Joe Brady has watched Josh Allen play through just about everything. The Buffalo Bills head coach made it clear Wednesday that he isn’t going to let that become routine. Asked whether he has to guard against taking his quarterback’s toughness for granted, especially as the play caller, Brady didn’t hesitate. “I don’t take anything that Josh Allen ever does for granted,” Brady said at his Wednesday press conference. “But we know how good we are when he’s out there with us and leading us.”
The question came with good reason. Allen took a helmet to his left knee in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers and was seen limping after the game. Brady opened his press conference by brushing off any worry. “I’m not concerned with Josh,” he said. But he also said the responsibility for keeping Allen upright falls partly on him. “I have to continue to do a better job of protecting him, both in the run and the pass,” Brady said.
Joe Brady weighs the hits Josh Allen takes
Brady admitted that Allen’s style factors into how he calls a game. “I’d love for him to not take some of the hits,” Brady said. “He’s a competitor, and I have to take that in consideration with some play calling as well.” At the same time, he doesn’t want to pull back too far. With Allen on the field, Brady said, “there’s never a moment that we’re out of a football game.” He also pushed back on reading too much into the word “banged up.” “Everybody’s banged up the day after the game,” he said. “That’s not like, hey, this guy can’t walk the day after the game.”
Sunday was a good example of why Allen’s legs matter so much to Buffalo. He threw for 204 yards and two interceptions but ran for two touchdowns in a 24-16 win that moved them to 3-0 despite five offensive turnovers. That made Allen the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era with multiple rushing touchdowns in three straight games, per the Bills, a week after he was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his two rushing scores and three touchdown passes against Detroit. Brady said the way Allen kept going after the mistakes shows that he “embodies competitive stamina,” a phrase Brady leans on often.
The Bills host the New England Patriots on Sunday, and Brady was asked about a Mike Vrabel defense that has leaned on the blitz through three games. He said Allen should expect some new wrinkles. “Anytime you play a guy like Josh Allen, you know you’re not going to get exactly what they’ve shown on tape,” Brady said. Keeping Allen clean against that pressure is the first test of Brady’s promise to protect him better.
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