The 2025 season wasn’t everything the Buffalo Bills or quarterback Josh Allen hoped it would be. For the first time in five seasons, the Bills didn’t win the AFC East, and now they’ll have to go on the road for at least two playoff games just to reach the AFC Championship, which will also be in a hostile environment if it isn’t against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Still, the team had a chance to rest in Week 18, which isn’t always the case for Wild Card teams. During that week, offensive coordinator Joe Brady had the reigning league MVP take some time to self-scout himself over the course of the 2025 season.
For Allen, there was surely plenty of greatness to take away. He set a new career-high in completion percentage, kept turnovers low, scored 39 times, and led the Bills to their seventh-straight 10+ win season. All the while, Allen took the most sacks in a single season across his career with one of the league’s least productive receiving corps at his disposal.
Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen reflects on 2025 season and preps for playoff intensity
During his weekly press conference on Wednesday, Allen opened up about what he saw from himself across the 2025 season last week.
“I came away, honestly, just like, ‘God, there’s so much out there I've missed, right?’ Whether it's getting a little lazy with my feet and not taking a checkdown and maybe instead trying to force something downfield, or throwing the ball away and not taking sacks and allowing us to be in field goal range,” Allen said. “You know, there’s still so much room to improve.”
By Allen’s description, one would begin to think that he wasn’t playing up to his own MVP standard even if his own performance clearly suggests otherwise.
“You’re sitting there like, ‘Gah, I stink! 'You know, it’s like, 'What am I thinking here, what am I doing?’” he said. Of course, in his efforts to self-critique his play, Allen came away satisfied with the task.
“As we get into the playoffs, it was a very helpful exercise to do,” Allen said.
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Still, the practice of scouting himself through the regular season brought about some clarity in the difference between trying things in the regular season versus executing with purpose in the playoffs.
“I think maybe throughout the regular season, you get into this mold of just like, ‘We have more games, I can try to squeeze this one in and see how it goes.’ Obviously, in the playoffs, those are premium drives, and you can’t really risk too much,” he said.
Naturally, Allen’s performance is the least of Bills Mafia’s concerns this postseason. Fans are far more keyed in on the defensive inconsistencies against the run, injuries on the backend of the defense, and Allen’s lackluster supporting cast out wide. Allen and the Bills overcame those obstacles to win five of their last six games, but in the process didn’t offer up great confidence that they can do so through the playoffs.
Nonetheless, Allen plays some of his best football in the postseason, so having a chance to reflect on how he reacted to those obstacles in real time this season should offer him even more perspective on how to handle them in crunch time.