Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are two of the biggest names in the NFL right now, and former head coach Rex Ryan has given his thoughts on who he thinks is better. 

Over the years in the NFL, there have always been battles between a number of quarterbacks to try and decipher who is the best in the business in their era. You can go back as far as Dan Marino and Joe Montana in the 1980s, the likes of Troy Aikman and Steve Young had many battles with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers in the 1990s as they battled for supremacy, and then of course you can’t leave off Peyton Manning and Tom Brady for the 2000s and the early part of the 2010s.

And whilst there are plenty of talented, young quarterbacks in the NFL right now, including the likes of Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow you could make the argument that the two most prominent ones in the league right now are the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen.

If you need any proof of that, you really only needed to look at the absolute show that they put on for us during the divisional round of the playoffs last season which will go down as one of the great games that we are likely to see in our lifetimes. 

Mahomes and Allen have it all

But if the eye-test wasn’t enough for you, then the numbers will pretty much speak for themselves, with Mahomes having thrown for 22,967 yards and 186 touchdowns in the regular and postseason, whilst Allen has put up 16,446 yards and 124 touchdowns, with both of them having been established as their teams' starters during the 2018 season.

Mahomes has already been named MVP, whilst Allen is considered by many to be the favourite for the award this year, so trying to separate the two of them is no easy task.

But former NFL head coach Rex Ryan has given his say on who he thinks is better.

Rex Ryan breaks the Mahomes v Allen divide

Speaking on The Dan Patrick Show (quoted by Larry Brown Sports), Ryan discussed what it would be like to gameplan for both men and who would be easier to come up with a strategy for, and with his answer, he may have hinted that it’s the Buffalo man that gets the edge on that particular battle:

I really think probably Patrick Mahomes, which is a ridiculous statement because he’s amazing. But Josh Allen, to me, I see the difference in the red zone. Josh Allen almost appears to be unstoppable in the red zone. He can run through it like a halfback and the power of a fullback, he’s got a bazooka for an arm. Both of these kids do.

Kansas City’s always about the shovel pass and all that type of stuff. You don’t see Mahomes with that threat of running through linebackers that you do with Josh Allen, and I think that kind of separates them in the red zone.

Given how much of a threat Allen is with his legs, you kind of have to agree with Ryan here, there is just that ability to escape pressure and make a run that you can’t account for, and whilst Mahomes is good with his legs, he just trails behind Allen when it comes to how much of a threat he is. 

But at the end of the day, no matter who you’re going up against, you’re not going to have fun watching them playing against your team.