Josh Allen (no, not that Josh Allen) was in town this weekend with his Buffalo Bills to face the New York Giants. The second-year quarterback, who as part of the 2018 NFL Draft class that produced potential franchise quarterbacks such as Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Lamar Jackson and Josh Rosen, is making his mark as the Bills’ main man.
During the week, Giants head coach made a benign comment about what he thought about Allen as a player.
“I thought he had a chance to be a starter,” said Shurmur. “But I was asked what I thought of him, and that’s what we thought of him. He had a chance to be a starter.”
That’s not a negative review of Allen. Not all quarterbacks taken in the first round pan out. Keep in mind, Allen was seen as a raw project by many coming out of Wyoming in the Mountain West Conference. Shurmur was simply giving the scouting report many of the 32 NFL teams had on Allen.
Allen was asked after the game what he and Shurmur talked about when they met on the field before the game. He held his own with the big city media sharks.
“Oh, we were just catching up. I met with them a lot last year pre-draft. We just talked a little bit and had some fun there. I got a lot of respect for him and how he’s handled everything here,” Allen told reporters. “We were just talking.
“Everybody has their own opinion,” Allen added when pressed. “I know he didn’t mean anything like that. All I want to do is focus on what the Bills are doing. .. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t even really care about what was said. I know he’s a good guy and he respects me as a football player, and I respect him as a coach.”
Nice job by the young man navigating that. Allen did a nice job during the game as well completing 19 of 30 passes for 253 yards and touchdown while rushing for another in Buffalo’s 28-14 win at MetLife Stadium.
“I thought he did a really good job,” Shurmur said after the game. “There were a couple times he broke contain, and he made some really nice throws. A couple times when we were in really tight coverage, I thought he did a nice job. Then they had the structured quarterback run that he scored on. I thought he played well.”
