Josh Allen carries the ball, the jokes, and the Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen carries the ball, the jokes, and the Buffalo Bills. Skip to main content Skip to navigation Josh Allen carries the ball, the jokes and the Buffalo BillsBuffalo Bills5hTim KeownHow family and fatherhood are fueling Jared Goff's Super Bowl push in 2026Detroit Lions8hEric WoodyardMacdonald opens up on Seahawks start: 'Most difficult stretch of my life'Seattle Seahawks10hBrady HendersonBryce Young's 4-1 record vs.
What happened
Arizona Cardinals2dESPN staffNFL win rate metrics leaderboard: Ranking the best in pass rushing, run stopping and blocking2dESPN AnalyticsJosh Allen is uniquely tethered to the Bills and to Buffalo's elusive goal of winning a Super Bowl. The Bills are not simply an activity in western New York, they are perhaps the area's leading secular institution, and the allegiance to Allen manages to straddle the line between wholesome and cult-like. ("If there was something above king," Brady says, "Josh would be above that.
Losman, a first-round pick of the Bills, and Rob Johnson, whom the Bills acquired in a trade deal for a first-round pick to the Jaguars — a pick that became Fred Taylor. ) And somehow, Allen has managed to retain his status as Buffalo's own even after marrying actress-singer Hailee Steinfeld and becoming half of the NFL's second-most-famous, yet far less visible, A-list couple. ESPNTim KeownSep 17, 2026, 08:30 AM ETCloseSenior Writer for ESPN The Magazine Columnist for ESPN. com Author of five books (3 NYT best-sellers)Follow on XMultiple AuthorsEmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsTHEY ALL HOLD their breath when Josh Allen goes rogue.
The Bills have a new, Allen-friendly head coach in 36-year-old Joe Brady, a sparkling new $2. THERE IS DEFINITELY a love-hate thing going on with the Bills and Allen when it comes to his insistence on affirming humanity's reckless potential. If the things we love tell us what we are, Allen is a guy who happens to love running into linebackers and telling off-color jokes and pulling pranks on everyone in the organization.
The wider picture
There are 53 Buffalo Bills, large men and fast men and men whose athletic talents reside in the top. Allen is the enduring hope for an entire region, the superstar who carries their hopes and dreams and burdens around as lightly as a child skipping through a park. It's jarring to drive around western New York and behold the pervasiveness of Bills paraphernalia, and difficult to convey the level of fame Allen has attained within it.
Lawn buffaloes painted in Bills colors, lawn buffaloes draped with No. ") Allen has become a symbol of Buffalo, a post-industrial city of prideful folks who like it here and really don't care whether you understand why. "Allen's career — the 2024 MVP, four Pro Bowls, four 4,000-yard passing seasons — represents the fulfillment of Beane's postdraft prophecy that his quarterback is "the most Buffalo guy we could have drafted. What if Allen, in the prime of his prime at 30, leads the Bills to their first Super Bowl, washing away decades of disappointment and four straight Super Bowl losses in the 1990s?
"I think it's made everything, not just football but everything in life, feel less important," Allen says.
What has been reported
Dawkins says, "Nah, no burden," and Allen says, "I didn't grow up a Bills fan, but there is that different history. The moment Josh Allen lifts that Super Bowl trophy, we'll just want another one. McGovern describes Allen's sense of humor like this: "If you gave a 12-year-old unlimited money, he would have the same middle-school humor as Josh. Brady was minding his own business, thinking about football stuff, as he walked into his makeshift office in a downtown Cleveland hotel before the Bills' second preseason game.
In great Fable fashion, it culminates in a choice that really challenges you to think about who you are, with a real personal cost to weigh against the outcome. ”Playground’s long-gestating project carries immense weight, both for nostalgic fans and for Xbox itself, given that it was Microsoft that killed off the series and its original creator. Maybe he'll drop back and hold on to the ball a split-second longer than necessary. Some, like Allen, simply need to take a hit, to feel alive and engaged, to give the game its shape and life its purpose.
When we see Josh taking off and hurdling people and running over people, it's a scary thing.
What happens next
"Even in our quarterback-centric universe, Allen is uniquely tethered to this team, this region, the elusive goal of winning a Super Bowl. Fairly or not, the final judgment will land on one man: Allen. " Whenever Allen gets popped, his linemen sprint to be the first to pick him up, all the while hoping he remains able to be picked up. He brings the energy and the rest of us have to say, 'Oh, s—, Josh is into it, so I have to step my game up. ' Yes, quarterbacks are supposed to be the trophy of the team, but I like the face of my franchise to have a little dirt on it.
"I think I might be past that point of needing to be hit," Allen says, not at all convincingly. "Allen's blend of fearlessness and recklessness — for better, for worse — is part of what endears him to his team and its fans. It's a heavy load to bear, regardless of how lightly the crown sits, and Allen showed as much last year when he broke down in tears after the AFC divisional round overtime loss to the Broncos.
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across espn.com, theguardian.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.