Josh Allen, the hope of the Buffalo Bills

Starting with the 2020 season, Josh Allen’s third as a starting quarterback, the Buffalo Bills have been contenders in the AFC.

Since then, Allen has a record of 55-20, with almost 20,000 passing yards, 154 touchdown passes (another 39 on the ground), 19 interceptions and four consecutive AFC East Division titles.

Playoffs? Not so spectacular. There Allen is 5-5, including three painful eliminations against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, the most recent in Buffalo, in the Divisional Round of last season.

That is the pending subject, but while that long-awaited rematch against the Chiefs arrives (or not), Josh Allen and the Bills are living a special season that once again has them dreaming of the Super Bowl.

After back-to-back losses at Baltimore and Houston, Buffalo has won four in a row.

The Bills have scored 30 or more points in six games this season and allowed 10 or fewer in four.

Allen, an elite quarterback

Allen owns the league’s sixth-best rating at 105.8, thanks to his 64.1% completion percentage, 17 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

Losing wide receiver Stefon Diggs in free agency seemed like a big blow to Allen and the Bills offense, but the quarterback quickly found another partner.

Allen has completed 42 of 45 passes when targeting Khalil Shakir, the highest percentage (93.3%) for any QB-WR duo since 1991.

In the trade period, Buffalo traded with the Cleveland Browns to bring in receiver Amari Cooper, who missed last week’s game against Miami due to a wrist injury. Cooper is expected to be ready to return to action Sunday in Indianapolis, which would be his third game with the Bills.

With or without Cooper, Allen is having one of his best NFL seasons. He surpassed Joe Ferguson (181) and is second in franchise history with 184 touchdown passes, 53 shy of tying the record of the legendary Jim Kelly.

Cook, leader in the backfield

James Cook leads the Bills with 109 carries, 496 rushing yards, 666 combined and eight touchdowns (seven on the ground), which is third in the NFL behind only Derrick Henry (13) and Kyren Williams (10).

His best game was a couple of weeks ago in Seattle, when he finished with 111 rushing yards (6.5 per attempt) and two scores.

Ray Davis is a nice complement in the backfield. A month ago, when Cook didn’t play against the New York Jets, Davis carried the ball 20 times for 97 yards.

The defense

The Bills’ front seven is led by Gregory Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, leaders in Buffalo with 4.5 and 4 quarterback sacks, respectively. They will be joined this Sunday by Von Miller, who in early October was suspended for four games for violating personal conduct policies.

Linebacker Dorian Williams leads the group with 82 tackles, followed by safety Damar Hamlin with 57. Hamlin also co-leads the team with two interceptions.

Back to Indianapolis

The Bills travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts for the first time since 2018. In fact, Buffalo is looking for its first win in Indianapolis since October 11, 1998, when the Bills defeated the Colts 31-24.

Indianapolis is the 26th-ranked pass defense and that’s bad news when you have to deal with Josh Allen.

Pick: Bills 34-21 Colts

Top picks for Week 10:

Be ready for the 2024 NFL football season with our NFL Betting Guide and follow every NFL football game with our printable NFL schedule; available for download as a spreadsheet, Google Sheet for the entire season or get every week from Week 1 through Week 18 with free picks.