Jonathan Allen was himself Monday, feeling secure enough to not give the expected answers, but tell it like it is.
Jason Bishop began stating the Cardinals were basically starting a third-string quarterback and that he knew Allen would not publicly admit it had been a must-win game. Allen, without hesitation, responded, “No, we definitely felt that. This was definitely a must-win.”
Allen said he reminded some teammates that when Washington played the undefeated Steelers in 2020, “I’m pretty sure they weren’t looking at us as a serious threat when they were 11-0. And we won.”
“Cakes,” asked Allen about the home crowd Sunday, being such a predominantly Commanders home crowd, unlike recent seasons as fan support had dwindled. “That was the best crowd support at FedEx I’ve seen in my career. When the fans come out and support like that, I want to win for them. I want to play harder for them.”
“We are happy to give them (Commanders fans) the win, to give them something to take home for the rest of this week until next week. It was a really fun game for us.”
Asked by Eric Bickel how the defense was so dominant for most of the second half, Allen expressed, “The DBs were locked in, the linebackers were locked in, and the defensive line. We were all locked into our job. Coach Del Rio puts his trust in us. We’ve invested a lot of (draft) picks to the line. So it is on us to put pressure on the quarterback and make everyone else’s job easier. We want that challenge, that opportunity.”
Allen and his wife traveled around the world last offseason and he told of how they hiked in tremendous heat and at high elevations at times as well. JP asked regarding the Commanders having to play in “the Mile High City” against the Broncos in Week 2.
“We are in the NFL. We get paid millions of dollars. It’s our job to be ready to play in the altitude. At the end of the day, I get paid to do a job. I’m not going to let altitude stop me from doing that job.”
Don’t you just love Jonathan Allen? Don’t you just love his manly attitude about work?
I wonder what a Commanders roster of 53 players with the attitude of Jonathan Allen could accomplish in the NFL?