Josh Allen came back from the Buffalo Bills’ bye week rested, and on Wednesday he talked about a Sunday matchup with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. “Since Lamar’s entered the league, I mean, he’s been one of the best, if not the best quarterback. And what he’s consistently done when he’s on the field is unbelievable,” the Bills quarterback said. “He’s a very special player. I’ve got so much respect for him. He does some amazing things with the football, with his arm and his legs.”
The 5-1 Bills score a league-best 32.8 points a game. Allen has thrown for 1,504 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions, and he has run for eight more scores. Baltimore is 4-3, and Jackson, who has not played since October 4, was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.
“I’m not playing Lamar, I’m playing the defense”
Allen said the matchup is the reason he plays. “I think the competitor in you wants to go out there and compete against the best of the best,” he said. “That’s why you play this game, is to have matchups like this. And again, I’m not playing Lamar, I’m playing the defense. But everybody wants to make the deal about, you know, what quarterbacks are playing against each other.”
Asked about the debate between the two teams’ fans over which quarterback is better, he said he did not know how deep it runs. “I’m sure comparisons are everywhere in this league, and every fan base, everybody wants their guy to be better,” Allen said. “I’m just trying to be better this week and try to help my team win a football game in whichever way that I can.”
He described a Ravens defense that “can bring pressure from anywhere.” He named pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, said safety Kyle Hamilton and cornerback Marlon Humphrey are “all over the field,” and called linebacker Roquan Smith “one of the best linebackers in the game.” “So we have to be on top of our game, have a good week of practice, get in the film room, try to break down whatever we can,” he said.
“There’s so many things that we’re not doing well”
Allen would not call the offense finished, even with the league’s best scoring average. “We’re being extremely efficient,” he said. “It’s going to sound bad to say, but there’s so many things that we’re not doing well on offense, a lot of things that we need to clean up. Obviously, ball security being one of the big issues.” He listed “throwing and catching or certain run plays” that are not getting enough yards, and called the room to improve “the exciting part.”
He said coach Joe Brady gives the players “the freedom to go out there and make mistakes,” which he called “very freeing for a team.” “We’ve got a lot to improve on. We know that, we understand that, but we can’t lose who we are in that pursuit of fixing it, right?” Allen said.
DJ Moore, Tre’Davious White and Tyrell Shavers
Wide receiver DJ Moore has missed the last two games and is listed as questionable. “Whether he comes back this week or the next week, we just want him back out there playing full speed, because he does provide a different element to our offense,” Allen said.
Cornerback Tre’Davious White rejoined the Bills on their practice squad this week, and Allen said it felt like the last time White came back. “Going back to last year, kind of a similar situation where I looked over, I was like, ‘God, that guy looks like Tre White.’ And I turned around, it was Tre White, and I was like, no way,” he said. “The energy, the passion, the friendship and camaraderie that he brings to this locker room, it’s frickin’ awesome.”
Wide receiver Tyrell Shavers is back at practice after tearing his ACL in last season’s wild-card win at Jacksonville, a game he finished. He will not play against the Ravens. “He finds himself in the right spot because he understands where he’s supposed to be, at what time,” Allen said. Asked whether he knew how badly Shavers was hurt that day, he said: “Absolutely not. I mean, he fought through it like a champ, and again, he’d rather feel the pain of what he was feeling than not be out there with his teammates, and you got to respect that.”
Allen spent the bye at a beach with his wife and daughter and called it “pretty perfect.” “It’s the best. Honestly, it’s my favorite thing to do,” he said of being a dad. “Just seeing my daughter grow, you know, with my wife, it’s the coolest thing ever.” The Ravens visit the Bills on Sunday, November 1, at 1:00 p.m. ET, which is 8:00 p.m. in Cairo.
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