Josh Allen and Joe Burrow square off for the first time on Monday

Quarterbacks Allen and Burrow will be meeting for the first time in a big game for both teams on Monday Night Football

Monday night is the biggest game of the NFL season so far. For the Bills, this is their last big obstacle to jump through to get the No. 1 seed, assuming they take care of business Week 18 against the Pats. For the Bengals, this game could bump them into the No. 2 seed for the time being, and could bump them into the 1 seed if the Chiefs were to lose.

And in the midst of the game with big playoff implications, we will also see Josh Allen take on Joe Burrow for the first time. So far this year, Burrow has the slight edge in almost every passing category. However, if you add the rushing stats produced by Allen, he blows away Burrow for total yards and total touchdowns.

Adding another 746 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns is ridiculous for a QB of his stature. But that’s just part of Josh’s game and that’s what makes him so special and hard to defend.

The main difference between these two QBs at this point in their careers is that one has been to the Super Bowl already and one has not. The Bengals played great team football towards the end of last year, and Burrow wasn’t even asked to do too much. The Bengals defense stepped up with huge interceptions in the final minutes in each of the three playoff wins.

As for Josh Allen, he was superman in last year’s playoffs. We saw one of the greatest postseason performances from him of all-time between the Patriots game and the Chiefs game. Of course, Allen was ultimately let down by the Bills defense with 13 seconds left in that divisional round against the Chiefs, but we are only a few weeks away from seeing postseason Allen once again. And, it sure would be nice for a bye week and home field throughout.

Both teams come into this Monday night matchup on a hot win streak, the Bills with six wins in a row and the Bengals with seven. Both teams have squeaked out wins along the way in very close one-score games, but those are the type of games you’re going to have to win if you want to make a deep playoff run in this league.

This is going to be a huge test for both teams as they are so evenly matched. The Bills come in as one point road favorites. In a way I think the Bills could have a little advantage having gone against the speed of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle twice already this year. That should prepare them well for Chase and Higgings in this one. Whatever scheme Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier come up with, it needs to be centered around minimizing what Chase and Higgins are able to do.

The Bills and Bengals are definitely two of the top three AFC teams, and this is going to be a heavyweight fight no question about it. It’s tough to predict how the game is going to go since these two teams have not played since the 2019 season, and Joe Burrow was of course not yet drafted. The magnitude of this game is so great that if the Bills were to win, they are most likely the No. 1 seed and will play the Chiefs or Bengals once in the playoffs. If they lose and get bumped to the 2 or 3 seed, then they will most likely have to go through both of them, and on the road as well. This is truly the biggest regular season game for the Bills in quite some time.

This is going to be the first matchup between these two terrific young QBs and there are going to be many more matchups to come in the future. You can be sure about that. Especially in big games like this one. There is a very good chance these teams will meet again come playoff time.

I’m ready for prime time Josh to come out again and let everyone know that the AFC will run through Buffalo this year. And no other team is going to want to come to Buffalo in January with that atmosphere, that crowd and that cold.