Josh Allen runs risk of becoming modern-day Dan Marino after latest playoff heartbreak
- - Josh Allen runs risk of becoming modern-day Dan Marino after latest playoff heartbreak
Nate Davis, USA TODAYJanuary 18, 2026 at 4:17 AM
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Josh Allen is accustomed to playoff pain, but maybe nothing ever quite this acute.
The agony was apparent as the reigning league MVP tearfully answered questions following the Buffalo Bills’ latest postseason heartbreaker – a 33-30 loss to the Denver Broncos. In overtime. Again.
The difference this time? Allen was more antihero than hero, valiantly fighting to save his team – while undermining it nearly as much.
“It’s extremely difficult. I feel like I let my teammates down tonight,” a tearful Allen said at his postgame news conference.
“Missed opportunities throughout the game. It’s been a long season. I hate how it ended, and it’s gonna stick with me for a long time.”
Undoubtedly.
makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
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Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
">Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
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1 / 4Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
Allen accounted for 349 yards of offense and threw three TD passes. He also turned the ball over four times – two fumbles bracketing halftime and gifting the Broncos six bonus points in a game that had no margin for error.
But it was the interception when the game had entered a sudden death phase – Denver punted on the first possession of overtime – that undid the Bills. And maybe receiver Brandin Cooks got outmuscled for a slightly underthrown ball that flipped the field. Maybe Cooks even caught it ... but Denver corner Ja'Quan McMillian wound up with it. Regardless, Allen must bear his share of the blame at a point when a field goal wins the game.
“Can’t win with five turnovers,” said Allen, noting the team total (running back James Cook’s second-quarter fumble also led to a Denver TD).
“You shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don’t deserve to win football games.”
But does Allen deserve this?
He atoned for his fumbles – one occurring when he carelessly ran with the ball exposed while (over)aggressively trying to get the Bills into field-goal range at the end of the first half, the other on a strip-sack. But Allen brought the Bills all the way back from a 20-10 halftime deficit. He nearly did more than that, but he missed wide-open tight end Dawson Knox on his final throw of regulation – a better pass almost certainly sending the Bills back to the AFC championship game.
Instead, Buffalo heads home into the throes of what will figuratively be a long, cold winter.
"We're thankful for him," said Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins, fighting back tears of his own. "He (didn't) let us down."
Said Buffalo coach Sean McDermott: "It's not on (Allen). We had opportunities, all of us. And I'm extremely proud of him. He's a tremendous person, tremendous leader, tremendous quarterback."
The loss to Denver rendered Allen 0-3 in overtime playoff games (and 0-7 overall). If you don’t recall the come-from-ahead loss to the Houston Texans six years ago in his postseason debut, then you certainly recall the 42-36 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022, when Buffalo couldn’t protect a lead after scoring the go-ahead field goal with 13 seconds to go in regulation.
That doesn’t even account for the pair of AFC championship game losses at Arrowhead. Or the three-point loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round at Buffalo two years ago, when Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a 44-yard field goal inside two minutes that might have sent that game into OT.
Matters have reached a point where Allen’s legacy is beginning to hang in the balance. He's won eight playoff games. Great. They're also the most ever by a quarterback who hasn't played in a Super Bowl.
DENVER, COLORADO - JANUARY 17: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills walks off the field after being defeated by the Denver Broncos with a score of 30 to 33 in overtime of the AFC Divisional Playoff game at Empower Field At Mile High on January 17, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Hall of Famers like John Elway, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre all had to endure significant postseason tribulations before their Lombardi breakthroughs. More recently, so too did Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford.
But Dan Fouts? Jim Kelly? Dan Marino? Warren Moon? Cam Newton? Philip Rivers? Matt Ryan? Fran Tarkenton? All of them are Hall of Famers or likely will be soon. None of them were ever Super Bowl champions.
Allen runs the risks of being a modern-day Marino. Ask around for opinions on who was the greatest passer in NFL history, and you’ll get a fair amount of votes for Marino – his accurate, high-powered arm maybe boasting the quickest release the game has ever seen. It allowed him to shatter passing records and earned him an MVP award in 1984, when the second-year QB carried the Miami Dolphins to Super Bowl 19 – where they were routed by Joe Montana’s San Francisco 49ers.
Marino never got back to the Super Sunday stage. It might not have mattered given his prime was spent at a time when the NFC – Montana’s Niners, Favre’s Green Bay Packers, Troy Aikman’s Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants and Washington conspired to keep the Lombardi Trophy in the NFC between the 1984 and ’96 seasons.
Is Allen ticketed for a similar fate? He’s not Michael Vick, but Allen does already have a case of his own as the greatest dual-threat quarterback in league history – a guy who carried his team to five straight AFC East crowns. Allen won’t be named MVP in back-to-back seasons – not this year anyway – but perhaps no team is more reliant on one singular player than the Bills are on him.
But Buffalo doesn’t appear financially positioned to get that additional superstar to put Allen and the rest of this roster over the top – the way Terrell Davis did for Elway’s Broncos or Reggie White did for Favre’s Packers. Worse, the Bills could be headed into a fallow period – young Drake Maye and the New England Patriots resurrected in 2025, already formidable enough to reclaim the divisional throne … similar to the way Kelly’s Bills relegated Marino’s Dolphins to afterthoughts for a chunk of the 1990s.
"Is the window closing?" asked NFL Network analyst and former league fullback Michael Robinson. "They've been in this situation so many times."
This seemed like it was supposed to be Allen’s year. And Buffalo’s. They didn’t need to go through Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in these playoffs or Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. Not even Lamar Jackson or the Baltimore Ravens. Aaron Rodgers notwithstanding, Allen was supposed to be the OG this time, his Mafia poised to rule the NFL block.
But not now. Mr. Brightside will have to hope there’s a yet-to-be revealed bright side to the adversity he’s enduring now.
“I love my teammates, and I’m extremely sorry and I’m disappointed in how this ended,” Allen said Sunday.
Let’s just how hope there’s a better ending awaiting him somewhere in the future.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Josh Allen runs risk of playoff heartbreaks coming to define Bills QB
Source: “AOL Sports”
