Buffalo Rumblings
A lot of similarities exist between Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams and Josh Allen’s Bills teams.
January 23, 2022. The Buffalo Bills had just let the win slip away several times in the last two minutes plus overtime in the AFC's divisional round, 42-36 against the Kansas City Chiefs, at Arrowhead Stadium. Despite the defensive implosion and the incredibly depressing loss, I was certain about one thing — that Josh Allen’s postseason run, including the last loss which he didn't deserve, I had watched greatness.
Over the years, and in several different sports, we are blessed to be able to watch greatness from several different impressive athletes, in a bunch of different forms. I wasn't sure about the last time I had watched a player being so dominant — perfect game against the Patriots, over 300 yards and 4 TDs, no INTs, and two potential game-winning drives (blew out by lackluster defense and poor coaching decisions in the same period) in hostile territory — without being able to achieve the ultimate goal of winning a championship. It took me way back to my childhood hero, who has a lot in common with our superstar franchise QB.
From that moment on, nobody could convince me Josh Allen isn't the NFL version of Michael Jordan. Like Mike, when he failed to make his high school team and used it to fuel his impressive work ethic on his way to becoming a great college player and the GOAT in the pros, we all know the story about Josh. As a zero-star recruit, he was begging college coaches for opportunities without success. Like Mike, Josh became an unstoppable force, capable of doing things on the battlefield that other people can just wish. Also, being underdogs before, they developed a killer mindset, afraid of nothing or nobody, trusting their countless hours of preparation so no moment would be too big for them, making them always ready to deliver in the clutch.
That was Josh in that divisional round in 2022, despite the loss. The same had happened to Mike in his early NBA years. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1984, the beginning wasn't easy for him. Despite his absurd production from the get-go, his teams weren't ready to compete at the highest level. However, Jordan quickly earned the respect of the league's biggest stars who could see his takeover was about to happen. Despite being a more flawed player early on, Allen's flashes of dominance also got him amongst the top up-and-coming QBs in the league.
The recent Bills-Chiefs playoffs history hasn't been different from how the MJ-led Bulls struggled to dethrone the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference in the NBA. Jordan was already recognized as one of, if not the top player in the game but, after all, it's a team sport (people tend to forget it), and, as those MJ's Bulls showed from 1988 to 1990, and the Allen's Bills have showed in the last four years,...
