Patrick Mahomes-Josh Allen rivalry approaching Tom Brady-Peyton Manning levels
For years, the tier of quarterback rivalry that Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen has now crossed into remained reserved for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.For those Patriots and Colts — and then Patriots and Broncos — showdowns.
For the six-game streak by Brady to start their head-to-head, the comeback in January 2007 that changed everything and all of the unpredictable duels that followed. Allen and Mahomes slowly crept toward that point with three postseason meetings and five regular-season clashes.They aren’t the only superstar quarterbacks in the NFL, but each matchup carried a certain weight, a certain aura, a certain expectation for unexpected chaos that others haven’t matched.
The pair will collide in the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium, with Kansas City needing a win to keep its bid for a three-peat alive and Buffalo needing a victory to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1993 season in search of its first title. But really, this is just Part IV of Allen-Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.This is just Part IX of Allen-Mahomes since 2020.
This is the latest chapter in what has become Brady-Manning 2.0. In the eyes of Allen, the stacking of showdowns with the Chiefs turned an instance such as Sunday into a glorified “division game.” With their fourth playoff meeting, Allen and Mahomes will sit just one shy of matching the record held by Brady and Manning.At 29 and 28 years old, respectively, they only need eight more matchups across the rest of their career to hit the frequency of the Brady-Manning rivalry. “I feel like we’ve played them just as much as we’ve played the guys in our division, and with that comes familiarity,” Allen told reporters this week.
“New wrinkles here and there throughout the game.But they know who we are.
We know who they are.” Even with Allen (2,063 yards, 17 passing touchdowns, four interceptions) and Mahomes (2,220 yards, 18 touchdowns, seven interceptions) possessing near-i...