Bros and foes: Bills' Allen, Chiefs' Mahomes rivals, friends

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The previous time Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen saw each other in the heat of competition wasn’t at Arrowhead Stadium during their epic January playoff game, when the Chiefs quarterback rallied past Allen and his Bills for an overtime victory and a return to the AFC title game.

In fact, it wasn’t on a football field at all.

And both turned out to be losers.

It happened in June, when the uber-competitive QBs teamed up against Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady in a match-play event in Las Vegas.

It was the latest example of their burgeoning friendship, which also happens to be one of the NFL’s best new rivalries, one that will be renewed when the Bills visit the Chiefs on Sunday.

“Josh is a great guy. He’s a great quarterback, physically talented. He can throw, can run. He can really do it all,” Mahomes said. “But he’s a great dude, too. … I have a ton of respect for him, the player and person he is.”

Mahomes has won three of their four matchups, including the two that mattered the most: that divisional round win in January, when the teams combined for 25 points in the final two minutes of regulation before Kansas City won in overtime, and the AFC championship game in the 2020 season, when the Chiefs went on to the Super Bowl.

Allen’s lone win? A regular-season game last year at Arrowhead Stadium, one largely forgotten.

It’s not entirely on Allen’s shoulders that the Bills keep coming up short, though. Take the game in January, when he threw for 329 yards and four touchdowns while running for another 68 yards. It was an incredible performance, but one matched by Mahomes, who had 378 yards passing and three touchdowns to go with 69 yards rushing and another score.

“As a football fan myself, when I’m watching games, I love watching him play,” Allen said. “He can do everything you want. He’s a special football player and a special guy.”

They first spent considerable time together at The Masters in April 2021, and both have played in the American Century Championship, an annual celebrity golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Earlier this year, were in Miami for the Formula One weekend. Mahomes called up Allen on FaceTime and invited him over, and the two hung out for a couple of hours on the Saturday night before the race.

Yet it’s on the field where they shine brightest.

Their styles are remarkably similar: big arms, plenty of athletic ability and the natural creativity and improvisational skill that makes them a handful for opposing defenses. They make everyone around them better, and as a result, each has their team 4-1 and atop their division heading into their latest matchup Sunday in Kansas City.

“Whenever they’re getting ready to put Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in the Hall of Fame,” Bills pass rusher Von Miller said, “that game (in January) and of course games throughout these upcoming years, will be the games they talk about, and it’s just an honor and a privilege to be a part of it.”