Josh Allen’s bid to get a real taste of play-calling during the Buffalo Bills’ preseason finale didn’t quite happen, even if the quarterback clearly wanted in on the action.
The Bills closed out their preseason Thursday with a 28-27 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, a game Allen did not play in like many other starters. Still, the idea of him helping steer the offense had been floating around, and Allen made no secret of how he viewed himself as a caller.
“I'd like to think I'm a pretty balanced play caller,” Allen said. “Explosive play caller.”
Buffalo’s offense did find some late-life spark, with quarterback Shane Buechele leading the way and rookie receiver Skyler Bell among those helping fuel the comeback. That naturally raised the question of whether Allen had been behind the curtain making the calls.
At his postgame press conference, head coach Joe Brady joked that Allen had been calling the shots through the entire fourth quarter. But Brady quickly made clear that was just a joke. Allen never actually got the chance to do it.
“There was a lot going on in that game,” Brady said. “Some of the situations I'd be asking what he's thinking there. We had a lot of that communication.
“We had a lot of moving parts offensive line wise, a lot of moving parts with what they're doing defensively in this game. I was like, 'you know what Josh? Let me take this.'”
So the idea stayed just that: an idea. For now, Allen remains intrigued, but Brady kept the play sheet in his own hands.
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