Had it just been about the the passing yards and the touchdowns and the elite status of the opponent, Josh Allen's performance Sunday would rank as high as any by a Buffalo Bills quarterback.
That was only part of a much larger story.
The 415 yards and three touchdowns Allen produced with his arm, along with the one he scored on foot, came under emotional circumstances that weren't made public until nearly 45 minutes after the Bills' 44-34, statement-making victory against the Seattle Seahawks at Bills Stadium.
And it wasn't Allen who shared the fact that on Saturday, his grandmother, Patricia Allen, died suddenly at age 80. He went through his postgame video call with reporters without mentioning it, and he wasn't asked about it because the news had yet to be revealed.
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At 7-2 for the first time since 1993 after defeating the Seattle Seahawks 44-34 Sunday at Bills Stadium, the Buffalo Bills put themselves back in the conversation of being one of the league's elite teams. See photos, analysis and more from the game.
Sean McDermott handled that unprompted in a subsequent video call. Only then was it known that a day before his second 400-yard passing game of the season and his career, Allen was processing devastating news and being asked by his coach how he even felt about playing Sunday.
"Before meetings last night, I called Josh and just asked him where he was on it and, obviously, I was expressing my sympathy to him, as well as his family," McDermott said. "He said that he wanted to play. We just felt like he was going to have to compartmentalize for the better part of 24 hours in order to get through the game. And that's what he did and then he was emotional after the game.
"Not an easy thing to play through.”
Allen did so much more than "play through" the challenging circumstances.
He became the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era with 400-plus yards passing, three-plus touchdown throws, no interceptions and a 130-plus passer rating (138.5) in multiple games in a season. Allen had thrown for 415 yards and four TDs, zero picks and a passer rating of 147 in a 31-28 win against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 20.
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What's more, he stole the spotlight from his Seattle counterpart, Russell Wilson, who through most of the first half of the season has been the front-runner for NFL MVP. Wilson threw for 390 yards and a pair of TDs, but had two interceptions and two fumbles. He also was hit 11 times and sacked five times.
“It was the kind of game that we’re not used to seeing," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, whose team entered the game widely viewed as the best team in the NFL, told reporters. "It ended up as such an out-of-character game across the board that I don’t even recognize us."
The Seahawks sacked Allen seven times, but for much of the day, he was playing pitch and catch with receivers who consistently were wide open against three-deep zone coverage. Stefon Diggs caught nine passes for 118 yards, his fourth 100-yard game of the season, while John Brown had eight receptions for 99 yards and Gabe Davis caught four for 70 yards.
Allen showed exceptional poise, accuracy and superb decision-making. He was in firm control from the very first snap.
"Josh played a heck of a game," McDermott said. "He was under pressure at times, he was able to escape, was so smart with the football and got it where he needed to get it, to his outlets at times when they were pressuring. And, listen, Josh was emotional. He lost his grandmother last night and it was a big, big win and a great, great thing for him to play like he played. Just a mentally tough young man."
“He did a really nice job, being resourceful, moving around and making plays, which we had seen him do," Carroll said of Allen. "In the first half, it seemed like every time he moved, he made something happen, got a first down. We didn’t disrupt him nearly enough as we needed to do.”
The bond between the fans and Allen continues to get deeper and stronger.
Allen and the rest of the Bills' offense were back to the dominant form they showed through a 4-0 start when the QB was included in MVP talk and the team was living up to preseason hype of a deep playoff run.
At 7-2 for the first time since 1993, the Bills not only fortified their chances of winning the AFC East, but they also won back league-wide credibility points lost after back-to-back prime-time defeats against Tennessee and Kansas City.
Of course, it's hardly a coincidence that the Bills' dynamic showing came against an opponent that entered the game with the NFL's worst pass defense, allowing 358.7 yards per game. It's also not a coincidence that the Bills, who primarily ran their way to victory against the New England Patriots the previous week, chose to employ a game plan that made running barely an afterthought. The Bills finished with 34 rushing yards on 19 carries. The only game they've ever won with fewer yards on the ground was when they had 31 in an overtime victory against Minnesota in 2002.
Of the Bills' 34 plays in the first half Sunday, 32 were called passes. Allen completed 24 of 28 attempts for 282 yards and three touchdowns; the completions and yards were the most by a Bills quarterback since at least 1991.
The Seahawks (6-2) never saw it coming.
"We didn’t think they would just totally abandon the running game," Carroll said. "We had a real nice plan if they were going to run it. We have to be able to adapt better to make sure we can turn it around faster."
The Bills raced out to a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter with Allen touchdown passes to Isaiah McKenzie and Tyler Kroft and a 44-yard Tyler Bass field goal on their first three possessions. They promptly answered Seattle's first TD, late in the second quarter, with a four-yard Allen scoring throw to Davis on their fourth series to make it 24-7.
Jay Skurski weighs in with his grades of the Buffalo Bills after their 44-34 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Bills Stadium.
Giving offensive coordinator Brian Daboll the green light to throw so often isn't exactly in the DNA of McDermott, whose defensive coaching roots run deep. How was he able to reach a point of being comfortable with that strategy?
"We go through, we vet everything out we talk about it as a staff, we have great communication during the week," McDermott said. "We want to be responsible in what we're doing, but also know how we want to try to win each game. So, I really thought we did a good job of establishing the line of scrimmage a week ago in the run game and this week, we just felt like the right recipe, the right formula was to go out through the air a little bit there. And I think you saw the fruits of that."
Allen's reaction to the game plan was predictable.
"I loved it, personally, and I know the receivers loved it," he said. "Whatever it takes to win is what we're willing to do, what I'm willing to do. If it's checking out of a pass and getting to a run play, that's what I'm doing, and just trying to put us in the right situation each and every play ... Whatever the situation is, I trust in Coach Daboll and in our offensive staff to develop a game plan, the guys got to go out there and execute it, and I think we did that today."
For Allen, it was done with the heaviest of hearts.
