This might be the most balanced and best all-around version of the Buffalo Bills that we have seen during the Josh Allen era.

After throttling the Lions 41-31 in a Highmark Stadium Housewarming Party that was never quite as close as the final score indicated, the Bills aren’t just undefeated but are adding new elements to how they win behind their MVP quarterback.

Yes, Allen has been superlative, completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 582 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions, while rushing for 92 yards with four more scores and manipulating secondaries with ease when outside the pocket.

ESPN Insights points out that Allen is the first NFL player since 1960 to open a season with three or more touchdown passes and three or more rushing touchdowns in his team’s first two games.

He also joins Peyton Manning in 2013 and Patrick Mahomes in 2018, as the only quarterbacks ever to open up a season with nine total touchdowns, or more, and no turnovers through the season’s first two games.

Allen’s strongest start to a season to date in his career has come against one of the sport’s premier defenses, in the Houston Texans and a Lions defense anchored by All-Pro pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who is one of the most dominant players at his position

But, Buffalo isn’t just beating opponents; they’re systematically demoralizing them with a multi-faceted passing attack. Seven different Bills have caught multiple passes from Allen, and DJ Moore, Dalton Kincaid, Josh Palmer, and Dawson Knox have each already caught at least one touchdown in the first two games.

Allen’s precision from the pocket and lethalness both with his legs and throwing on the run are being paired by first-year head coach Joe Brady deploying one of the most effective and grounding force multipliers, defending rushing champion James Cook, as cover fire on his way to 192 yards and a touchdown through the first two weeks.

The Bills have always had an explosive offense, but before suffering an AC joint injury Thursday night, Moore infused a field-stretching element of explosiveness that Allen has lacked in his arsenal.

Likewise, new coordinator Jim Leonhard’s defense is attacking the football and relentlessly pressuring the quarterback.

Greg Rousseau is giving Bruce Smith-level impact, with four sacks, nine quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles through two weeks.

That’s not hyperbole.

After Thursday night’s game, Rousseau became the first Bills player since Smith to record at least two sacks in each of the season’s first two games.

Rousseau is just one piece of the puzzle for a defense that, through two weeks, is allowing just 95 rushing yards per game while forcing two turnovers.

“It's been fun to see him grow in the scheme,” Brady said of Rousseau, which may be the ultimate understatement.

It’s only been two weeks, but the Bills are setting a championship-level pace in a loaded AFC, and may finally have the defense capable of slamming the door on the rest of the conference with Allen and the offense playing its most explosive brand of football yet.

Inside this mailbag, we tackle your questions on which teams are climbing the WorryMeter, how Declan Doyle and Lamar Jackson are evolving in Baltimore, and try to dispel some myths about player salaries.

Let’s get after it …

Overreaction Monday is a time-honored tradition for 18 weeks each year, but the Monday following Week 1 deserves to have the Festivus poll dragged out of the closet and dusted off.

So many of the proclamations that were made this week, the narratives that were written this week, are going to look foolish, maybe as early as this upcoming Overreaction Monday, and certainly by the time we wake up on January 11.

We try to rise above those practices here, but there are certainly a few teams that were put on notice in Week 1.

In Green Bay, the Packers could no longer downplay or overlook the cost of hoping a patchwork offensive line would hold up. Not every team will have Brian Flores unleashing relentless hell, or the horses Flores has at his disposal, but every team saw the concepts on film, and neither Matt LaFleur nor Jordan Love, Jordan Morgan, Sean Rhyan, or Aaron Banks can run and hide from what they’re about to be up against and asked to overcome.

Meanwhile, just about everything the Patriots built their optimism around came crashing down violently in Seattle in a loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks.

So much of the blueprint for New England to take the next step offensively was built around pairing A.J. Brown with Drake Maye’s elite deep-ball accuracy and sound decision-making.

Well, after suffering a high ankle sprain, Brown is on Injured Reserve, set to miss at least the Patriots’ upcoming games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, and suddenly not-so-hapless Las Vegas Raiders.

As for Maye’s sound decision-making, who knows if even the past 10 days have been enough time for head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to rebuild their quarterback’s confidence and thought process in a high-leverage moment after his brutally terrible decision and worse throw on 3rd down, in field goal position, trailing by three points with the game on the line.

Then there’s the worrisome case of the Detroit Lions.

It’s one thing to fold like the tables littered throughout the Highmark Stadium parking lot, on a short week, walking into a proverbial hornet’s nest against Josh Allen, James Cook, and a Bills squad not just firing on all cylinders but opening up their new stadium in front of arguably the NFL’s most rabidly passionate fanbase.

However, what we saw Thursday night to kick off Week 2 is just the extension of what have become some troubling trends for Dan Campbell’s Lions.

In the Lions’ first two games, surviving in overtime against Tyler Shough and the New Orleans Saints, and getting run out of the building on the banks of Lake Erie, Detroit has allowed an average of 457.5 yards of total offense, and 10 drives of at least eight plays, which has a cumulative effect on a defense and allows high-octane offenses to have their way with them as the game wears on.

Detroit can’t get off the field, which is a problem when having to face Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams’ Chicago Bears’ twice. The Lions have already allowed five sacks and 19 quarterback hits against the Saints and Bills, what exactly is Jared Goff going to have to withstand against Brian Flores in the two meetings between bitter rivals this season?

The Lions are 1-1, and a loss to the Bills in that environment is absolutely excusable. However, the way Detroit’s defense has been gashed and its offensive line obliterated in these first two weeks, the Lions look far closer to the team that finished 9-8 in 2025 than a team that’s anywhere close to being in the Super Bowl conversation in the NFC in 2026.

It’s early, and trajectories of a season can change in an instant, but after Week 1, it sure feels like teams like the Patriots, Packers, and Lions have been put on notice.

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The Ravens’ offense certainly seems to be leaning hard into what it and Lamar Jackson do best.