'What Are You Doing?' Analysts, Fans Rip Bills QB Josh Allen Top 100 Ranking
The 2021 NFL season saw Josh Allen put in 42 touchdowns and 5,170 yards from scrimmage in his fourth year as the Buffalo Bills' franchise quarterback. He accomplished several league-firsts, such as becoming the quarterback in history with at least 100 touchdown passes and 30 rushing touchdowns in his first four seasons and posted a jaw-dropping 149.0 passer rating in January's playoffs, another NFL record.
Somehow, his peers thought he got worse.
The final portions of the "NFL Top 100" were released over the weekend, capping off the NFL Network-conducted countdown determined by polling results from the league's players. While Allen indeed made an appearance in the season finale, which counted down the final fifth of the rankings, many were shocked by his number, as he came in at 13th ... a three-spot drop-off from last year's list.
Bill Mafia, of course, expressed the most outrage, their fury only intensified by the fact that he was the fourth-best quarterback behind Patrick Mahomes (8th), Aaron Rodgers (3rd), and Tom Brady, who expanded his record by earning the top spot for the fourth time.
Others made note of the fact that Allen's placement at No. 13 is particularly morbid considering the fact that his Super Bowl dream more or less ended in 13 seconds of game time in January's AFC Divisional playoffs. In that game, Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs drove close enough to get into tying field goal range and doom the Bills to a 42-36 overtime defeat despite Allen putting up 397 yards.
Bills Mafia wasn't alone in condemning, as members of the national media rose to their defense. CBS Sports' Adam Schein called the placement "a pathetic joke, disgrace, and flat out embarrassing" and even NFL Network's own personnel wasn't willing to let it go: Kyle Brandt monologued about the ranking during the aftermath discussion on Monday's edition of "Good Morning Football."
"For all their physical gifts, for all their physical talents, they can't see or hear, apparently ... Did you watch a game last year?" Brandt asked the voters in a tongue-in-cheek manner. "13th? Not like sixth ... 13th! You thought there were 12 players better than 17 on the Buffalo Bills? Never mind the Chiefs game, what about the week before against the Patriots? I don't know if a player has ever had better back-to-back games in NFL history than those two games, and he's a baker's dozen."
In that previous game, Buffalo's 47-17 win over New England in the Wild Card round, Allen became the first quarterback in NFL history, in the regular season or playoffs, to score on all of his offensive possessions in a full game.
"I get it, you see the game differently, and you don't want to hear from people who didn't play. (But) can you see the giant E on the seeing-eye chart? Because that stands for 'error' right now. 13th ... not fifth, not seventh. Why not just make him 50th, why not just have him out of the Top 100."
Brandt further joked that perhaps players could've been referring to the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman of the same name, but still couldn't contain his anger, loudly asking voters "What are you doing?", with Mike Garofolo going as far as to compare the situation to "Election," the 1999 black comedy starring Reese Witherspoon. Movie references do nothing to curb Brandt's anger, as he only theorizes that Witherspoon herself might as well be above Allen on the list.
Allen's first chance to convince his peers to move him back up will come on Sept. 8, when the Bills battle the defending champion Los Angeles Rams (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
