Hard to find any professional athlete in 2020 just throwing any guy on the opposing team under the bus. Heck, if it avoids ruffling any feathers, they’d probably call the other team’s water boy Bobby Boucher.
But ahead of their two teams meeting on Sunday Night Football in Week 14, Bills quarterback Josh Allen and longtime Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger went above and beyond with the warm and fuzzy feelings this week.
“What he’s been able to do in his career, winning a couple of Super Bowls, just the consistency that he’s been able to do it on, too,” Allen said via video conference. “He’s been doing it a long time, he’s had a lot of success and I’d argue that he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer.”
“Very humbled to be named in the same conversation as him,” Allen added.
While Allen isn’t quite going to be a Hall of Famer any time soon because… well, he’s only 24, Roethlisberger did toss the love back in a more age-appropriate manner. Earlier in the season, some speculated Allen could be in the MVP race. Since then, he’s mostly fallen off. Don’t tell that to Roethlisberger, though.
“They’re a very good football team, they’re playing with a lot of confident. They’ve got a quarterback that’s playing at an MVP level,” via video conference.
Roethlisberger wasn’t along in thinking highly of the Bills (9-3) QB. Also in his video interview, All-Pro defensive end Cam Heyward did bring up a tale as old as time. Perhaps due to the ol’ Buffalo-Carolina connections, we hear Allen compared to Cam Newton a lot. Alas, there are some who did the same with Roethlisberger. Heyward did just that.
“Josh Allen is a great quarterback. He’s a heck of a competitor, competes every play. He’s very similar to a young Ben who can extend plays in the pocket, and make plays with his feet as well,” Heyward said.
In Heyward’s assessment, there is a keyword, though. A “young” Roethlisberger. In 2020, Roethlisberger can still use his size to get away from guys, he hasn’t shrunk or anything. But in 2019, he missed all of the season, including a 17-10 loss to the Bills, due to an elbow injury. Now in 2020, Pittsburgh (11-1) QB’s game has changed.
He dinks and dunks the ball a lot more instead of extending those plays. It’s Roethlisberger 2.0 while Allen is the original Roethlisberger.
Regardless of comparison and compliments, both quarterbacks will know how important a potential win against one another will be on Sunday. Both side have likely locked up playoff berth, but seeding is very much up for grabs still in the AFC.
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