NFL
Brett Favre Anoints Josh Allen as the Next Tom Brady
John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sportscasting in 2020. A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.
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Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson are all off to the sort of marvelous starts that football fans have come to expect. However, it’s the sudden breakthrough by another quarterback that has Brett Favre raving. Four weeks into the season, the all-time great is comparing Josh Allen to Tom Brady.
Josh Allen has been electrifying in his third season
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There is a strong case to be made that no NFL quarterback has shown more improvement this season than third-year signal-caller Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills. The team’s fans have been aching for a worthy successor to Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly, and they might finally have their man.
Through four weeks, Allen has thrown for 1,326 yards, 12 touchdowns, and just one interception – a highly disputed one at that – to lead Buffalo to a 4-0 start. The wow-factor surrounding Allen is two-fold:
- In the tradition of gunslingers like Brett Favre, he’s just reckless enough – three lost fumbles already in 2020 — to worry the local fans every time he improvises on the fly, but he is more stressful for opposing defenders by a factor of 10.
- He is also gritty and hard-nosed, just as Kelly was with the Bills. Time after time in his first 31 starts, Allen has lowered his head on scrambles or planned keepers and plowed his 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame into defenders to get the Bills must-have first down.
Allen remains largely unknown across the country while playing for a small-market team, but that can change soon. The unbeaten Bills play at the 3-0 Tennessee Titans in Week 5, then follow that with a Thursday night showdown vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
Brett Favre has noticed Josh Allen
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The Buffalo Bills’ scheduled Week 8 and 16 games ought to be interesting. Those are AFC East contests against the New England Patriots, who’ve won 11 straight division titles. Tom Brady no longer quarterbacks the Patriots, but former Green Bay Packers great Brett Favre said in a SiriusXM NFL Radio interview that the Bills have Brady’s heir when it comes to divisional supremacy.
“For Buffalo fans and the organization, it’s what you’ve been waiting to see, and you’ve gotten it. His time is now, and I think it’s going to be for quite a while. I think Josh Allen will be the new Tom Brady.
“At some point, he will be running the division. I believe that.”
Brett Favre
That will rankle more than a few people in the Boston area, but they have bigger worries at the moment. Beating Tennessee and Kansas City these next two weeks would put the Bills firmly in the driver’s seat in the division.
It’s easy to see what Brett Favre likes
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Comparing Josh Allen to Tom Brady, who has won six Super Bowls, seems to be a reach. However, seeing how much Allen has improved from his first two seasons is making believers of observers who would have never imagined a month ago that he belongs in the early MVP conversation.
Allen ran 14 times for 57 yards and a touchdown in Week 1 against the New York Jets. That was also his first 300-yard passing day in the NFL. The following week, he registered his first 400-yard day against the Miami Dolphins. Week 3 saw him salvage a victory after the defense squandered a huge lead against the Los Angeles Rams.
“Man, he looks awesome,” retired NFL star Brett Favre said. “That kid is a tremendous talent. He can sling it, he can move, but more than anything we saw that with him the last few years. But what we’re seeing now is he’s taking it to the next level. He’s winning games.”
