Manning-Brady 2.0? Why Patrick Mahomes vs. Josh Allen could be AFC’s next great QB rivalry

Patrick Mahomes can’t seem to avoid Josh Allen. Josh Allen can’t seem to avoid Patrick Mahomes.

The two quarterbacks and their respective teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, will meet Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS) in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. It’s their fourth meeting in two seasons and the stakes couldn’t be much bigger.

Mahomes’ Chiefs beat Allen’s Bills in the AFC Championship Game last year, so it isn’t as if these two haven’t shared the big stage before. If these types of meetings continue, Mahomes vs. Allen could quickly become this generation’s Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning (17 meetings between the legendary quarterbacks, including five in the playoffs).

Mahomes won two of the three previous meetings, but Allen’s victory came in Week 5 this season, 38-20, also at Arrowhead.

Their upcoming meeting could be the one fans are talking about for years, the one that truly ignites the rivalry between Mahomes and Allen. Those expectations seem to be reasonable. Both quarterbacks threw five touchdown passes in the wild-card round last weekend.

What the quarterbacks say

Mahomes said he’s gotten to know Allen, 25, off the field and called him “a great dude.” Mahomes noted that the Bills ask a lot of their quarterback and Allen delivers.

“What you see with Josh as he gets better and better every single year is he’s not satisfied with where he’s at,” Mahomes said. “He works through his throwing motion, he works on his feet, he does different types of stuff to give himself an edge and I think that’s what all the best quarterbacks do.

“You’ve seen that with Josh. They put a lot on him. They make a lot of checks at the line of scrimmage to make all the right decisions, throw the ball, run the ball, do all that different types of stuff. I think that’s what’s put them at this level where…