NFL conference games filled with dual-threat QBs

Josh Allen loves retelling the story of how he screwed up on what may go down as the NFL’s signature highlight of the regular season.

“The truth is, I was dead wrong on the alert,” Allen said of his pre-snap call, facing fourth-and-2 from the Kansas City 26, and Buffalo clinging to a 23-21 lead with a little more than two minutes left in Week 11.

It took the 6-foot-5, 237-pound Allen 14 seconds to fake a pass to his left, turn and assess the field before taking off to his right and outrace two defenders, shake off safety Nazeeh Johnson’s diving attempt to grab him by the ankles, get turned sideways by linebacker Nick Bolton, before squaring up to brace for a collision with safety Bryan Cook as the two tumbled into the end zone.

With CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz providing the narrative by saying, “And there it is, the play of the year,” Allen sealed a 30-21 win over the previously unbeaten Chiefs on a scramble exemplifying how much the NFL quarterback position has evolved, and how today’s dual-threat player can turn a miscue into magnificence.

Though the league has enjoyed its share of elite scramblers, this season’s conference title games reflect the arrival of a mobile age.

With Allen facing Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes in the AFC, and Washington rookie Jayden Daniels facing Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts on the NFC side, the four combined for 2,359 yards rushing during the regular season.

The numbers have fluctuated over the years, from the four quarterbacks in the 2021 conference championships combining for 593 yards to 2014, when Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck and Tom Brady totaled 1,448.

At no time has that total approached 2,000. And keep in mind, 30 years ago, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Stan Humphries and Neil O’Donnell combined for 354 yards rushing.

In Washington, Daniels’ team-leading 891 yards rushing are the most in NFL history by a rookie quarterback — more than Newton in 2011 and Robert Griffin III in 2012.

In Philadelphia, coach Nick Sirianni witnessed numerous occasions where Hurts used his legs to compensate for opponents taking away the passing game, including a 22-16 win over Carolina on Dec. 8.

To Allen, the evolution of quarterbacks has as much to do with the evolution of the NFL. The trend of defensive linemen getting faster, stronger and leaner has led to the same for quarterbacks.

Allen started out as a running back before slyly convincing his Pop Warner coach to let him try quarterback.

“I wanted to be a quarterback so bad that any time I got the ball, I would throw it back, until my coach said, ‘Hey, you got a good arm. Do you want to play quarterback?‘” Allen recalled. “And I was like, `Thank you. Finally.’”




(AP Photos Seth Wenig, Charlie Reidel)