Bills' Josh Allen, Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes Agree to 'Strongest Arm' Challenge

When EA Sports released the latest player ratings, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes [...]

By John Newby

When EA Sports released the latest player ratings, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took issue with the fact that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen had a higher throwing power. He responded by saying that he wanted to hit the field and see who had the bigger arm, and now the competition will take place. Allen revealed on Wednesday that he's formally accepted Mahomes' challenge.

The Bills starter appeared on Good Morning Football on Wednesday to preview his team's season. He obviously talked about new wide receiver Stefon Diggs, but the conversation quickly turned to him and Mahomes. EA Sports gave Allen a 99 in the throwing power stat but only gave Mahomes a 97. This video game difference prompted Mahomes' challenge and led to Allen agreeing to test his arm strength against the defending Super Bowl MVP.

"One, yes I'm game," Allen said. "We're working on it. We had something in place, actually, was supposed to be going this summer. But obviously some COVID restrictions had that kinda shut down. Yes, I'm game. I think Pat's got one of, obviously, the strongest arms in the league. He's [one of] if not the best quarterback in the league right now. Just the things that he can do on the football field, it's pretty unbelievable to watch."

With the current restrictions in place, Allen doesn't know when the competition will take place. However, he does have one big requirement. He said that this friendly throwing competition needs to "go to a good cause." He specifically mentioned Mahomes' charity, 15 and the Mahomies Foundation.

The Chiefs QB originally threw down the gauntlet in July during an appearance on ESPN's Madden 21 Ratings Reveal Show. He faced questions about having a "weaker arm" than his peer and mentioned a possible contest to showcase arm strength. This was not the first time that Mahomes had floated the idea of the strongest arm contest, but he was ready to hit the field after learning about the Madden 21 ratings.

"Obviously Josh has an extremely strong arm but I've yet to see someone have a stronger arm than me, so maybe we can line up," Mahomes said. "I know we talked about maybe having a throw-off, and then we can really prove who has the strongest arm." Mahomes continued to explain that he has "ultimate belief" in himself and that he has a target distance of 85 yards. "I mean, if he beats that, he just beats it," Mahomes continued.

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