Josh Allen takes early leap into MVP conversation in Buffalo Bills ...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — What must Josh Allen do to be recognized as the NFL’s most valuable player?

That, more often than not, for another 16 games.

And then he’ll need to do it again for at least three more games to take the Buffalo Bills to their long-awaited, ever-elusive glory.

The Bills looked janky in Sunday’s season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, a club that won four games last year and fielded one of football’s worst defenses. Arizona traveled three time zones away, but through the first half, Buffalo was the slower, sloppier, softer team. Highmark Stadium was silent when it wasn’t booing.

Eventually we saw Allen, with his sidearm slings and jumpman bravura, drag his team back to competitive life. Agita dissipated with each exploit. He passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more, once again leaping over a defender like the Michael Jordan logo — legs split, ball extended — in a 34-28 victory.

“I thought it was a flyover,” Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins said of Allen’s last score. “I just said, ‘Shoot, what goes up must come down, and I hope he comes down in the end zone,’ and he did. That big quarterback, it’s hard to stop that, especially when you’re flying.”

Cannot stop watching this @JoshAllenQB touchdown. ????#GoBills | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/xU0dd6BLOT

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 8, 2024

Bills fans railed eight months ago about Lamar Jackson winning MVP and just last week moaned some more about an ESPN anonymous players’ poll that voted Allen the NFL’s most overrated quarterback. Yet there Bills fans were Sunday afternoon, livid about the Bills’ offense.

It’s why this year is Allen’s best opportunity to demonstrate his superiority beyond the “Madden 24” cover or a commercial appearance alongside Peppa Pig. A few hours after the Dallas Cowboys made Dak Prescott the league’s highest-paid player and knocked Allen down to 14th among quarterbacks, the Bills needed Allen to carry them.

Allen obliged. He shook off an early fumble to tie Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young with four games of at least two passing and two rushing touchdowns.

In moments, Allen’s teammates were working against him.

In the second quarter, old friend Stefon Diggs made the first of his two touchdown receptions for the Houston Texans at almost the exact time Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence committed a facemask penalty that erased a 4-yard Allen TD run and forced a field goal instead. The offensive line struggled all afternoon in its first game since center Mitch Morse’s departure, stacking five penalties for 40 yards.

Buffalo’s defense, meanwhile, croaked throughout the first half. Arizona receivers were wide open all over the place, aided by nickelback Taron Johnson leaving the game for good with a forearm injury less than five minutes in. New defensive play caller Bobby Babich was getting dominated by even younger Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.

Arizona’s first three possessions lasted 13, 10 and 13 plays, went for 201 yards and took 19:47 off the clock. Buffalo by then had run 13 total plays for 67 net yards. Rookie receiver Keon Coleman hadn’t done anything, three days after Xavier Worthy, the player the Kansas City Chiefs traded up to draft in the Bills’ original slot, scored a rushing touchdown on his first NFL touch and added another through the air.

Highmark Stadium was displeased, to say the least.

Cardinals tailback James Conner chugged 3 yards for a touchdown to put them ahead 17-3 with 2:40 left until halftime. The Bills took over on their 30-yard line but acted a little overwhelmed.

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady seemed content to mosey, inserting lineman Alec Anderson as an eligible receiver and sending him motion on the first play. (Didn’t matter because tight end Quinton Morris committed the first of three Bills false starts in a span of six plays; Dawkins and right tackle Spencer Brown also lurched.) After backup Ty Johnson rushed for 6 yards, Brady opted to just drain the clock down to the two-minute warning.

Buffalo was bailed out by a defensive hold and a roughing-the-passer call on outside linebacker Zaven Collins, who snagged Allen by the front collar. The jerking motion made the wrangle look worse than it was, but Buffalo found itself on the 26-yard line with 38 seconds to work with.

Allen delivered Coleman’s first NFL reception to the 14-yard line, then ran twice for Buffalo’s first touchdown and a 17-10 halftime deficit.

Tight end Dalton Kincaid, the single non-Allen Bills player everyone could agree would be a difference-maker this year, was invisible. The notion that Brady was waiting to unleash him against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night should have been eclipsed by the very real and growing possibility the Cardinals could win despite being the NFL’s second-biggest underdog this week. Kincaid wasn’t targeted until the third quarter and finished with one catch for 11 yards.

But no Bills player had more than one reception at halftime. Allen spread the ball around. Nobody gorged, but everybody got served.

Allen spotted newcomer Mack Hollins on a slant for an 11-yard touchdown strike 5:09 into the third quarter to tie the score at 17.

As the franchise quarterback pulled the offensive forward in the third quarter, the defense also found its footing.

“He did a lot” for the defense, said Allen’s fellow co-captain, linebacker Terrel Bernard. “He scored touchdowns in the red zone. He extended drives and made huge plays. That’s what we’ve come to expect from Josh. He kept us off the field a lot after we’d been on for a number of plays.

“We appreciate him. He’s the guy that runs this thing.”

Edge rusher Gregory Rousseau was a marvel, amassing three sacks. He also stripped Kyler Murray with 5:25 left in the third quarter to take over at Arizona’s 21-yard line.

Five plays later, Allen connected with Khalil Shakir for an 11-yard touchdown. Dawkins’ pancake block of safety Jalen Thompson on the screen play allowed Shakir to slither 11 yards for a permanent lead with 2:37 left in the third.

Somersaulting into the endzone!

????: @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/B8SnR8DbnZ

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 8, 2024

Allen’s latest highlight leap came with 8:44 to go. Up the middle he went, pump faking and then jumping over Cardinals safety Budda Baker at the goal line. Defensive linemen Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols delivered a mutual shot on airborne Allen, who hit the ground hard and injured his left wrist enough to need it taped.

“We all wish that we could be a bird or an eagle or even a dove,” Dawkins said, pressing his analogy to new heights. “Josh is that every game. Hey, I salute him. I’m glad he’s here. I’m glad he’s my quarterback.”

Said Allen: “I knew it was Budda, and Budda’s a good player. He’ll lay the boom on you. I decided to go up and over, but I probably can’t make a living doing that.”

Perhaps not, but the fans reacted with chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!”

Buffalo led 31-20, but Allen can’t do everything. He’s not on the kickoff coverage unit and was unable to prevent DeeJay Dallas from returning the ensuing kick 96 yards for a touchdown.

And after Tyler Bass made a 39-yard field goal and then sent the next kickoff out of bounds to let Arizona start its potential winning drive at Buffalo’s 40-yard line, Allen had to stand on the sidelines and watch as Murray nearly completed a desperation touchdown heave, almost repeating the Hail Murray bomb he delivered to DeAndre Hopkins against the Bills four years ago in State Farm Stadium.

Touchdowns aside, Allen’s stats were meh by his standards. He completed 18 of his 28 throws for 232 yards. He ran eight times for 40 yards, not counting one victory-formation genuflection.

None of his targets had more than Coleman’s four catches or 51 yards. Running back James Cook had 19 carries for 71 yards, a modest 3.7-yard average.

Such production underscores Allen’s importance to the Bills.

They needed every bit of him to make the team go, and if he can propel the Bills through their soft reset and to a fifth straight AFC East title with so little star power, then you’re looking at the next MVP.

Allen must be consistent. He can’t go through lulls. He can’t make people wonder whether his fire has been extinguished like they did through the first 10 games last season. That’s why Jackson was voted MVP despite Allen’s gaudy stats.

The football world realizes Allen — and Buffalo — needs to do more with less in 2024. The season opener was a microcosm.

“He’s a true leader, true competitor, true warrior,” Shakir said. “When he’s making plays like that, he’s pushing everybody else to be their best as well. Serious love for that guy and everything he does. … We’ll follow that guy into battle any day.”

(Top photo: Gregory Fisher / Imagn Images)

Tim Graham is a senior writer for The Athletic, covering Buffalo sports. He had been the Buffalo News' enterprise reporter and previously covered the AFC East at ESPN and the Miami Dolphins at the Palm Beach Post. Follow Tim on Twitter @ByTimGraham