As the face of the franchise, quarterback Josh Allen is getting a lot of attention after his huge start to the 2020 season, which culminated in him being named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for September. But anyone watching each and every Bills game this year can see offensive coordinator Brian Daboll deserves his credit, too.
Daboll is putting Allen in a position to succeed on the field. That alone likely garners the coach plenty of respect from the QB. But there’s actually a distinct way that Allen gained that originally, and it comes via… chewing tobacco?
On Wednesday, Allen shared a story via video conference in an effort to show how similar he and Daboll are in terms of their competitive nature. Allen explained that as a rookie, Daboll and then-Bills quarterback Derek Anderson were having a chewing-tobacco related discussion. Daboll evidently used to use it but quit. Why? He was bet he couldn’t do it, therefore, Daboll did. Simple as that.
“(Daboll is) very, very competitive, as am I. He’s got some good stories. When he was a younger guy he was chewing tobacco. He made a bet with some of his other coaches that he’d stop. He was going to stop at any point, but he wanted to win that bet extremely bad, he stopped cold turkey. That’s just the type of guy that he is. You dare him to do something, you bet him to do something, he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure that he comes through [when he] bets on himself,” Allen said. “I think that’s why we’ve gelled so well.”
What a way to make your mark on a rookie QB.
But hey, it sounds like it worked since Allen’s just now recalling this story years later.
The tale is actually kind of a bit of an ironic one as well. Any time we see Daboll, he never has a fiery nature at all. Instead, it’s the opposite. Very even-keeled. On Monday, Daboll even had a little Bill Belichick to him. The OC pulled out a… “onto the next one” during his weekly press conference.
Unlike his demeanor at times, that actually does make sense since Daboll was previously an assistant coach with the Patriots under Belichick. But even reading between the lines, you can see Daboll doesn’t settle. He wants to be better… he wants to be the best.
Can’t hate that considering his efforts are going toward the Bills’ success.
“There’s a lot of things that we can do better, from the coaching staff down to the players. We just have to keep improving,” Daboll said on Monday.
There’s a long way to go, but it already appears that Daboll could, perhaps, be in the discussion for potential head coaching openings next offseason. Daboll, who spent time growing up in western New York, is the ripe age for that at 45. The NFL has moved toward younger and younger bench bosses in recent years. Look no further than Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott, who’s only 46.
But, we’ve got a long way to get until that happens, which hopefully includes a decent playoff run in the near future as well.
Or at least an even nearer win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
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