ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen had many reasons to wear a beaming grin while opening his weekly news conference in advance of his 100th start as quarterback of the Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo (4-2) is coming off a win over the New York Jets to snap a two-game skid and expand its lead atop the AFC East Division standings. After three straight weeks on the road, the Bills are finally back home to host the Tennessee Titans (1-4) on Sunday. And the offense Allen triggers just got a boost with five-time Pro Bowl receiver Amari Cooper acquired Tuesday in a trade with the Cleveland Browns.
“It’s been a pretty good couple of days,” said Allen, who is 67-32 in his NFL career and will be making his 95th consecutive start.
“We all know about the story about where I came from, junior college and no offers and this and that,” Allen said, referring to his modest beginnings at California’s Reedley Community College before landing a scholarship at Wyoming and later becoming the No. 7 pick of the 2018 draft.
“It’s gone by really fast. And it still feels like I’m that same kid that dreamt of playing in the NFL. And I get to live out my dream. It’s something I’ll never take for granted.”
Though Buffalo ended a 17-year playoff drought in 2017 in coach Sean McDermott’s first season, Allen’s arrival the following season marked a turning point in the team’s trajectory. The Bills went from mere afterthought to annual contender with five straight playoff appearances and four straight AFC East titles.
Long forgotten are the dark days of the drought, which went back to the “Music City Miracle,” a 22-16 loss in the wild-card round of the playoffs to the Titans in Nashville on Jan. 1, 2000. The Titans won on a kickoff return in the final seconds when Frank Wycheck lateraled to Kevin Dyson, who ran it in from 75 yards for a touchdown that would set up a run to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl appearance.
Though the Titans made four playoff appearances in a five-season span from 2017-21, the tables have turned with them experiencing the challenges of transitioning under a first-time head coach, Brian Callahan, and a second-year quarterback, Will Levis.
The Titans are 7-22 since a 7-3 start to the 2022 season. Levis is 0-4 in games he has started and finished this season, and he has more interceptions (a league-high seven) than touchdowns (five), and is coming off a 20-17 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts in which he was 16-of-27 passing for 95 yards. It led to an 0-1 start in AFC South play for Tennessee.
“I certainly didn’t envision us being in this particular place,” said Callahan, the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive coordinator the past five seasons before being hired in January to replace the fired Mike Vrabel. “And we’re going to find out how resilient we are. And that’s all part of it. That’s part of playing quarterback in the NFL.”
Tennessee’s offseason addition of 29-year-old receiver Calvin Ridley hasn’t helped, with the former first-round draft pick limited to nine catches on 27 targets.
“I don’t know off the top of my head,” Levis said of how many of his throws to Ridley were off target last Sunday. “It’s not something that we can point fingers at or whose fault it is. But I can be better. I know he can be better.”
The Titans’ young offensive line took one big step by not allowing a sack last weekend. That ended a run of 33 games of giving up at least one going back to a win over Buffalo on Oct. 18, 2021.
“We know that there are still a lot of things to fix, and we’re going against another really good front with some guys who want to get after the passer,” second-year left guard Peter Skoronski said. “I think we’re confident but not relaxed.”
Tennessee already had its open date two weeks ago, but the injuries are mounting again for a team that has struggled with health in recent seasons. On Friday, the Titans ruled out backup running back Tyjae Spears, who is week to week with a hamstring injury, defensive line Keondre Coburn (knee) and receiver Treylon Burks (knee), who could miss significant time after getting hurt during practice this past week.
Allen, meanwhile, had to adapt to working with a patchwork group of receivers after the offseason departures of Gab Davis and Stefon Diggs. Though his passing production is down to 193 yards per outing, 48 below his career average entering the season, Allen has yet to throw an interception and has accounted for 13 (10 passing, three rushing) of Buffalo’s 20 touchdowns.
“You see a night like that where there’s nothing, quote-unquote, sexy about what he did, but, man, he was so efficient,” offensive coordinator Joe Brady said of Allen’s performance in the win against the Jets. “At the end of the day, we’ve got Josh Allen as our quarterback. Good things are going to happen.”
The Titans will try their best to make sure that’s not the case this weekend.
Tennessee’s defense ranks first in the NFL against the pass and has yet to allow more than 200 yards in an outing. On the downside, the Titans’ first interception came last Sunday with Amani Hooker picking off Joe Flacco. They also have just nine sacks, and getting Allen down quickly isn’t easy.
“He’s one of the best in the league, and he’s been consistent at what he’s done,” Tennessee safety Quandre Diggs said. “And obviously you want to keep him in the pocket, but that’s easier said than done.”
The Bills sit atop their division despite some struggles in football’s so-called third phase — but they seem to be running out of patience with Tyler Bass’ inaccuracy after their fifth-year kicker missed his third field-goal try and second extra-point attempt of the season Monday.
Buffalo signed Lucas Havrisik to its practice squad on Thursday, a day after general manager Brandon Beane put Bass on notice.
“We want nothing more than Tyler to be our guy,” Beane said. “But this is a production business, and he knows he’s got to make those kicks. … And if there’s a better option that we have to turn to, then we’ll do that.”