Joe Burrow and Josh Allen face off for first time as Cincinnati Bengals take on Buffalo Bills in MNF blockbuster

Watch Buffalo Bills (12-3) @ Cincinnati Bengals (11-4) on Monday Night Football live on Sky Sports NFL from 1:30am Tuesday morning; Buffalo could get closer to the #1 seed with a win, while Cincinnati would clinch the AFC Northern Division title if they win

Monday Night Football may never have looked so good. Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, the AFC war, the aftermath of the playoffs, the Super Bowl aspirations, and two of the NFL’s most dangerous teams head-to-head as a post-season snack in the penultimate week of the regular season.

Message received and understood, the Buffalo Bills might say.

The Bengals, despite all the doubts and overreaction at the start of the season, are marching towards the playoffs as they hope to win it back from their February Super Bowl loss to the Los Angeles Rams. So yes, the AFC may be going through them for now, but on Monday they’re facing a 12-3 Bills team approaching the conference’s No. 1 seed as heavily backed favorites to go all the way.

Cincinnati could still snatch the top spot from the Buffalo or Kansas City Chiefs, but they know they need to extend their seven-game winning streak tonight to have any chance of winning in the first round.

The subplot features a delightful first career encounter between Burrow and Allen as two members of the typical club of modern NFL quarterbacks, developing a potentially era-defining three-way rivalry with Patrick Mahomes as the face of everything a team in need of passers could wish for. for in their next person under center.

Both reimagined toughness with their own personalization of the concept, between Burrow’s “take a hit, come back” resilience and Allen’s cinematic reliability. They are paired with this exceptional hand talent, off-the-wall ingenuity, pocket command, and two of the most prominent cases of natural leadership evident in the league.

“We are friends. We hung out quite a lot,” Burrow said. “Everyone who watches Josh does not know the secrets of why he is so good. He’s fun to watch, he runs around. it will be fun to go against him.”

While Burrow rallied from college irrelevance to producing heroism with LSU and breathing new life into the entire franchise, Allen made one of the most dramatic jumps from erratic freshman to long-term MVP in recent memory.

“It was very impressive to watch and see his whole story,” Allen said. “Go to Ohio State, transfer, spend two years at LSU and probably have one of the best seasons in college history. He’s got a hell of a story.”