Is Joe Burrow Better Than Josh Allen?

By carolinianweb on January 31, 2023 • ( 0 )

Ethan Engellau

Sports, Editor

The Eagles dominated the Giants and ended their comeback season. The Chiefs escaped the Jaguars and their young, up-and-coming team despite a Patrick Mahomes ankle injury. Brock Purdy improves to eight and oh as a starter for the 49ers as they proved that the Cowboys will always do Cowboys things. All these outcomes were to be expected. The outlier came when the Bengals shut down the Bills in Orchard Park, leaving NFL fans questioning if the gap between Burrow and Allen is smaller than it seems.

When debating who the best quarterback in the league is, three names tend to come up: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. Tom Brady has had an otherworldly career, but this season he took himself out of the conversation. Mahomes will likely win his second MVP this season, cementing himself in the number one spot with one Super Bowl win also under his belt. Josh Allen over the last three seasons has proven time and time again to be the one guy who can compete with Mahomes consistently when the Chiefs and Bills face off. Allen has won two of three regular-season matchups in his career against Mahomes but unfortunately has lost both of their two postseason matchups. This is where the conversation begins to favor Burrow as Joe and the Bengals have bested Mahomes in each of their three matchups since Burrow entered the league, winning each game by a three-point margin including last year’s AFC Championship Game. Both Burrow and Allen had slow rookie seasons, with Burrow suffering an ACL tear in Week Eleven and Allen trying to find his footing on a Bills team that had only three winning seasons in the twenty years prior to his arrival. Allen having two more years of winning has given him the upper hand over Burrow thus far.

Sunday’s Divisional Round game saw the two young star quarterbacks’ first head-to-head matchup. Orchard Park was covered in snow as the game kicked off and continued to fall throughout the game seemingly giving the already favored Buffalo team another advantage. Many Bengals players were cited as saying that this was their first game playing in the snow, but Cincinnati came out firing on all cylinders, and the Bills never stood a chance. Burrow completed each of his first nine passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns, one to Ja’Marr Chase and another to Hayden Hurst eight minutes later. Allen failed to throw for a touchdown for the first time since Week Eight against the New York Jets. Turnovers and sacks were kept to a minimum as Allen threw only one interception and was sacked once, Buffalo just couldn’t move the ball consistently gaining 19 first downs to Cincinnati’s 30. The Bengals advance to their second AFC Championship Game in a row, downing the Bills 27-10. If Burrow can advance to his second Super Bowl appearance to Allen’s zero, Burrow may have earned the second-place spot.

In what Bengals players were calling “Burrowhead,” a play on the Chiefs stadium Arrowhead as an homage to Burrow’s dominance over Mahomes, the Chiefs escaped the Jaguars despite Patrick Mahomes having his leg crushed between two Jaguars defensive linemen in the second quarter. Backup Chad Henne would enter the game and lead Kansas City to their franchise’s longest playoff-drive of 98 yards and cap it off with a touchdown. A touchdown that would prove vital as the Jaguars comeback magic almost struck again. Jacksonville had two chances to tie the game, the first when Jamal Agnew fumbled five yards out of the endzone after a catch, and the second a one-handed interception by Jaylen Watson with four minutes remaining. Kansas City wins 27-20.

The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the New York Giants on the ground rushing for 268 yards while Jalen Hurts’ shoulder injury proved insignificant. The Eagles looked like the better team from start to finish, outscoring New York 28-0 in the first half and allowing the only Giants score in the Wildcat formation when Daniel Jones wasn’t even at quarterback. A long-awaited winning season comes to end for New York in a devastating 38-7 loss.

In a defensive battle between the 49ers and Cowboys, a Tony Pollard injury and two interceptions from Dak Prescott were enough to fall to San Francisco 19-12. The highlight of this game coming on the final play as déjà vu from last year’s playoff loss to San Francisco occurred. Last year’s failed final play came when Dak Prescott ran up the middle of the field with nine seconds left on the clock, not allowing Dallas enough time to get off another play. This year, Dallas lined up on their own 24-yard line, running back Ezekiel Elliott at center with their linemen and receivers lined out wide. Elliott snapped the ball to Prescott who threw the ball eight yards to KaVontae Turpin who was hit immediately, ending the game, and sending San Francisco to Philadelphia for the NFC Championship.