Rich on Josh Allen’s Early MVP Statement in the Bills’ Week 1 Win vs the Texans’ Tough Defense

Picking Josh Allen to win MVP is not exactly a bold stance, and Rich knows it. "Not a very long, thin limb to go out on," he admitted. One week in, the marker he put down is looking fine.

What made the opener in Houston a statement was the room Allen had to do it in. This is the defense that sacked him eight times last season. It is also a defense that gave up 30 points in exactly one game all of last year. Buffalo made it one for one in Week 1.

The Bills needed every bit of it, because the Texans did not cooperate. David Montgomery arrived in his new spot and scored three times, which is the sort of debut that usually settles a game. The last player to open with his new team that way was Saquon Barkley for the Eagles. C.J. Stroud looked sharp and kept finding Nico Collins.

A year ago, that combination ends the discussion. "Could you imagine last year if a running back for the Texans scored three times in a game with the defense doing what it was doing?" Rich asked. The answer from the desk was immediate. Game over.

Instead, Allen put up two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. He now has 303 total touchdowns accounted for in his career, the only member of the 300 club in NFL history. It was also his ninth career game with multiple passing and rushing touchdowns, the most ever. The closest anyone has come is four, by Steve Young, who happens to be the show's Friday guest and happens to be in Canton.

One drive told the story better than the numbers. Three plays, 96 yards, starting with Allen rolling right out of his own end zone and flipping it to Dalton Kincaid like it was a 10 yard checkdown. Two plays later, DJ Moore got behind the defense. Touchdown, see you later.

Kincaid finished with five catches for 130 yards and a score, the most receiving yards by a Bills tight end in a game since Paul Costa went for 163 in December of 1967. For context on how rare that production has been in Buffalo, the only Bills player with 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in a game all of last season was Keon Coleman, in Week 1.

Then came the throw to Josh Palmer at the end, which Allen cheerfully admitted was not a real play. A snap earlier he had put one up for grabs that a Houston defender had in his hands and could not corral.

"Don't give Josh Allen an extra chance," Rich said, "because he'll just fling it to Josh Palmer."

Allen told Evan Washburn of CBS exactly how little design was involved. "You want the absolute truth? We call this a horseshoe. This is not where the ball is supposed to go. We have never once repped the ball going there."

His read was simple. "I just felt that those safeties started cheating to DJ a little bit. Josh ran a great route, put it on the line for him. He goes and he does the rest." Then the caveat. "We'll take those when we get them, but we don't want to make a living out of throwing it to those."

It was Palmer's first catch of the game, which Allen chalked up to professionalism rather than luck. "Stay ready so you don't have to get ready. He stayed ready all game. He did his job. And obviously comes up with the play of the game."

Rich's verdict on the horseshoe was less about fortune than about what fortune tends to follow. Residue of design.

The stakes underneath all of it are bigger than one Sunday. If these are the two best teams in the AFC, and if DeMeco Ryans goes back to the drawing board or simply concludes there are not a lot of Josh Allens walking around, Buffalo just banked a tiebreaker and never has to return to that building. It was the first Bills win in Houston since 2006, when JP Losman was the last one to pull it off.

The standings note that followed was the funniest part. The Bills are one up on the Patriots and neck and neck with the Jets, a sentence that drew an audible laugh from somewhere in the back of the room.

Orange and blue skies, as Rich put it. The Jets and Giants are both 1-0 for the first time since 2009, back when Rex Ryan was getting a snack.