The Buffalo Bills quarterback group had a surprise guest in one of their recent meetings.
Former Colts and Broncos Super Bowl winning quarterback Peyton Manning recently revealed to NBC Sports via Peter King‘s weekly Monday column that he joined in on one of the Bills’ recent QB room chat.
“So I’ve done a few Zoom calls. I did the Buffalo Bills quarterback room meeting. Did the Los Angeles Rams full team meeting. Did the Bears quarterbacks,” Manning said.
As mentioned, the meetings were conducted virtually via video chat, aka Zoom.
Specifically, Manning said he told quarterbacks and players during some of his meetings with various teams that they need to accept responsibility themselves this offseason with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in mind. Because of that, players haven’t been able to old their typical team gatherings. The future Hall of Famer mentioned how he personally would breakdown film sessions during his career, but also referenced a 2011 story about his brother, former Giants quarterback Eli Manning, which showed how players can take things into their own hands. That offseason in 2011, the NFL lockout prevented players from meeting, similar to the current offseason.
“Eli got practice scripts, like blitz walk-through drawings, diagrams, he got practice jerseys, he organized workouts at a high school,” Peyton said. “He was kind of the head coach/coordinator and they were doing full routes and doing 7-on-7 and blitzes at practice. He was really thorough. Sure enough, they were in the Super Bowl that year. They beat the Patriots.”
But of all the teams and players Manning has spoken to recently, he mentioned Bills quarterback Josh Allen as one that stood out in a certain sense. Per Manning, Allen was very happy to hear the seven-time All-Pros thoughts on QBs being leaders for their team with the way the current offseason is unfolding.
“To me, that’s what you have to do. The coaches shouldn’t lead everything. Josh Allen seemed real excited about that,” Manning said.
Worth mentioning is how this past weekend the Bills saw a good chunk of their team meet in South Florida for some workouts. Involved in those were Allen, Stefon Diggs, and several members of the team’s offense.
That leads one to believe that Allen is serious about stepping up, as the QB, and being one of the players that helps gather the team together for those practices so they can get the edge on their competition in 2020.
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