Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is widely viewed as one of the best players in football. He is a dangerous dual threat, he is a perennial MVP candidate and he also has the Bills in Super Bowl contention.
However, Allen has yet to actually lead Buffalo to a Super Bowl, and his playoff shortcomings — along with his penchant for making puzzling mistakes — have always been a hot topic among fans.
Well, the Allen hate train resurfaced on Monday when EA Sports revealed its 99-rating club for Madden NFL 27. Allen was among six players who scored a perfect 99 rating for the game, and it left fans apoplectic.
Not surprisingly, fans lit up Allen on social media.
“Yall have this obsession with Josh Allen dawg lol,” one user wrote in the comments of the original X post.
“Who snuck in Josh Allen??” said another.
“Why is Josh Allen a 99 [with three crying laughing emojis],” wrote another user.
Others called Allen “overrated,” and while there were fans who certainly criticized some of the other 99 ratings (like Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, for example), the vast majority of the vitriol was aimed at Allen.
Allen is now entering his eighth NFL season and has made four trips to the Pro Bowl. He won an MVP award in 2024, and he has finished within the top-five of MVP voting five times.
Last year, the 30-year-old threw for 3,668 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 69.3 percent of his passes and posting a 102.2 passer rating. He also rushed for 579 yards and 14 scores.
In spite of all of Allen’s regular-season accolades, however, he has come up short in the postseason time and time again, so some of the questions about Allen are warranted.
To be fair, Allen has not always had the best supporting cast, and it’s not exactly fun constantly having to run into Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in January.
At some point, though, Allen needs to get over the hump if he wants to truly cement his legacy as a potential all-time great quarterback.
Until then, the jeering and the harsh criticism will continue.
