Josh Allen taught Bengals a hard lesson that will be tough to forget during historical performance in Week 14
Allen reminded the Bengals, as well as the rest of the NFL, why he’s the reigning MVP. And he made history while doing so.
The Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals gave the NFL one of its best games of the year and as usual, Josh Allen played a huge role in the comeback win.
The Bills found themselves down 10 points in the fourth quarter, but eventually won by five points thanks in part to one of the biggest plays of Allen’s career. His 40-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter completely turned the tide in the Bills’ favor and ultimately became the dagger that took down the Bengals.
Naturally, A to Z NFL’s Kyle Crabbs joined in on the fun to break down the play and tell us how it all happened.
Josh Allen reminds everyone why he’s the reigning MVP
Kyle: Sometimes Superman just needs to put on his cape. That’s what we saw from Allen on his 40-yard touchdown run in Buffalo’s fourth-quarter comeback against the Bengals.
Facing 2nd & 10 in the blustery snow, Cincinnati chose to heat up Allen with a zero blitz. The Bengals rushed both linebackers on the play and matched five defenders for five eligibles in the pattern.
Three things allowed this to be an explosive run and a critical score. The first was Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins converting his pass set to squeeze down the Bengals’ Oren Burks. Burks fired from the second level as a part of the blitz, coming through the B-gap as Dawkins initially set outside for the defensive end. The Bills’ tackle took a vertical pass set, preventing early contact that would have ate him up and freed Burks to run clean with momentum at all. Dawkins saw the threat and decided to pin inside, instead turning DE Cedrick Johnson as the unblocked defender against Allen.
That’s where the second critical part of this play comes. Allen, because the Bengals blitzed six against empty protection, is hot. He has to account for the unblocked defender, who Dawkins elects to make the outside defensive end. Allen hits the top of his drop and flashes the ball before stepping up in the pocket, running off the hip of Dawkins and forcing Johnson to overrun a tackle opportunity and a critical sack. As a result, Allen is now out the gate and on the run.
Lastly, because the Bengals chose to play Cover 0, there’s no one in the middle of the field or deep to clean up a scramble. The seas in the secondary part, with the lone exception being Bengals CB DJ Turner II. Turner is in coverage on Brandin Cooks, who runs a go route and wins early off the line of scrimmage to go streaking down the field. As Cooks gets his eyes back, with Turner pressing to stay attached and in phase in case the ball is coming, he sees that Allen has broke the pocket. Turner, with his eyes turned away from the scramble, has no clue Allen is free and streaking up the numbers. As a result, Cooks gives a tremendous effort to work into a blocking position after running Turner a good 30-35 yards downfield.
Credit to Dawkins for pinning down the linebacker blitz. Credit to Allen for getting off his spot and forcing the hot defender to come up empty. And credit to Cooks for his ability to run coverage out and then finish with a hard-nosed block.
David Edwards comes through in an underrated way
Adam: The unsung hero of the play was David Edwards, something that Dawkins himself brought up after the game. It was Edwards who pointed out the blitz to Dawkins, allowing him to jump in and give Allen the space needed to break free for the touchdown. Edwards was forced into the contest with the loss of Spencer Brown, making the play even that much more impressive.
Another day, more NFL history for Allen, as during the contest, he became the first player in NFL history to have three seasons of more than 20 passing touchdowns and more than 10 rushing touchdowns in each of the seasons.
An instant classic in one of the final games of the decorated stadium. Allen took the C off his chest and replaced it with an S, willing the team to victory in some of the most crucial moments of the contest. It was another premiere performance that threw him back into the MVP race.
The season has been felt with some signature moments, but this one felt different. With the snow falling rapidly and the stadium roaring for one of its final chapters, Allen delivered a performance that will live in Highmark lore. If Buffalo makes a real push, they’ll point back to this night —the night when Superman showed up when it mattered most, once again.
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