Amid a western New York snowstorm last week, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen produced a stat line unlike any other in NFL history, becoming the first quarterback to score touchdowns as a passer, a runner and a receiver in the same game.
The stat line was unprecedented, and it helped the Bills clinch a playoff spot in the AFC.
For his encore, Allen made even more history Sunday in Los Angeles.
For a second consecutive week, Allen turned in an all-time performance, this time against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Southern California, when he became the first quarterback in the league’s 104-year history to pass for three touchdowns and run for three touchdowns in the same game. Allen finished with 342 yards passing and 82 rushing.
And yet his individual brilliance still was not enough to help the Bills win on the road, as they lost 44-42. It was the first loss for Buffalo (10-3) since Oct. 6.
The NFL is a league filled with many of the biggest and fastest athletes in the world. Yet even among that caliber of athleticism, Allen was described as being out of this world.
“Josh Allen is an alien,” Rams coach Sean McVay told reporters afterward. “Some of the stuff that he can do and the things that he can create, we knew he was capable of that. He’s shown that. That’s why he’s as well-respected and well-regarded in this league as he is.”
The historic stat line in consecutive weeks should only underscore Allen’s case to win what would be his first NFL Most Valuable Player award. Not that he was celebrating his achievement Sunday.
“I have to make one more play than they do,” Allen told reporters. “It was a total team loss in three phases. We didn’t play up to our standards.”