Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen knows about the criticism that comes with being a first-round quarterback, and that’s why he can relate to Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. With both players set to face-off Sunday, the fourth-year quarterback had some advice for Lawrence and recommended the rookie to simply remain patient with the process.
”Obviously, when you’re drafted that high, you know those teams are picking there for a reason,” Allen said this week. ”And you just got to learn to grow with the bumps and bruises that come along with it.”
Allen is right as more times than not, rookie quarterbacks have rookie campaigns that they rather forget. It happened with Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman, and John Elway, to name a few. However, all turned it around and now have their names cemented in the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame.
When looking around the league, there is no quarterback more qualified to offer Lawrence advice than Allen. He will enter Sunday’s game as the front-runner for the NFL’s MVP award after going 178-of-272 (65.4%) for 1,972 yards 17 touchdowns, and three picks. In the process, he’s been one of the biggest factors to the 5-2 season the Bills are having, and many feel he’s just scratching the surface. However, it wasn’t always that way for Allen, as he completed just under 53% of his passes and garnered a 5-6 record as a rookie.
Lawrence, on the other hand, will be coming off a rough day against Seattle and will have an even tougher task ahead of him with the Bills’ defense being No. 1 in a lot of major categories. However, we’ve seen time and time again that Lawrence is hard to rattle. That said, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he can put Sunday’s showing behind him and possibly stun the world by at least having a decent amount of success against the league’s best.