Josh Allen Makes His Debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this Week
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen played in one of the best games in NFL history when he faced off against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The eventual overtime loss that he watched from the sidelines — without an opportunity to touch the ball — is still on his mind as he gets ready to compete for the first time since that loss.
The 2018 first-round draft pick from Wyoming will partner this week with PGA Tour professional Keith Mitchell. It's Allen's first-ever AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and he said he'll get at least nine "pops" to help his team win.
Josh Allen hits a shot Wednesday at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Ray Acevedo-USA Today Sports
"It was a fun game to be a part of and I know that everybody I talked to so far has come up to me and talked about how much they enjoyed that game and it's a small consolation prize, I guess, to be a part of that game, just where two teams are going back and forth,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, we didn't get the job done and it hurt watching the last week's game and it's going to hurt watching the Super Bowl, knowing what could have been. But, again, we move on, we'll learn from it, and we use it to our advantage."
Mitchell mentioned Allen's great arm strength. But the real boon will come on the nine holes where his drives from the amateur tees can be an advantage.
“I was assuming he was going to still be playing football and now that we are here playing golf I think we're just going to scratch the Super Bowl and get a trophy this week,” Mitchell said.
Allen hadn't picked up a club since July, just before training camp. While he loves the game almost as much as football, he will spend most of the week knocking off the rust. Wednesday's practice round was his first-ever round at Pebble Beach.
“I'm not the best player in the world, I'm not going to tell you that I am, but when I can hit it, I'm going to hit it far, a long way,” Allen said. “And it's something that I enjoy to do. It's my favorite thing besides football to do is to be out on the golf course and hitting shots and hanging out with the boys and having a good time.”
Allen and Mitchell had not meet before this week. The match was made when Allen’s agent got the call last Tuesday to play this week. He was all-in. Allen is from Firebaugh, Calif., about two hours away, and said his family and friends would come to watch the tournament often.
At 25, Allen is the new generation of the NFL, but he still paid deference to the old when asked about Tom Brady's retirement.
“The greatest player of all time I think in any team sport, period,” Allen said of the seven-time Super Bowl champion. “The things that he's done for football ... it's remarkable. As a kid, especially a California kid, he was my idol growing up.”
Allen played against Brady last December in Tampa Bay — a 33-27 loss after Brady connected with wide receiver Breshad Perriman for a 58-yard TD pass in overtime.
It was Brady’s 700th touchdown pass in his career and was another stunning loss for the Bills and Allen.
"Being able to play against him was surreal to me," Allen said. “I've gotten the chance to talk to him a couple times and you can't say an ill thing about the guy. Like he, as a person, is one of the best dudes you'll ever meet. And again for what he's done for me as a football fan, as a football player growing up and wanting to be the type of player that he is, he pushed me and he taught me so many different things that he doesn't even realize he did. But he probably did that for a generation of players.”