It’s a battle of old friends and two of the NFL’s better quarterbacks on Sunday when Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills host Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Allen and Mayfield have history dating back to before they were even in the NFL — both from the heralded 2018 QB class. Mayfield was the no. 1 overall pick that year, Allen no. 7 to Buffalo.
Mayfield’s path has been a little different than Allen’s — finding early success in Cleveland then bouncing around to a couple of different teams before finding a landing spot in Tampa.
Allen elevated from a rocky rookie year to become the reigning league MVP.
“Love the guy. He’s awesome,” Allen said. “You know, to see kind of how his career’s progressed and the adversities fought through, and playing some really, really dang good football right now. I’m a big fan of his. Any time I get to watch games, I’m watching what he does because he’s very fun to watch.”
“It was kind of hard to watch, you know, the first situation unfold the way it did because you just have so much respect for him and his level of play and what he’s capable of,” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott. “And it’s a great, to me, example of, the journey is the journey.
This is a big game for both teams, even though it’s outside of the conference. They’re both 6-3 and coming off losses. The Bucs dropped one to the Patriots last Sunday, who the Bills are chasing for the AFC East division lead.