Pepsi Gets Involved in Hairy QB Battle

The hairy quarterback showdown between Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Miami Dolphins and Gardner Minshew II of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night will be commemorated later in the fall by Pepsi.

The food, snack and beverage corporation announced on Twitter its plans to honor the winner of the matchup taking place at TIAA Bank Field on Thursday night.

.@MiamiDolphins and @Jaguars fans – we heard there's a beard vs stache debate brewing down in Florida. Let’s make it interesting - winning whiskers will be featured on a limited-edition Pepsi later this season. pic.twitter.com/BZhufX6nOG
— Pepsi (@pepsi) September 24, 2020

.@MiamiDolphins and @Jaguars fans – we heard there's a beard vs stache debate brewing down in Florida," the twee said. "Let’s make it interesting - winning whiskers will be featured on a limited-edition Pepsi later this season."

Fitzpatrick and Minshew, of course, are owners — and there probably isn't much debate about this — the best beard and mustache in the NFL, respectively, so the facial hair became a hot topic Tuesday when both quarterbacks had their media sessions.

The whole thing became the result after Fitzpatrick was asked why beards are better than mustaches.

"The mustache versus the beard, I think the beard is a cooler look," Fitzpatrick said. "I think guys that grow mustaches a lot of times have patchy sides for their beards, so they just stick with the mustache. My wife appreciates the mustache trimmed up a little bit more. But she does hate the beard too, so I guess that’s a lose-lose for me.”

Not to be outdone, Minshew was ready when he was asked about Fitzpatrick's comments and had to defend his mustache.

“Oh no, man, I’ll let mine speak for itself," Minshew said. "I think I’ve shown I can grow a beard with no patchy sides. But you know, I’m going to have respect for my elders, especially when they’re much, much elder. I’ll be respectful.”

Minshew turned 24 in May; Fitzpatrick will turn 38 on Nov. 24.

Jaguars second-year defensive end Josh Allen, who himself sports a beard, got involved in the whole beard/mustache conversation.

“You know what’s so crazy, I felt like I was just thinking about that yesterday," Allen said. "I was looking at him and I was like, ‘This dude does have a really good beard’, but you can’t beat the stache, though. Gardner doesn’t just have a little [mustache]. He rocks his. You have a lot of guys that try to do the little thing Gardner does and it just doesn’t look right. I feel like everybody can rock a nice beard. I got me a little beard. It’s not like his, but I rock mine. A lot of people can’t do what Gardner does, so I’m going to have to rock with my dog and keep that mustache game going.”

While he sided with his quarterback in the beard-mustache debate, Allen did admit to some beard envy when he was asked whether he had a better beard than Fitzpatrick.

“I mean no, but it’s good for me," Allen said. "I’ve been growing it out for a couple years now. I haven’t cut it yet, so I don’t think it’s going past this right here, but I wish I had a beard like that. It’s pretty cool.”

Of course, one wonders why it was that Allen was thinking about Fitzpatrick's beard in the first place.

“What was I doing?" Allen said. "I was watching film. Last night we were in a little team meeting and somebody just brought up the beard and I was like, ‘Bruh does have a really good beard’ because his chinstrap is so small, and the beard is just everywhere. It’s kind of cool, but like I said, I still rock with G-Money.”