Sports commentator Bomani Jones called Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen a “moron” this week over a costly interception, while applying a markedly softer standard to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson after a similar mistake two weeks earlier.
In a YouTube video posted Monday titled “Josh Allen Is Still THAT Guy…,” Jones criticized the Bills for sticking with Allen’s style of play. “Look, [the Bills] cast their lot on the idea that we’re just gonna live with Josh Allen and whatever he does, but that’s not – I don’t think that’s what they’re talking about. Like the idea isn’t and every now and then be a moron,” Jones said.
Jones went further, questioning whether Allen still deserves consideration as the league’s top quarterback. “They still called him an MVP. We still talk that. Remember how ready everybody was to make him the best quarterback in the league and everything else. Are they still saying that now? I’m asking that,” he said.
Two weeks earlier, Jackson threw a game-losing interception in a last-second loss to the New Orleans Saints. Jones’s treatment of that play differed sharply. He acknowledged Jackson has a pattern of late-game struggles even under a new coaching staff, but added that Jackson “is a sure-fire Hall of Famer and all of that.”
Jones then pointed to the receiver as a possible factor. “I will say I felt like the way that Rashard Bateman reacted at that interception, it looked like he was the one that made the wrong move,” he said. Jones also praised Jackson’s overall performance that day, saying “he looked awesome, awesome for three quarters.”
No such context accompanied Jones’s commentary on Allen’s mistake, and Jones did not question whether Jackson belongs among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks, a label he and his guests have applied to Jackson on other occasions.
A Pattern Going Back Years
Fox News Media’s Outkick noted that Jones showed a similar disparity in 2023, when Allen and Jackson lost in back-to-back weeks at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, who went on to win the Super Bowl that year. Jackson played worse against that Chiefs defense than Allen did and also threw a game-losing interception, yet Jones directed more criticism at Allen.
Before this season, Jones had argued the media holds Jackson to a higher standard than Allen.
What the Numbers Show
Outkick compared the two quarterbacks’ postseason track records:
- Josh Allen: 38 total touchdowns, 4,682 total yards, six interceptions, a 101.4 passer rating, 8-7 playoff record
- Lamar Jackson: 13 total touchdowns, 2,394 total yards, seven interceptions, an 84.6 passer rating, 3-5 playoff record
Outkick also cited two preseason evaluations of NFL quarterbacks by league personnel. In August, The Athletic surveyed 50 NFL executives and coaches, who ranked Allen No. 2 overall, in Tier 1 behind Patrick Mahomes and ahead of Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow, with Jackson ranked No. 5, a tier below. A month earlier, an ESPN survey of league executives, coaches and scouts ranked Allen the best quarterback in football, with Jackson again finishing fifth.
Allen plays for the Buffalo Bills in New York; Jackson plays for the Baltimore Ravens in Maryland. Both teams opened the season with the two quarterbacks under national scrutiny after their respective turnovers.
Outkick also noted that Jones took a similar position this summer in comparing Kyler Murray to Sam Darnold after Darnold’s Super Bowl win, siding with Murray.
