Josh Allen earned his first NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 2024. As long as the Buffalo Bills have Josh Allen at the helm, they will always have a title window. But it takes more than one man to take home a Super Bowl, and while Allen has performed exceptionally well in the playoffs, the Bills have yet to make it to the big game with him.
A large part of Buffalo's inability to break through to face an NFC opponent in the playoffs has been their defense, which PFF's Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman named as the Bills' biggest weakness last year. A defense that "turned opposing quarterbacks into Josh Allen," as they wrote.
"While that header might be a bit hyperbolic, it’s not that far off," Chadwick and Wasserman wrote. "The Bills had the league’s fifth-lowest-graded defense last year (59.7) and earned the second-worst PFF coverage grade (37.7). Buffalo’s abysmal 29.7 PFF coverage grade against the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game was arguably the biggest reason why the team didn’t make the Super Bowl."
Defense was a major point of concern for the Bills in the offseason. The Bills drafted six defensive players in the 2025 NFL Draft, including their first five selections of the draft. Cornerback Maxwell Hairston, defensive tackle T.J. Sanders, pass rusher Landon Jackson, and defensive tackle Deone Walker headlined Buffalo's draft. Meanwhile the Bills added reinforcements in later rounds, with cornerbacks Jordan Hancock and Dorian Strong.
The Bills also added star pass rusher Joey Bosa, who despite battling injuries over the past few years, Chadwick and Wasserman named the team's "X-Factor."
"Injuries seemed to have caught up with Joey Bosa a bit in 2024, as he ranked just 71st among edge defenders with a 61.1 PFF overall grade." Chadwick and Wasserman wrote. "That was more than 10 points lower than his previous worst mark in 2018. When he was at his best, Bosa was a top-10 edge defender in the league. Buffalo is hoping he can recapture that form after signing him this offseason."
As the saying goes, defense wins championships. Championships become much easier to win when the ball ends up in the hands of a quarterback like Josh Allen when the defense pulls through.