Who is the Al Capone of the Buffalo Bills Mafia – Josh Allen or Jim Kelly? Some franchises, fans only get lucky to see one star quarterback play for their team in one lifetime. If you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, you have hope for longevity is in your blood line. It took the Chicago Bears from the 1940’s with Sid Luckman until 2024, when they drafted Caleb Williams for that franchise to find their next field general. Some franchises like the Green Bay Packers go from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers, then if Jordan Love is the next big cheese they have gone decades without missing a beat. The first thing a quarterback is judged on is if they ever won a Superbowl. Luckily for this article, neither Allen or Kelly has won a ring. You can dissect each QB’s stats from regular season and post-season. How far they got their respective teams in the post-season is a loaded question in Buffalo. So much heartbreak. It must be like how all the gangsters felt when Capone was arrested and taking away by the tax man instead of the regular authorities. They never got him for all the bodies he littered the Chicagoland area with. Allen is already breaking Kelly’s all-time Buffalo records at a rapid pace. You know Allen will have all the records and could pad those stats for years to come. What about the stats Kelly produced in professional football before he even took a snap in the NFL?
Jim Kelly was drafted in that loaded QB draft of 1983. Guys like Dam Marino and John Elway came out of that draft as Kelly was selected 14th overall in that ’83 draft in the first round by the Buffalo Bills from Miami University. Kelly did not play his first NFL game for the Bills until 1986, because another league at the time drafted Kelly and that was the Houston Gamblers in the USFL. Back in the original USFL, which was a spring football league, they went after major talent like Kelly with big contracts. The USFL had plenty of players that started in their league and went on to have excellent careers in the NFL. To name some of the names besides Kelly, they had Steve Young, Doug Williams, Doug Flutie, Hershel Walker, and plenty more. Kelly played two seasons for the Gamblers in a run and shoot offense. Which was designed for plenty of fireworks in an aerial attack. In 32 games for Houston in the 1984 and ’85 seasons, he threw 83 touchdown passes as he also had 45 interceptions. Donald Trump, who had a part in the USFL, was the biggest problem why the league suspended operations after the ’85 season. Go figure!! Kelly, who chose the USFL to avoid the Buffalo cold weather, even though he was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Let’s remember his college days were playing in the sunshine with palm trees and sandy white beaches as a Hurricane for Miami University.
In the NFL, Jim Kelly played 11 seasons all with Buffalo and he fell in love with the town. The fans fell in love with him as well because they really only had OJ Simpson to root for from the late 60’s into the middle of the 1970’s on plenty of bad teams. In 1986, Kelly went 4-12 as the starter in his rookie season in the NFL. He has 22 touchdown passes to 17 interceptions. Kelly was a gunslinger so interceptions came with all those touchdown passes. Just like in present day with Josh Allen, as he has had games where the turnovers leave you scratching your head. Kelly played in 160 NFL games from which his play earned him a spot in Canton, Ohio which is the Football Hall Of Fame. Kelly’s record as a starter was 101-59 during the regular season. Which is awesome. He only had 2 losing seasons in 11 years with Buffalo. He carried that gunslinger mentality to the NFL from the USFL. Kelly was running a K-Gun offense which was a hurry up offense for the Bills most of those years as he was very productive with his big arm along with the fast release. Kelly was a pocket passer as Josh Allen can be that duel threat using his legs for big chunks of yardage. Kelly completed 60.1% of his passes for 237 touchdown passes. He did however throw 175 interceptions. He tallied up 35,467 passing yards in regular season. In post-season, Kelly delivered in the AFC as he got his team to 4 straight Superbowls. The big knock on Kelly is he could not finish as all 4 Superbowls were losses. In post-season play, Kelly played in 17 games. He went 9-8 behind center in those post-season games. In the post-season his completion percentage dropped to 59.1%. He tallied up 3,863 passing yards while throwing 21 touchdown passes. However 28 interceptions in the post-season is a no-no. If you combined Kelly’s regular season numbers from the USFL and the NFL, he has thrown over 300 touchdown passes in 13 seasons of professional football. The exact number would be 320 touchdown passes. However it would be 220 interceptions in 13 seasons as well. Kelly with his legs in the 11 seasons in Buffalo, had 304 attempts in rushing for just over 1,000 yards rushing at 1,049 total in regular season. He had 7 rushing touchdowns in the NFL.
Josh Allen was drafted in the first round 7th overall in the NFL 2018 draft from Wyoming University. In 9 seasons in the NFL, he is already approaching 100 regular season wins behind center. Allen has played in 136 games and has a record of 95-40 behind center. It took Jim Kelly 11 seasons to get 101 wins in 160 games. Allen is on a fast pace tearing up the Bills’ QB records. Allen has tallied up 32,129 regular season passing yards which means he is in striking distance of Kelly’s 35,467 passing yards. Allen has thrown for 232 touchdowns in regular season as Kelly has 237. Allen has now 100 interceptions since he threw another last week versus the Vikings. Allen has 88 rushing touchdowns which is SICK!!! Allen has the higher completion percentage at 64.1% in regular season. In post-season, Allen has an 8-7 record in 15 games behind center. He however is completing 66.1% of his passes in post-season play. He has also thrown 29 touchdown passes in the post-season compared to only 6 interceptions. If you added up Allen’s rushing touchdowns, regular season touchdown passes, and post-season touchdowns, he has the Bills record. He will eventually get all the individual QB records because he is very close to Kelly in all the categories. Let’s hope Kelly keeps the interception record. You have to believe by the end of Allen’s career he will have more than 320 passing touchdowns. Even if we added Kelly’s USFL stats, Allen will break that record as well.
You can say Jim Kelly has beaten Josh Allen in more heartbreak caused for the Bills Mafia fan base. Those 4 Superbowls are tough for any Bills fans. The Bills were destroyed in three of those games. The Kicker lost the first one in the last seconds of the game that sent the kick wide right. If Scott Norwood made that kick, the Bills would have beaten the Giants that day in Superbowl XXV in 1991. If the Bills won that first one, would it have changed the future outcomes? Josh Allen has had his share of heartbreaks in the AFC post-season with Kansas City especially. The Bills have not gotten to one Superbowl with Allen. If Allen never wins or even takes the Bills to the Superbowl, stat-wise he will be the Bills ultimate Mafia boss. Certainly Allen will make Canton like Jimbo. You could make the argument that Kelly played where the opposing defenses had less rules. Football is still a dangerous game in present day. You could say Allen runs over defenders when he runs the ball. Both QB’s are Bills legends and mean a lot to the city of Buffalo and Western New York. Both guys have taken to the local community as Kelly still lives there even though his playing days have been over for decades. If Allen does give the Bills their first ever Superbowl trophy, we have no debate regarding who is the Mafia Boss of this franchise. Even the tax man could not take that away from Allen. It would be a shame if Allen can not win one. Seeing two great QB’s do it all for your team in one lifetime and just come up short would be sad in a football sense. You still have to enjoy the ride because QB’s don’t always blossom like they do in the Dairy State. How would you be able to stomach the crime scene every Sunday if you were a Browns fan?
