Mutual Respect - Bills’ QB Josh Allen Earns High Praise from Patriots’ Head Coach Bill Belichick
The New England Patriots 2021 season came to a definitive and demoralizing end on Saturday with a 47-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card playoff round.
Though Pats quarterback Mac Jones finished the game completing 24 of 38 passes for 232 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, the story of the night for New England would be the inability to make plays when most needed on both sides of the ball. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen finished 21 of 25 for 308 yards, setting a team playoff record with five touchdown passes, including two to tight end Dawson Knox.
Despite a solid effort in all three phases, it was Allen’s dominance on offense that propelled the Bills to victory. Buffalo became the first team in NFL history to score a touchdown on all seven of its offensive drives, not including kneel-downs. The Bills amassed 482 total yards and converted six of seven third downs. Allen had more touchdown passes (five) than incompletions (four) while throwing for 308 total yards, adding 66 more on six rushing attempts.
All the while, New England’s defense was unable to manufacture even one stop on the night.
Allen’s performance greatly impressed his teammates, coaches, fans and media alike. However, it was catching the sharp eye of one of the greatest football minds in the history of the game which impressed Allen most. After the game, Patriots’ head coach sought out the Bills’ quarterback to congratulate him on a job well-done.
“He came up to me, which is really cool,” Allen said during his recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s done over his career, and obviously he’s one of the, if not the, greatest coach(es) of all time. So, for him to come up to me after a game and give me some kudos and dap me up meant a lot to me, just knowing the type of coach that he is, the type of players that he’s been around and he’s coached, and obviously the success that he’s had throughout his career. It was a pretty cool moment for me.”
Earning a ‘tip of the cap’ from Belichick is no easy task, especially from an opponent quarterback. However, even the ‘HC of the NEP’ had to be taken with the manner in which Allen was able to attack the Patriots defense; a unit which was statistically among the best in the NFL in 2020. The Patriots seemingly did not have any answer for him, failing to secure a sack or limit his ability to run.
Still, Belichick’s words had quite the impact on Allen. The 25-year-old realizes that earning such respect from a coach of Belichick’s prowess is truly a rite of passage into elite status among the league’s top quarterbacks.
“‘What you did out there was awesome,’” Allen said of Belichick’s words to him. “‘You played well tonight. We didn’t have an answer.’ I shared respect right back, obviously, because I’m a big fan of his and I could go on and on about the accolades that he has. But again, for a coach to do that — that high caliber — was pretty special.”
With the win, the Bills advanced to the divisional round where they will take on the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend in a rematch of last year’s AFC title game.
