Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen: NFL legacies on the line for two QBs in Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills playoff meeting | NFL News

Two of the NFL’s top quarterbacks — both of whom have yet to win a Super Bowl — could move one step closer to that ultimate goal as Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen meet in the playoffs.

With the Kansas City Chiefs eyeing an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl triumph, Jackson and Allen have often been the collateral damage left behind in their five-year dynasty.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Jackson and Buffalo Bills QB Allen were both drafted in 2018, a year after the Chiefs selected Patrick Mahomes, which sparked their sudden ascent to the top of the NFL.

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Mahomes has led the Chiefs to four of the last five Super Bowls, winning three of them, and while Jackson has matched him for league MVP awards during that span (two), Allen is a hot favorite to win the first. his this season, the pair. too often they have failed where Mahomes has thrived: in the playoffs.

Jackson is 3-4 in the playoffs, Allen a touchdown improved to 6-5, but neither can hold a flame to Mahomes’ stunning 15-3 record.

One of their records will be improved this weekend as Jackson’s Ravens and Allen’s Bills meet in an AFC Divisional Round game in Buffalo – live on Sky Sports NFLSunday, 11:30 p.m.—but the other one will put another ‘L’ in the playoff loss column.

“This is a legacy game (for Jackson and Allen)” Sky Sports’ said Neil Reynolds on the latest episode of the Inside The Huddle podcast. “They’ve both struggled in the divisional round and beyond.

“Lamar Jackson is 1-3 in the divisional round or later, and Josh Allen is 1-4.

“Their Super Bowl windows are wide open, but Patrick Mahomes is right there waiting to spoil all the fun if necessary.

“One of these quarterbacks has to get that Super Bowl at some point.”

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And indeed Mahomes could be in for the winner’s reward again, with the Chiefs hosting the Houston Texans – live on Sky Sports NFLSaturday, 21:30 – in the next match of the Division Round in the FFL.

While Mahomes and Kansas City are the No. 1 seed in the conference and carry such a Super Bowl pedigree, the 2024 season has been a strange one that has seen 11 of their 15 wins by just eight points or less.

They ranked 17th in yards per game (327.6) — Baltimore bested the class at 424.9 — and 15th in points per game (22.6), compared to second-best Buffalo in the NFL grade of 30.9, with the Ravens close behind at 30.5.

Sunday’s matchup is also the first in playoff history between two quarterbacks who have accounted for more than 40 TDs and under 10 turnovers in a season (Jackson: 45 total TDs, nine giveaways / Allen: 41 total TDs, eight gifts).

That’s why this Divisional Round meeting between the pair is so hotly anticipated as, while the Chiefs may be waiting for the winner, could the Ravens and/or Bills ultimately prove too powerful for Mahomes and co?

“I think the team that wins this game can win the Super Bowl,” he said Sky Sports’ Phoebe Schecter, a former coach with the Bills.

“Both of these teams have struggled with their identity in the postseason at times. Lamar and the Ravens have openly said they should have run the ball more (in the playoff loss to the Chiefs) last year, and we’ve seen the Bills struggle. .

“This game is so hard to pick because both of these teams are phenomenal in so many different ways, and these quarterbacks are so massive in the big moments.

“In Buffalo, it’s funny because this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Their defense is what worries me the most, but I’m going with the Bills to win this game.”

Watch Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the play-offs live on Sky Sports NFL on Sunday, kick-off at 11.30pm.