Offensive Players of Week: Josh leads Bills in snow, Bucky leads Buccaneers in OT

Josh Allen is well on his way to making this season count for more than Offensive Player of the Week awards. Considered by many the front-runner for the league’s MVP, the quarterback has the Bills poised for perhaps their best shot at the Super Bowl. Until he finishes the screenplay, what’s known is the Bills are 10-2 and Allen’s 14 career weekly awards are the most by any NFL player since he entered the league in 2018. Allen joined Buccaneers rookie Bucky Irving as the respective AFC and NFC Offensive Player of the Week winners.

Allen authored one of the most exciting plays in recent memory on a snow-covered field last week. With less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter, Allen spontaneously made eye contact with Amari Cooper, who flipped the ball back his quarterback on the way to a spectacular 7-yard touchdown. Allen earned both a passing touchdown and receiving touchdown on the same play.

In leading Buffalo to a 35-10 victory over San Francisco, Allen completed 13 of 17 attempts (76.5 percent) for 148 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Including his rushing touchdown, he became the first quarterback ever to score touchdowns as a passer, receiver and rusher in the same game.

As Allen and the Bills were warming up in the lake-effect blizzard, Irving was leading the Buccaneers to a thrilling 26-23 overtime win at Carolina. Irving racked up the most scrimmage yards (185) by an NFL rookie this season, including 152 on the ground. The last Tampa Bay rookie to reach 180 scrimmage yards in a game was Mike Evans in 2014.

At his best during a go-ahead drive early in the fourth quarter, Irving led off the series by touching the ball on five consecutive snaps, and finished the possession with 53 of the Bucs’ 69 scrimmage yards, including a 6-yard touchdown run to give Tampa Bay a 17-16 lead with 8:53 remaining. On the next possession, he busted through the middle for 43 yards to set up an important field goal.

Irving joins a pair of outstanding Buccaneers running backs, Warrick Dunn (Week 2, 1997) and Doug Martin (Week 9, 2012), to win the award as rookies.

Allen and the Bills (10-2) are in Los Angeles to meet the Rams (6-6) on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX). Irving and the Bucs (6-6) are hosting the Raiders (2-10) at Raymond James Stadium (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

For more information on the Bills and Buccaneers, visit the Buffalo and Tampa Bay team pages at ProFootballPost.com.