Week 18 Takeaways: Bills Stay Healthy & Milestones Are Met
Josh Allen and Mitchell Trubisky - Buffalo Bills QBs
Week 18 Takeaways: Bills Stay Healthy & Milestones Are Met | The Wandering Buffalo
Week 18 saw the Bills lose to the Patriots 23-16 to close out their regular season with a record of 13-4. The Bills wrapped up the #2 seed in the AFC last week, so this week’s game was relatively meaningless for the Bills. The main goal for the team was to come out of the game healthy, and they did just that. No major injury designations remain for the team heading into the playoffs. Other than coming out of the game with no injuries, the Bills managed another victory in a losing effort. The Patriots lost the right to draft #1 in this upcoming draft by winning a meaningless game in Week 18, making fans all around Buffalo snicker at the incompetence of the Patriots organization another time since the departure of Tom Brady and the Patriots dynasty.
There isn’t a whole lot of recapping to do here in the traditional sense, but I do want to point out a few things about this team. There were a few players who achieved their contract incentives on Sunday including Von Miller, and Sam Martin. Martin got a $100,000 bonus for landing yet another punt inside the 20, but that’s not the part that stuck out to me. Sean McDermott decided to give Martin the chance at his bonus by punting from the opponent’s 35 yard line, a decision that I am confident would not have been made under normal circumstances. Not only did Martin get the chance to achieve his incentive, but Jamarcus Ingram made an outstanding play to save the ball from going into the end zone and secure the $100,000 bonus for Martin. James Cook also got 10 carries to reach his milestones of 1,000 yards rushing on the year, and 16 rushing touchdowns on the season to tie him for the franchise single season lead.
In a season that was billed as a “reset” coming in, the BIlls have had one of their more successful regular seasons. There was a lot of success achieved all year including salary incentives and personal milestones. While many Buffalo Bills had great seasons, only one is currently leading the MVP odds, and that man is Josh Allen. Let’s take a quick look at some records Josh has set this year:
Josh became the first player since the AFL-NFL merger to throw for and rush for 3 touchdowns in the same game
He became the first player in NFL history with multiple games of 340 yards passing, 60 rushing yards, 2 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns in his career
He is the first Quarterback in NFL history to record a passing, throwing, and receiving touchdown in the same game
First player ever with 2 passing and 2 rushing touchdowns in consecutive games
Most touchdown passes in their first 7 seasons (258)
Fastest in history to 250 total touchdowns (107 games, tied with Mahomes)
Most career games with 2 passing and 2 rushing touchdowns (6)
Most career games with 3 passing touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown (9, tied with Brady and Brees)
Most career games with 300 passing yards and 50 rushing yards (11)
First player in NFL history with 35 total touchdowns in 5 straight seasons
First player in NFL history to record at least 25 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons
