ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen has a long list of doubters dating to his humble beginnings at central California’s Reedley community college.
It’s not often that the Buffalo Bills quarterback gets an opportunity to amusingly confront one of them during a celebrity golf tournament, like he did with Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Broncos executive John Elway some 18 months ago.
“Whether it was two holes or two shots in on the driving range, I brought it up pretty quickly,” Allen said Wednesday, recalling questioning Elway on why the then-Denver GM passed on selecting him at No. 5 in the 2018 draft — two picks before Buffalo traded up to choose the raw but athletic prospect out of Wyoming.
Allen declined to go into more detail, instead calling Elway an “awesome man,” and adding, “I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
Elway still remembers the encounter with Allen, and what happened on draft day by referring to it as “probably my biggest mistake of my GM days,” during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast in July.
Though Elway has since acknowledged his remorse having dissipated with the arrival of rookie Bo Nix this season, his selection of defensive end Bradley Chubb over Allen remains timely.
On Sunday, Allen and the AFC East champion Bills (13-4) enter the wild-card playoff round hosting the seventh-seeded Broncos (10-7), who are in the postseason for the first time since winning the Super Bowl in 2015.
Since 2018, the Broncos had nine quarterbacks — from Case Keenum to Russell Wilson — start at least one game before Nix finally solidified the position.
Allen, 28, has Buffalo in the playoffs for a sixth straight year. He has progressively answered pre-draft questions regarding his accuracy and mechanics by setting most every franchise single-season passing and scoring record.
It has been quite a year for Allen, who is among the front-runners for the NFL MVP award. He has overcome the loss of Buffalo's top wide receivers in Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. He was also twice referred to as overrated, once by an anonymous NFL executive cited by ESPN in July, and again in August, when he was voted the NFL’s most overrated quarterback in an ESPN poll of 103 anonymous players.
Allen, at the time, referred to the poll results as a term of endearment, while saying his only frustration is never being asked to vote.
“There’s two things I can control. It's my attitude and my effort,” Allen said Wednesday about his detractors. “And what everybody else says, that’s their own prerogative.”
Allen’s 76 career wins, 262 total touchdowns and 30,595 total yards are the most by an NFL player in his first seven seasons. Though he failed to top 4,000 yards passing for the first time since 2019, Allen combined to top 40 total touchdowns (28 passing, 12 rushing and one receiving) for a fifth straight season.
He oversaw an offense that was the league’s first to score 30 TDs passing and rushing, while throwing just six interceptions, the fourth-fewest by an NFL starter, down from a career-worst 18 last year.
“He’s as special as they come,” offensive coordinator Joe Brady said. “The only thing he cares about is finding ways to win football games. I think our team kind of embodies that as well because of him.”
Allen has three times rallied Buffalo from 10-point deficits, including a season-opening 34-28 win over Arizona, in which the Bills scored 24 points on five of six drives spanning halftime. And he nearly did it a fourth time with three touchdowns passing and rushing in a 44-42 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
His most memorable play of the season was a rugged 26-yard touchdown run on fourth down to seal a 30-21 win over the previously unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of people with those regrets,” coach Sean McDermott said, when asked about Elway’s remorse.
“We’re fortunate that we have Josh Allen and he’s been a great person not just on the field, but he’s out in the community making an impact,” he added, referring to Allen’s charitable work. “That’s just as important as the level of play to which he’s played, in particular this year. I think most of us, Josh included, accept those challenges and use them in the right way.”
Allen was the third of five quarterbacks chosen in the first round of the 2018 draft, and joins Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson as the only two who have not changed teams yet. And it's difficult to fault the Broncos, who had just signed Keenum in free agency to take over the starting job in 2018. Chubb is a two-time Pro Bowl selection who was traded to Miami in 2022.
Allen was philosophical in reflecting back on what might have been.
“I mean hindsight is 20-20,” Allen said. “Who knows how it would have worked out. I’m just glad I’m where I’m at.”
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