Welcome to the mobile age: NFL conference title games filled with dual-threat QBs

Updated Jan. 23, 2025 6:14 p.m. ET

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen loves retelling the story of how he screwed up on what may go down as the NFL’s signature highlight of the regular season.

“The truth is, I was dead wrong on the alert,” Allen said of his pre-snap call, facing fourth-and-2 from the Kansas City 26, and Buffalo clinging to a 23-21 lead with a little more than two minutes left in Week 11.

“I checked into a man play, and they dropped out and played zone,” he said. “So I knew our play was probably not very good and I just tried to make a play. And that’s how it was.”

It took the 6-foot-5, 237-pound Allen 14 seconds to fake a pass to his left, turn and assess the field before taking off to his right and outrace two defenders, shake off safety Nazeeh Johnson’s diving attempt to grab him by the ankles, get turned sideways by linebacker Nick Bolton, before squaring up to brace for a collision with safety Bryan Cook as the two tumbled into the end zone.

With CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz providing the narrative by saying, “And there it is, the play of the year,” Allen sealed a 30-21 win over the previously unbeaten Chiefs on a scramble exemplifying how much the NFL quarterback position has evolved, and how today’s dual-threat player can turn a miscue into magnificence.

Though the league has enjoyed its share of elite scramblers, this season’s conference title games reflect the arrival of a mobile age.

With Allen facing Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes in the AFC, and Washington rookie Jayden Daniels facing Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts on the NFC side, the four combined for 2,359 yards rushing during the regular season.

The numbers have fluctuated over the years, from the four quarterbacks in the 2021 conference championships combining for 593 yards to 2014, when Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck and Tom Brady totaled 1,448.

At no time has that total approached 2,000. And keep in mind, 30 years ago, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Stan Humphries and Neil O’Donnell combined for 354 yards rushing.

“I think it’s becoming a necessary part of a young quarterback coming into the league,” former Atlanta Falcons quarterback and current CBS NFL analyst Matt Ryan said. “It’s the way the league has gone. And you look at all four of the guys that are left playing right now, mobility is a big part, if not the main part of what they do.”

Though not everyone is capable of making the jump to the NFL, Ryan witnessed the transformation first hand with Cam Newton’s arrival in Carolina in 2011.

“The stress he put on our coaches and defensive players, I think that gets recognized,” he said. “And then you see more and more guys that move and have that kind of ability coming out of college, it just seemed like a natural progression at our position.”

In Washington, Daniels’ team-leading 891 yards rushing are the most in NFL history by a rookie quarterback — more than Newton in 2011 and Robert Griffin III in 2012.

“That’s just how the position is played,” Daniels said. “You’ve got to be able to move a little bit, be able to play-make. I think that’s just a part of the game and how the game’s evolving now.”

In Philadelphia, coach Nick Sirianni witnessed numerous occasions where Hurts used his legs to compensate for opponents taking away the passing game, including a 22-16 win over Carolina on Dec. 8.

Limited to 108 yards passing, his lowest total in a complete game this season, Hurts countered with 59 yards rushing, 35 coming on a game-breaking play to convert third-and-9 and set up Hurts’ 4-yard TD pass to Grant Calcaterra for the go-ahead score.

“He’s able to make plays in different ways. That’s a huge asset that he has as a quarterback,” Sirianni said following the game.

In Kansas City, Mahomes has shown he’s capable of anything, shovel passes, sidearm passes, passing on the run and scrambling to keep defenses on their heels. As much as he’s considered a dual threat, Mahomes' top season in yards rushing was 366 in 2021.

What Ryan sees is a player who’s adapted his approach to fit the team around him.

“I think it was so many ‘wow’ plays from him early on,” Ryan said.

“He could try and make more things happen or force some things, but I think he knows that this is how they’re going to win,” he added. “Make no mistake, when it’s time to make a play, he is going to do it. And he believes that. And I think he’s more dangerous now than he was in 2019.”

The Chiefs appreciate the challenge they face against Allen, who has won the past four regular-season meetings but lost the past three in the playoffs.

“The guy is built like a factory, can run the ball well, has a canon for an arm, can launch the ball 60 yards downfield whenever he needs to,” safety Justin Reid said.

To Allen, the evolution of quarterbacks has as much to do with the evolution of the NFL. The trend of defensive linemen getting faster, stronger and leaner has led to the same for quarterbacks.

“Your best athletes are probably quarterbacks now,” Allen said, as opposed to his younger days when the better athletes were wide receivers.

Allen started out as a running back before slyly convincing his Pop Warner coach to let him try quarterback.

“I wanted to be a quarterback so bad that any time I got the ball, I would throw it back, until my coach said, ‘Hey, you got a good arm. Do you want to play quarterback?‘” Allen recalled. “And I was like, `Thank you. Finally.’”

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AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia, Dave Skretta, in Kansas City, Missouri and Stephen Whyno, in Ashburn, Virginia, contributed to this report.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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