co.
“I think the team that wins this game can win the Super Bowl,” he said Sky Sports’ Phoebe Schecter, former coach with the Bills.
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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s best play of the 2024 NFL season
“Both of these teams have struggled with their identity at times. Lamar and the Ravens openly said they should have run the ball more last year (in the playoff loss) and we saw the Bills struggle .
“This game is so hard to pick because both of these teams are phenomenal in so many different ways and these defensemen are so big in the big moments.
“It’s funny in Buffalo because this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Their defense worries me the most, but I’ll go with the Bills to win this game.”
Watch the Baltimore Ravens at the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the play-offs on Sunday live on Sky Sports NFL, kick-off 11.30pm.
