The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Bill Simmons Podcast

Mahomes or Allen (Again???) and a Clippers-Heavy Mailbag With Nick Wright

September 8, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Uncomfortable Josh Allen Consensus and the Clippers' Self-Inflicted Wreckage

Bill Simmons and Nick Wright spent a substantial portion of this episode wrestling with a question that feels increasingly unsettled: Is Patrick Mahomes still the best quarterback in football, or has the league quietly anointed Josh Allen by default? The answer, as Wright laid out with characteristic bluntness, is more complicated than most fans want to admit.

The Allen Paradox: Hype Without Hardware

Wright opened with a historical challenge that cut to the heart of the Josh Allen phenomenon. "Has there ever been another time in the history of the NFL where the consensus number one quarterback was someone who had never been to a Super Bowl, had never been first team All-Pro, was not the reigning MVP, was not coming off the best season of his career?" He argued the answer is no, and the closest comparison—Dan Marino—had already made a Super Bowl by his second season.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (05:10) **Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes: The Resume Gap** - Nick Wright argues that Josh Allen's status as the consensus best QB is historically unprecedented given his lack of Super Bowl appearances, MVPs, and first-team All-Pro selections.
  • 2 (12:04) **The Case Against Josh Allen’s Hype** - Simmons walks through the specifics of Allen’s four most recent playoff exits, arguing they should have lowered his stock.
  • 3 (14:52) **The Patrick Mahomes Void** - The conversation shifts to Mahomes’s down year and how it created a vacuum at the top of the QB hierarchy.
  • 4 (18:53) **The Chiefs’ Transition Year** - Simmons and Wright debate the state of the Chiefs entering the season, comparing it to the post-2007 Patriots.
  • 5 (24:32) **Clippers Penalty: Marry the Nanny** - A listener suggests Steve Ballmer should go “scorched earth” over the second apron since the team has no picks anyway.
  • 6 (44:22) **Conspiracy Bill: The Leaked Punishment** - Two listener emails theorize that the NBA leaked a soft punishment to gauge backlash before the hammer came down.
  • 7 (53:02) **Kawhi Leonard: The Ultimate Villain** - The discussion turns to Kawhi Leonard’s role in the Clippers’ downfall, calling the trade the worst in NBA history.

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Guests on this episode

Show Notes

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Nick Wright to debate whether Josh Allen is the best QB in the league and the Chiefs’ ceiling this season before diving into a Clippers-heavy mailbag.


(0:00) Intro

(2:26) A Josh Allen and Chiefs discussion

(36:24) Mailbag


Host: Bill Simmons

Guest: Nick Wright

Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo


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