The award represents “an NFL player who best demonstrates the qualities of on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents, and integrity in competition,” according to the league’s website.
The award will be ” determined by a vote of current NFL players,” and the winner will “receive a $25,000 donation from the NFL Foundation to a charity of his choice.”
Allen was selected as the Bills’ representative in 2021 as well.
The winner is announced during the end of season “NFL Honors” Award show before the Super Bowl.
The Niners could be without stars like quarterback Brock Purdy, offensive tackle Trent Williams, and defensive end Nick Bosa.
While their squad is desperate for a win, a Buffalo victory could make history for the franchise.
In more ways than one.
The Bills are four games ahead of the second-place AFC East squad and division rival Miami Dolphins, who will be playing the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving Thursday. Buffalo beached them in both head-to-head matchups this season and owns the tie-breaker.
If Miami loses to Green Bay and Buffalo beats San Francisco, the Bills will also win their fifth straight division crown.
That would be something that has never previously been accomplished since the team was first founded in 1960.
The franchise did notably win four straight AFC East titles from 1988 to 1991, the final two of which included trips to the Super Bowl.
That and their current regular season win streak aren’t the only ones on the line, however. Buffalo has also won six straight matchups against San Francisco.
QB Josh Allen will also have a chance to make more history in this game against a team he rooted for growing up in Firebaugh, CA.
Allen is currently tied with the Bills’ most storied quarterback in the team’s history, Jim Kelly, for the most touchdowns in the franchise’s history (244).
Josh Allen is TIED With Jim Kelly for most total touchdowns in Bills history with 244. All he needs is 1 touchdown to break the record. Very good chance we witness history on Sunday Night… pic.twitter.com/vtXbk5ON2i
Per Tankathon, Buffalo has the fifth-easiest remaining schedule in the league this season, which means Allen will have plenty of time across the six regular season contests left to add to that number while entering his prime at age 28.
He’ll also have a chance to round out a strong campaign and potential MVP-caliber year just as the Bills will have a chance to bid for the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the AFC Playoff picture in facing the Niners, Rams, Lions, Patriots (twice), and Jets.
3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the 49ers in Week 13
The Buffalo Bills will play the San Francisco 49ers at home at Highmark Stadium on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 13.
The Bills (9-2) are looking to build on a six-game win streak, while the 49ers (5-6) have lost their last two.
Buffalo is favored to win by seven points on Sunday night. The two teams haven’t met since 2020, when the Bills won on the road, 34-24.
Even though the Bills are favored and the Niners have struggled lately, they were still the NFC champions last year for a reason and they are a well-rounded team even though the wins haven’t shown up consistently.
The Bills will need to execute their game plan to pick up their tenth win of the year.
With that, here are three keys to a Bills win in Week 13:
Run the rock
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The 49ers have very few holes on their team, but if there is one area they need to improve upon it is their run defense. They rank 21st in the NFL in defense rushing DVOA.
The Bills are at their best when they have a balanced attack on offense, and I’d expect James Cook and company to get plenty of work. Last week, the Bills dominated the Chiefs in time of possession with quick passes and third-down conversions. This week, they should aim to do the same, but with more of a “pound the rock” approach.
Limit explosive runs
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While San Francisco ranks just 13th in the league in points per game (23.6), they rank an impressive fourth in the league in yards per game (384.5). A big reason why they rack up so many offensive yards is their ability to perform explosive plays in the run game.
The Niners’ offense ranks third in the NFL in 10+ yard runs, while the Bills’ defense allows the second-most 10+ yard runs. This will be a test for the Bills. If they can have sound tackling and limit big running lanes, it will help their chances immensely on Sunday night.
Move the chains on third down
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Last week, the Bills were 9-of-15 (60%) on third downs in the win over Kansas City. Their ability to extend drives is what led them to a win. On paper, they’ll have an opportunity to do the same this week.
Although the Niners rank in the top ten in both rushing and passing defense, they have been leaky on third downs. Their 43.7% third-down rate ranks 26th in the NFL. Josh Allen and the Bills offense, albeit with some injuries to pass catchers, should be able to move the sticks when necessary.
Bryce Young led the Panthers into some elite company here in 2024.
Joe Burrow, Josh Allen . . . and Bryce Young.
Those are the only three quarterbacks, here in the 2024 campaign, to lead their offenses to at least 25 points against the defending Super Bowl champions.
Only three teams have put up 25+ points on the Kansas City Chiefs defense this season.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals
Josh Allen and the Bills
Bryce Young and the Panthers pic.twitter.com/bQfh3VHwky
Unfortunately for the Carolina Panthers, their Week 12 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs ended in defeat. Despite a valiant effort, Young and his cats just missed pulling off the biggest upset of the year in what would be a 30-27 loss.
Nevertheless, those 27 points should mean something—especially when they were scored on one of the NFL’s tightest defenses. And they may mean even more when you consider that the only other teams to do it have a Most Valuable Player candidate and a top quarterback playing his best career ball under center.
Oh, and here’s a list of pretty good offenses that fell short of that mark versus Kansas City this season:
Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens
Kirk Cousins’ Atlanta Falcons
Justin Herbert’s Los Angeles Chargers
Brock Purdy’s San Francisco 49ers
Baker Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Young finished his day with a season-high 263 passing yards while the Panthers converted on five of their 13 third-down attempts and both of their fourth-down tries. They totaled 334 yards.
Carolina was also just the third team to score on at least 75 percent of their drives against the Chiefs since they’ve been led by head coach Andy Reid (2013).
Bills’ Sean McDermott offers injury updates during bye week
During NFL Week 12, the Buffalo Bills enjoy their bye week, offering an opportunity for some rest and extra advance preparation for their next game following a 30-21 home win against the Kansas City Chiefs.
They topped their AFC rival without several key starters including middle linebacker Matt Milano (bicep tear), wide receiver Keon Coleman (wrist), tight end Dalton Kincaid (knee), offensive lineman Spencer Brown (ankle), and defensive tackle DeWayne Carter (wrist) who were out with injuries.
Next up the team will host the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium, and fans and media members have been wondering which players might return to the field in that contest.
Milano, who’s missed most of the season so far, has begun to practice again and could see a return to gameplay as early as Week 13. The rookie Coleman as well as second-year pro Kincaid received a positive update by way of ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler in terms of recovery this week.
While he did not definitely say whether the two impact players on offense would be back for the game against the Niners, he did share that neither player’s injury appears to be substantial or long-term.
Buffalo has notably never lost coming out of a bye week under head coach Sean McDermott, a trend they hope will continue and one they hope will extend to the postseason, as they pursue the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed and first-round bye.
He had good news for the Bills and their fans following Sunday’s win over the Chiefs, sharing that the team didn’t have any new additions to the injury report. And there may be more good news on their existing injured players coming soon, though he made a point to manage expectations.
“There’s this pool of players that they’re kind of tiered as to when we expect to get each one of them back,”McDermott said.
“Again this week being kind of a rehab week for the players that are banged up, the message I’m getting from our training room is ‘hey we’ll let you know kind of how this week goes and then what that looks like for next week’ so you know the challenge is not really knowing as we start to game plan a little bit towards the end of this week who’s available, but certainly understand that the trainers need some more time with these guys and you know again it’s kind of like ‘hey who who are they going to hand us on Monday? Are we to get one player? Two players? More? Less what we have? So we just got to kind of take it one day at a time here, big picture coming out of the game without any serious injuries.”
They still have some challenges ahead in the remaining six contests on the regular season schedule, including road games against the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions right after the 49ers matchup.
But with a healthy roster, the Bills could make a push into the postseason and potentially lock up the No. 1 seed, allowing them to get even healthier headed into the playoffs.
Barkley’s explosion included touchdown runs of 70 and 72 yards, and his 255 yards are the ninth-most in an NFL game in league history. Barkley shattered LeSean McCoy’s record of 217 yards in a game (2013 Snow Bowl vs. Lions) with his 72-yard run that acted as a knockout punch.
“He’s the best in the league. He’s the best at what he does,” Quarterback Jalen Hurts said in his postgame interview with Barkley standing across from him. “He’s a bad man.”
In the latest BETMGM odds, Barkley has the third-best odds behind Josh Allen (+150) and Lamar Jackson (+220).
Barkley’s 1,392 yards now lead the NFL, with Derrick Henry still to play Monday night against the Chargers, sitting at 1,185. Barkley has five games with 140+ rush yards and 1+ rush touchdown in 2024, which is the most in the NFL.
Even more important, Barkley is on pace to shatter LeSean McCoy’s Eagles’ all-time single-season rushing record (1,607 in 2013).
GMFB’s Peter Schrager: No one made ‘louder statement’ last week than Bills (video)
NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” roundtable conversation on Monday following the Week 11 slate of games around the league included a take on which club among them made the “loudest statement”.
Analyst Peter Schrager chose the Bills following their 30-21 win over the Chiefs. He was complimentary of head coach Sean McDermott and pointed out that this regular season win over Kansas City felt different than past ones.
“I don’t think anyone made a louder statement made in the league than what the Bills did yesterday against the Chiefs,” Schrager said the morning after the matchup.
Bills-Chiefs draws huge numbers during Week 11 clash
The Week 11 AFC showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs drew the biggest television audience for an NFL regular season game in 17 years, not including holiday games.
According to USA Today, the 4:25 PM EST kickoff on CBS garnered 31.2 million viewers.
It’s the most viewers for a regular season game since 2007 when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots went toe-to-toe with Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9. Both of those teams were 8-0.
17 years later, the world got the new version of the Brady-Manning rivalry with Josh Allen’s Bills facing Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs. The Chiefs entered the game 9-0 while the Bills were 8-2.
With the Bills win, Allen and Mahomes are now 4-4 against each other, with many close games, monumental moments, and highlight-reel plays. The NFL would be happy with the TV ratings if these teams met again in the playoffs this season.
CBS also recorded its biggest regional window audience since 1992 in Week 11, attracting 19.8 million viewers for the Ravens-Steelers matchup.
Safe to say it was a great day for the NFL and its fans.
Bills’ Josh Allen, Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes embrace at final (video)
Love him or hate him, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a pretty cool exchange with Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen after their Week 11 showcase.
After the final whistle in the 30-21 contest, as usual, the two teams met at the middle of the field at Highmark Stadium. In their hug, Mahomes said he’ll see Allen soon.
“We’ll do it again,” Mahomes said.
Clearly a reference to the playoffs. That’s a fun statement right there.
Drue Tranquill describes the Kansas City Chiefs’ morale after their first loss of the season: ‘We love it’ | @EdEastonJr
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill spoke with the media on Wednesday, reassuring everyone that the team is confident and not feeling any effects of the mid-season tolls of an NFL season.
“I don’t feel the dog days. We love it out here. We love it, the sun’s out, and it’s a beautiful day in Kansas City.” said Tranquill. “I think we just have a ton of people that love to play football here, and they’ve done that through building the team the right way. And so we’re excited to be here, be 9-1, atop the AFC, with a chance to host playoff games at home. So we’re looking at Carolina (Panthers), man, trying to get this win and get back on track.”
Tranquill has no issues with being vocal about his pride in the team, especially on defense. The unit continues to be one of the best in the league and isn’t letting Josh Allen’s thrilling fourth-quarter touchdown affect their focus moving forward. Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers will be a test for the team to dominate an opponent they are expected to defeat and secure their spot on top of the conference heading into the postseason.
