0:00
something that is so interesting about
0:02
the Buffalo Bills, okay, which is why I
0:04
have decided to go all in on chronicling
0:09
unlike the Chicago Cubs in 2015 or 2014,
0:13
unlike the Cleveland Cavaliers before
0:16
LeBron came back, unlike the Boston Red
0:19
Sox in '02 or '03, there is this like
0:22
relentless optimism. No, it's going to
0:24
happen. It's going I mean, Josh feels it
0:26
and the rest of these guys feel it.
0:27
They're talking about it openly. How
0:29
much of that is just this belief like,
0:31
"Hey, we got maybe the best player in
0:32
football, so it and it's the most
0:34
important position, so it's going to
0:35
happen." And or B, this real earnest
0:38
authentic love affair with a city that
0:42
loves them so much that they just feel
0:44
it is their duty to do it.
0:46
>> Josh Allen would say, "Hey,
0:48
the new stadium is across Abbott Road
0:50
now, so maybe it isn't on Indian burial
0:53
ground." I don't know. I mean, that's
0:54
many, many years ago. To me, I feel like
0:56
there still might be some over there,
0:58
but he's hopeful. [laughter]
1:00
>> There was a Seneca Nation observer on
1:02
site building the new stadium, so maybe
1:05
it's not maybe the team's not cursed
1:07
Trying to get to the bottom of that one.
1:09
You're right though, and there is this
1:14
And you could hear it in Josh Allen's
1:16
voice, and you could see it in what he
1:18
said all in that story where
1:20
I mean, this is Think about these
1:21
playoff losses. We mentioned 13 seconds.
1:23
You got a couple AFC Championship losses
1:25
in there. You got the Bengals at home in
1:28
the snow. That that's a dream for Bills
1:30
fans. You lose that one. And they've
1:32
lost in just gut-wrenching fashion. I
1:34
mean, in addition to the defense just
1:36
getting run over, offensively, Stefon
1:38
Diggs drops a 60-70-yard bomb against
1:41
the Chiefs, and Trent Sherfield has
1:43
dropped that game, and Dalton Kincaid
1:45
fourth and five the next year in the AFC
1:47
Championship game where Allen makes this
1:49
incredible escape on a Spags blitz, and
1:52
he's running all over the place, chucks
1:53
a That gets dropped, and now you've got
1:55
the controversial Brandon Cooks play. It
1:58
it could take a mental toll, but I feel
2:01
like they this is a genuinely
2:03
rejuvenated team because they had a
2:06
genuinely rejuvenated quarterback and
2:08
Josh Allen. We we we we covered the new
2:11
coach, the new stadium. It really does
2:13
start at home though. Look, we're both
2:15
fathers. You know what it's like those
2:17
first few months when you become a dad,
2:19
your life completely changes and and
2:21
Josh Allen and his wife
2:23
Haley Steinfeld they haven't just
2:24
outsourced all the parenting to other
2:26
people. I mean he is up from 2 to 3 a.m.
2:28
in the middle of the night trying to put
2:30
his baby girl back to sleep. He is
2:32
changing every single diaper, calls
2:33
himself the diaper king. And I think
2:36
this is awesome. I this this tells me
2:38
everything I need to know about Josh
2:40
Cocomelon is banned forever in their
2:43
>> Hey, now that's a strong parenting move.
2:47
>> Very strong. I knew I liked this guy.
2:50
>> Just absolute crack that show and baby
2:52
shark. So he said no, absolutely not.
2:55
Our baby girl will never ever be exposed
2:59
to this filth and I think that's great.
3:01
You know, [laughter] I think early on
3:02
with LR first it was like oh, she really
3:04
likes this show. It's great. Then
3:06
a few weeks pass and it's like
3:07
absolutely not. It's banned forever in
3:09
our [laughter] house as I hope it is
3:12
>> Absolutely. And that's a little heavy
3:15
my my kids didn't even get a chance to
3:16
like it or not like it. It was never
3:18
allowed in the house.
3:19
>> You've got sports on of course, right?
3:22
>> Yeah. [laughter] I had a geo fencing
3:24
around it. You It was like get trying to
3:26
get a ticket from Ticketmaster for an
3:27
opposing team. You're not allowed to get
3:29
it inside this house.
3:30
>> I love it. I love it. And and look, it's
3:32
he says I have a new why. He he repeated
3:35
that over and over and over again. His
3:37
his why has changed. He feels kind of
3:40
reborn in a way to have life that he
3:43
created with his his wife and a new life
3:46
and the new stadium, the new coach, hell
3:48
a new wide receiver in DJ Moore.
3:50
I I think everything kind of happened at
3:52
the right time here for this team and
3:55
this entire team is deriving their
3:57
energy from the quarterback.
3:59
He's in a good place, so I really do get
4:01
the sense the entire Bills team is in a
4:03
good place, but maybe you should ask me
4:08
>> I got throwing the little caveat, right?
4:10
Everything's roses and puppies and
4:12
rainbows, I get it. We can talk about
4:14
like any team right now. Uh Las Vegas
4:17
Raiders, Miami Dolphins and find reasons
4:20
Uh but you you can definitely sense it
4:22
and it was good to sit down with Josh
4:24
Allen and kind of hear how he has
4:25
processed these losses cuz I mean this
4:28
answers your question, too. He's taking
4:29
it back to when he was 18 years old. You
4:31
wonder how can somebody possibly lift
4:33
themselves off the canvas again and
4:35
again and again? I mean, he's sending a
4:37
thousand emails out. He ain't hearing
4:38
back from any coaches. He went to every
4:41
registry he could. And this is when he
4:43
had that great season at Reedley College
4:45
in Juco. I mean, his favorite team
4:47
growing up were the the Fresno State
4:49
Bulldogs. They didn't even want him as a
4:50
walk-on. Nobody's getting back to him. I
4:53
mean, think about asking a thousand
4:55
girls out and they all say no. And then
4:57
you ask again and again and again and
5:00
finally, Wyoming shows a little interest
5:03
in you and then his life changes. I
5:06
think it is very similar to where Josh
5:08
Allen is right now with the Bills where
5:10
they've had all these playoff losses.
5:11
How do you keep getting back? You just
5:13
do it cuz it's who you are. He said, "I
5:14
didn't have a plan B back at 18 years
5:16
old. It was I'm making football work or
5:18
I I don't know. I don't What he didn't
5:20
even let his mind go there. So, that's
5:21
that's where he is right now. We're
5:22
going to win the Super Bowl.
5:24
There's no other option as far as he's
5:26
>> The one thing I want to end on is his
5:29
quote that really reminded me of Dan
5:31
Marino. I was on Super Bowl Radio Row
5:33
one year interviewing Dan. Dan is a hero
5:36
of mine. I got a poster behind me about
5:38
classic Dan Marino. One of my favorite
5:40
players of all time and he does not like
5:43
being called the greatest player never
5:45
to win a Super Bowl. It really bothers
5:48
him. He does not look at that as a as a
5:51
an accolade. And you ask Josh about
5:53
this, and he said, "That's not a
5:54
compliment. I do not want to be that. I
5:56
do not want to be that." And that's, you
5:58
know, I think the fear that he would be
6:00
Dan Marino 2.0 with all these wonderful
6:02
highlights and records and
6:03
opportunities, but never actually crack
6:05
through. That tells you a lot about this
6:07
kind of single-mindedness of breaking
6:09
through even at 30 years old that you're
6:10
kind of scraping into it this piece.
6:14
He does not want to go down as the
6:16
greatest player who never won a
6:18
championship, never got a ring. And I'm
6:21
trying to remember the question I asked
6:22
that got that, because I feel like he
6:24
almost brought it up himself. Like he he
6:27
he made a point to say, "We're not going
6:29
down that road. I'm not going down that
6:30
road. It ain't going to happen. We've
6:32
got to win a ring. We've got to win a
6:33
championship. To me, that's not that
6:35
great of an of an accomplishment to go
6:37
down as the greatest who who didn't do
6:40
it. And he wants to win a Super Bowl for
6:42
the right reasons. I mean, this is a
6:43
quarterback who sincerely loves his
6:46
teammates. His door is always open.
6:49
Everybody's always welcome. I think even
6:50
now with a baby, it's probably the case.
6:52
Got guys are at his house all the time.
6:54
It doesn't matter if you're a practice
6:55
squad long snapper or the receiver he'll
6:58
throw to 12 times a game. He He I mean,
7:01
this goes back to his junior college
7:04
days. There was a lineman on the team
7:06
who got kicked out of his dorm, needed a
7:08
place to live for a couple nights. Josh
7:11
took him in. Couple nights turned into
7:13
over a month. I mean, it's just really
7:15
who he is to his core. I think he He
7:19
in a way we all would love to play
7:20
quarterback if we had the opportunity.
7:22
Like I in your backyard, running around,
7:25
leaping over people, chucking it deep.
7:27
He wears his emotions on his sleeve,
7:29
very similar to Brett Favre for for for
7:31
many reasons. In the '90s, teammates
7:33
loved Brett Favre, and and teammates
7:35
loved Josh Allen, because they also see,
7:36
"Look, he played the last month of this
7:38
past season with a broken fifth
7:40
metatarsal in his foot." He couldn't
7:42
walk during the week. He could barely
7:44
walk. He broke his hand in the past.
7:46
He's had all sorts of injuries and
7:48
nobody at the quarterback position has
7:50
started more games in a row than Josh
7:52
Allen right now, the longest current
7:53
streak. Still ways to go from Farve, but
7:56
he that ingratiates himself to
7:58
teammates. So, I really think that drive
8:00
to want to win it all, it's for the
8:02
city, for the people, the same fans who
8:04
were booing the hell out of them when
8:06
the Bills drafted him cuz they wanted
8:07
Josh Rosen. It's for the It's for the
8:09
city and it's for those teammates. And
8:12
now, more than anybody, it's for his
8:15
And that's a good point, too. You know,
8:16
he's Now that I think about it, DA, he
8:18
said, "I want my daughter and my kids to
8:21
be able to see me play." He wants to
8:23
serve it in a as an example for them.
8:25
So, he's got a million whys out there
