Josh Allen QB of the Decade Over Patrick Mahomes?! The Debate Has Gone Too Far

Has the Patrick Mahomes disrespect reached a new level? A recent take from Bill Barnwell has Chiefs Kingdom talking after suggesting Josh Allen deserves the title of QB of the Decade over Mahomes. Is there any real argument, or is this another example of moving the goalposts for the NFL's biggest superstar?

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Video Transcript

Welcome in the Arrowhead Addict podcast.

I am Price Carter, and today we are going to be talking about a recent article that came out.

I actually just wrote a piece about this for the website as well too.

But I figured it'd be good to uh channel my inner Matt Verteram here.

Bill Barnwell, on Thursday, came out with a piece talking about who is every team's Hall of Famer, who are on the path to Hall of Fame, and who has some work to do.

Uh, you can check it out on ESPN.

Sean and I, producer Sean, we're talking pre-pod that, you know, we, we really respect Bill Barnwell, and thinks he does a nice job, and I, I still conclude this, this isn't a personal attack on him or anything like that.

I just disagree with something that he wrote, um, which, by the way , if you're gonna do this job, and write, and post, and talk about things with your opinions , sometimes you're just gonna have opinions that people disagree with, and that's totally OK. What would be the point of the job if everyone just agreed with everyone all the time.

Um, but, to Barnwell's credit, in his chief segment, cause he has it for each team, he puts Chris Jones, Travis Kelsey, and Patrick Mahomes in the, like, automatic category, basically, of like, they've already eclipsed that mark, and then he has Creed Humphrey as someone who, like, keep it up, like he's on that track, and then needs some work.

He put Trey Smith.

But really where this kind of sent me off the edge here a little bit, was his part about the Bills, where he wrote a paragraph, and I wanna make sure I quote it correctly, um, just so I'm being accurate, uh, he wrote for the Buffalo Bills, that Josh Allen's already in the Hall of Fame.

Allen would be quarterback on the all-decade first team, if it were to be released tomorrow.

What?

Allca teams.

So, keep in mind, this time period, now we're talking 2020 till today.

Um, it's worth noting here in this discussion, the decade is half over, right?

So, you might be listening to this and saying, well, maybe Bill's just really bullish about the future of the Bills, and thinks that Allen is gonna kick the door down, and, you know, maybe his head coach was holding him back, or he's just really bullish on it.

But, but, but that's not what Bill Barnwell said.

He said Allen would be the quarterback on the all-decade first team if it were to be released tomorrow.

So, that's not about what, that's not projection, that's not what's coming, it's what's happening thus far.

And this isn't just a Patrick Mahomes thing.

I mean, obviously we'll talk about it.

But that statement to me is just ridiculous.

So let's get into it.

So, first off, you might say, and Barnwell mentioned here, that Lamar Jackson might have a claim to this as well.

Um, Lamar Jackson, so Lamar Jackson's won two MVPs to Josh Allen's 1, but uh, Lamar's first MVP came in 2019, so it's excluded from this discussion.

So, Lamar and Josh both have the same amount of MVPs.

They went head to head, essentially for the MVP in 2023.

Let me read you off the stats for Lamar Jackson in 2023, where Josh Allen won the MVP.

Lamar had a better completion percentage, better passing yards, better passing yards per attempt, better passing yards per game, more passing touchdowns, 41 to Josh Allen's 28.

Lamar threw 4 interceptions to Josh Allen 6 that year, a better passer rating, more rush attempts, more rush yards, more rushing yards per attempt, and had more fantasy points.

He also led in total pass EPA, EPA per dropback, passer rating, completion percentage, and passing DVOA.

Yet, Josh Allen was named the MVP and this was a highly contested MVP where Lamar Jackson was the AP first team All-Pro, but Josh Allen won MVP.

And those who are supporting Josh Allen of winning the MVP will say, well, he, he, he did more with less, and, um, you know, that's ultimately why he won that MVP.

But the fact still remains, Josh Allen's never been a first team All-Pro.

Um, Josh Allen has had more postseason success than Lamar Jackson in the decade.

True statement.

Um, Josh has been to more AFC championship games, he's won more playoffs, he's performed better in the playoffs, but Lamar certainly has an argument to be made there.

Um, in the decade, Lamar has been the better rusher, uh, Allen has been the better passer.

So, like, the claim that he deserves the quarterback of the decade thus far over Lamar, I would say it's highly debatable.

Um, I would probably put Allen over there because I think passing matters more than rushing, and I also think Allen's postseason success has been greater, even though, frankly, honestly, realistically, Lamar Jackson should have 2 MVPs in this decade, but that's neither here nor there.

Well, let, let's go on here, right?

So, again, we're talking about the quarterback of the decade from 2020 to 2025.

Um, what about Matt Stafford, who just won an MVP, so he has an MVP just like Josh.

He has a first team All-Pro, which Josh Allen does not have.

Matt Stafford also has a Super Bowl ring.

Um, now, again, remember, we're talking about what's happened thus far.

So if you're someone who's saying, well, Stafford, he's probably not gonna play out the decade, you're probably correct.

But the claim is, if the list came out tomorrow, Stafford has more accolades, like, you know, awards, and he also has a Super Bowl ring to his name.

Now, obviously, Allen's rushing stats, Stafford doesn't rush, so they're not even close.

The passing stats are somewhat close.

Allen's passing stats have been better, but that's excluding any sky high hopes that people have for the Rams this year.

And, you know, if you're a Lamar, if you're a Josh Allen supporter, you're gonna say and look there and say like he's done more with less, he's had less weapons.

Guys, we do not have to act like Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen did not exist.

Since 2020, Stefon Diggs was on the Bills for 3 years.

In those three years, 5,372 yards, 37 receiving touchdowns, 12.1 yards per reception.

He leads all those metrics over a receiver like CD Lamb during that time, which I think, you know, most people would assume CD Lamb is like a wide receiver one.

Josh, uh Stefon Diggs is a very good player, and nobody, and I do mean nobody hates James Cook more than Buffalo Bills fans.

James Cook this last year led the NFL in rushing.

This past season, 17 games, 309 rush attempts, 1,621 yards, 5.2 yards per attempt, 12 rushing touchdowns, 291 receiving touchdowns, with 2 more receiving touchdowns, that was more than Saquan Barkley, more than Derrick Henry.

Um, he was a very, very good player.

I don't know if anybody would just flat out call him the best running back in the league.

He's certainly top five and had a very good season.

Acting like Josh Allen has no help, and that's why he deserves this accolade of quarterback of the decade, is also ridiculous.

And that's not even including the fact that he had 3 top 10 defenses in the last defense, including the number 1 defense during that time.

And people who support Josh Allen, who will say, well, Allen, you know, he's got a claim to this, they'll say, well, look at the playoffs points per game.

His team in the playoffs, their defense, they give up lots of points.

Now, I'm sitting here scratching my head thinking, Why does this defense give up a lot of points in the playoffs?

Oh, it's because they face Patrick Mahomes.

Or the other thing that has been an issue for Josh Allen in the playoffs is turning the ball over, like, hey, don't get into a playoff blowout, uh, you know, score fest with Skyler Thompson and the Dolphins because you turn the ball over so much.

So, the Matt Stafford versus Josh Allen claim.

I, I think Stafford probably has a slightly better claim, though I think calling him the quarterback of the decade would probably be silly because Stafford has had a few down years, and obviously we don't think that Stafford is going to finish the decade.

But again, this is if the list came out tomorrow.

And lastly, and most obviously, let's get to Patrick Mahomes' claim here.

First off, Mahomes has the same amount of MVPs.

Mahomes' first MVP came in 2018.

He has more first team All-Pros.

He has 4 Super Bowl appearances, which is something that is still doing a lot of work for Joe Burrow in his Super Bowl appearance, 2 Super Bowl MVPs, and that's not even including Allen being 0-4 against Mahomes in the playoffs.

So far, the story of Josh Allen's career in the NFL has been a great player who can't get over the hump.

That hump just happens to wear number 15 and play football in Arrowhead.

Mahomes has also led Allen during this time, so we're not talking about full career.

So the argument of like, oh well, he had prime Tyrique and prime Kelsey.

He did have prime Kelsey and prime Tyrique for a part of this, but he has also had the miscast of weapons that he's had recently.

Mahomes has led Allen in completion percentage , overall record, pass yards, pass yards per game, passing TD and has thrown less interceptions with 5 fewer games.

In general, when it comes to a Hall of Fame case, I, I love the narrative of, can you tell the story of the NFL and leave this player out?

For Patrick Mahomes, the answer is a resounding no, right?

You can't leave out 3 Super Bowls, 5 Super Bowl appearances, 2 MVPs, and the NFL's most recent dynasty.

For Josh Allen, that's still up for debate, right?

Like, I, I don't know, he's won an MVP, he's been a very good player, but right now, Josh Allen's story is, but he faced Patrick Mahomes.

And look, like I , I'll go back to this, right?

Josh Allen has some stats that are better than Patrick Mahomes in the decade.

Let's go back to a recent trend.

The 2010's all-decade team, Tom Brady, was voted the unanimous all-decade quarterback, unanimous.

Does a single person say that Drew Brees was the quarterback of the decade for the 2010s?

He has better raw passing stats than Tom Brady.

Now, Brees never won an MVP, but it's almost the exact same, uh, uh, comparison, and Brady beat Drew Brees head up in the playoffs in 2020.

Football is a team game, and ultimately winning a not winning a Super Bowl shouldn't be solely on Josh Allen's feet, and I don't think that this is what this is about.

I think what this is about is really just looking at.

The accolades, the MVP that he won, and the fact that what this team has been over the last couple of years.

It struggled because of facing Patrick Mahomes.

It struggled because Patrick Mahomes keeps shutting the door on this team.

You look at a guy like Peyton Manning, right?

He's a guy who took 10 years to win a Super Bowl.

No one knocks Peyton Manning for that.

I mean, maybe some people do, but he's still a Hall of Fame quarterback, and maybe that will be the story of Josh Allen, is that he finally gets the right coach or the the right weapons around him, and he's able to win that Super Bowl.

But with all that being said, right now, claiming that Josh Allen is the quarterback of the decade with one MVP.

Zero first team All-pros, and nothing else to his name, and playoff losses that have stacked up against Patrick Mahomes.

I, I'm not sure where Bill Barnwell is going with this.

I, I really don't.

It seems to be an ESPN thing, but I think if you're a Rams fan, if you're a Ravens fan, if you're a Chiefs fan, It's a pretty crazy statement.

So, that's, that's kind of my channeling my inner Matt Verneram there on that issue, where we're talking about how much of a shortcoming this is in this article.

So check the piece out.

The Josh Allen PR machine just continues to run.

Full speed.

It'll be interesting to see how this year goes now that he's got DJ Moore.

Still has James Cook, and a very good offensive line.

They just locked up a Sirence Torrent.

So, that's my take on this.

Check out the article.

I also wrote this up in kind of a text piece if you want to look it up on the website as well too.

Um, we'll be back on Monday talking about the latest happenings from training camp as the Chiefs ramp up to their first preseason game.

So check that out, and as always here at Arrowhead Addict, go Chiefs.

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