How Josh Allen's divergence is helping him close the gap on Patrick Mahomes

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — For most of Josh Allen's career, he's been chasing Patrick Mahomes.

There's the draft, which Allen entered in 2018, a year after Mahomes. There's the contractual element, with Allen signing his massive extension in 2021 after Mahomes inked his in 2020. There's their on-field performances, where Mahomes has three Super Bowl titles and two MVPs and Allen has none of either.

In terms of NFL maturity, Allen is at least one step behind Mahomes. 

Except in one category: the security blanket.

Mahomes still has his. Tight end Travis Kelce has been the No. 1 option in the Chiefs offense since Mahomes took over as QB1. Allen lost his alpha this offseason in Stefon Diggs. And while many compared that to Mahomes losing Tyreek Hill, the comparison is flawed. Because even after Hill left, Mahomes had the greatest pass-catching tight end in the history of the game. Allen? After the Bills traded Diggs this past offseason, the QB had nothing of the sort.

This isn't to say that Allen is better than Mahomes — though the Bills QB is empirically outplaying the Chiefs QB right now. It's just to say that Allen and the Bills have, for so long, copied Mahomes and the Chiefs with their team-building strategies. 

Until now. Now, things are different.

And so Week 11, in which Allen beat Mahomes, felt like a reminder of where Allen's career has diverged from that of Mahomes. Allen ran for the game-winning touchdown and led the team in rushing yards. And he completed a touchdown to his 11th different pass-catcher. It's a good thing the quarterback is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, because all he seems to do is put the Bills on his back. 

"I feel like we can all play as alphas on the team, because of who we have at quarterback," fullback Reggie Gilliam told FOX Sports. "You never know what guy might be going off for 100 yards that day."

"The league has stars and he's one of them," receiver Amari Cooper said. "He's just a tremendous talent."

The Bills offense has experienced setbacks over the course of the season. Their issues were on full display in their losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. The Bills scored as many points against the Chiefs (30) as they did in those two matchups. And that's when things looked somewhat dubious for Allen and Buffalo. Maybe they did need Diggs.

But they've since won six straight.

And that's in part because Allen has taken more command over the offense. That's not just in the huddle or in the meeting rooms. It's about the relationships he maintains with his teammates.

"He does a great job throughout the week asking us what we like, what we don't like, how we see certain plays," tight end Dawson Knox said. "We have a players-only meeting, where he'll go through all the receivers, all the tight ends, all the running backs. Like, ‘Hey, which plays do you like? Which plays do you not like? What do you want to see get called early?' So that communication with him has been awesome, just to see him take those extra steps to make us feel comfortable. He's done a great job with that so far." 

Knox was referring to the team's Friday meeting that offensive coordinator Joe Brady conceptualized but doesn't attend. Brady leaves the room to let Allen run the show. That pushes the QB front and center so that, just like on the field, he can make sure he's connecting with his guys. This meeting started at the middle of last year when Brady took over for Ken Dorsey. And Buffalo has continued it into this year, which has helped generate even more discussion between the players in 2024.

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

So, just how different has Allen been this year in connecting with the offense?

"It has evolved," Knox said. "He's always done that, but it's kind of at a new high, like where we actually have a sit-down meeting with everyone, and then he'll take you aside one-on-one. So I would just say he does it more consistently."

That's how a player like Khalil Shakir has turned into Allen's new security blanket. Shakir is the team's leader in receptions (56) and receiving yards (599). He saw an uptick in workload at the end of last year as production slowed for Diggs. And Shakir has continued to ascend.

"He's a frickin' football player — emphasis on football," Allen said of Shakir back in September. "He's so selfless about the approach. Throughout the week, he may get two passes during practice and, again, he'll just find ways to be in the right place at the right time. And he makes plays. That's just been his M.O. I fricking love him."

It's easy to see why. Shakir has the highest catch percentage (84.8%) among all receivers who have at least 25 targets. He has the third-most yards after the catch (473). He's not even that fast. He's just a menace in the open field, which makes life easier for Allen.

But as mentioned, the Bills hit a rough patch early in the season against playoff-bound opponents. And perhaps in part because tight end Dalton Kincaid, a former first-round pick, hasn't ascended to the top spot in the pecking order, Buffalo traded for Cooper.

Buffalo has emphasized the "everyone eats" mentality in meetings, but Cooper projects to be the team's No. 1 option. Because he joined the Bills in a midseason trade, he doesn't have a full handle on the team's playbook — nor does he have a depth of experience in practice with Allen. And still, they seem to have that unspoken connection where they can find each other in difficult situations. 

Allen found Cooper for a touchdown in the receiver's first game. On the scoring play, the Bills QB alerted to Cooper's one-on-one matchup with a cornerback, because Allen liked the matchup. And for good reason, because Cooper easily got open for a touchdown. 

We saw more of that rapport versus the Chiefs. Cooper might have only had two catches but they were outstanding, with a 30-yard over-the-shoulder catch and a 20-yard contested reception in tight coverage. The Bills aren't manufacturing touches for their new receiver. Allen and Cooper are making them happen, in part because it's an essential part of the offense.

While Cooper is a starkly different personality than Diggs, they are similar receivers. And perhaps that has Allen drawing on his experience to accelerate their connection.

"Some quarterbacks have been playing this game a long time. They can kind of see similarities in the games of the new receivers that come, and that helps with the timing, if that makes sense," Cooper said. "But we communicate for sure, especially on plays where I know I might have a great opportunity to get the ball. We'll communicate so that we can kind of get that mental rep before it actually happens."

Cooper praised the Bills for being "different" in that they all go out to eat together and they're "tight-knit" in a way that he hasn't seen much in his 10-year career. And perhaps that's what made the team's win over the Chiefs even sweeter. Cooper seems to really enjoy playing with and for Allen, who rushed for the team's go-ahead, 26-yard touchdown on fourth down.

"This is the first time in a long time I've actually felt joy from winning this game," Cooper said. "When you're a kid and you're dreaming of football, this is the stage that you're dreaming about. You're dreaming about the meaningful games against the best teams. … So to answer your question about the Josh Allen experience — with this magnitude [of Sunday's game] — it's been phenomenal. … You know the old adage: Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time situations. And that's exactly what he did."

Allen is doing so many little things right this year. He's sharper than ever before the snap, with alerts and audibles that set up his offense for success. The quarterback is avoiding catastrophic turnovers and playing better situational football. He's playing smarter.

"Josh is a lot smarter than — I don't know what people give him credit for, cerebral-wise, but he's very smart. He's a very smart guy," Cooper said.

If you put it all together, the Bills have a quarterback who doesn't need continuity among his pass-catchers to lead one of the NFL's best offenses. There's the playful adage from Joe Burrow: "F--- it, Ja'Marr's down there somewhere." That's sort of the opposite of the Bills' identity. 

"The thing about Josh is you never feel like he's got favorites," Gilliam said. "It doesn't matter who you are. He trusts you. If you're in the room with us, he trusts you. So it's never like, ‘I don't know if I want to throw the ball to him, because we don't have that much chemistry.' He threw a deep ball to Quintin Morris [against the Chiefs]. That might have been the first time ever."

Nobody is saying: "F--- it. Quintin's down there somewhere." No one except Josh Allen.

And that's how he's taken one step away from Mahomes — and, in turn, has come one step closer to closing the gap between the two QBs.

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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