Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen pleads with other NFL teams: 'Stay away' from Joe Brady
Players all around the offense, but especially Allen, have heralded Brady’s demeanor and his touch on the offense. Following up his quip that teams should not hire Brady, Allen went on to praise him.
If Joe Brady needs references for potential future jobs, he shouldn’t ask Josh Allen to be a reference.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback was asked Wednesday what his offensive coordinator, Brady, has meant to him this season.
“Nothing, nothing,” Allen said with a telling smirk. “He hasn’t done anything for us. Teams should stay away from him.”
So far, that hasn’t been the case. Of the six teams with head coach openings, Brady reportedly has been requested to interview by the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady has been asked to interview for head coach by four teams. Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
Brady and Bills coach Sean McDermott confirmed Monday that the requests had begun coming in.
“We have received some of those and we’ll see where it goes and in the days and weeks ahead here,” McDermott said Monday.
Brady ultimately wants to helm an NFL team, but that won’t be a distraction for him during a playoff run.
“Do I aspire to be a head coach? Yeah, I would love to given the right opportunity and I’m honored to even (have) the name be thrown out there,” Brady said Monday. “But right now, just my focus is to find a way to win a football game this week.”
Brady emphasized that the wild-card meeting with the Denver Broncos has his full attention. As the NFL has continued to tweak the hiring process for coaches, and as the Bills are in the playoffs, the interviews for Brady cannot start until next Wednesday, three days after Sunday’s game.
“There really doesn’t need to be much of a balance, because my focus is strictly on trying to win the Super Bowl here, and us trying to find a way to win this game this week,” Brady said. “The reality of it is some of the interviews, if interviews happen, would be next week. So, really nothing for me to even think about right now, and just kind of focus on Denver.”
Brady’s next chance to showcase his prowess as a play-caller comes Sunday against the Broncos. As fate would have it, Brady came into his current role after the last time the Bills hosted the Broncos: a 24-22 loss last season that prompted the firing of then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.
Brady took over as interim OC in Week 11, and he gained the official title in the offseason.
This season, with Brady having a full offseason to implement his offense, the Bills became the first team in NFL history to have 30 or more touchdowns in the air and on the ground in a single season. Brady’s ability to scheme his players and get the most of them has brought his “everyone eats” mentality to fruition.
Players all around the offense, but especially Allen, have heralded Brady’s demeanor and his touch on the offense. Following up his quip that teams should not hire Brady, Allen went on to praise him.
“He’s been fantastic,” Allen said. “Coming into a situation last year that was, it’s not easy to switch play-callers mid-year, and he came in and from that day on, if you look at our splits, our success that we’ve had as a team, it’s noticeable.
“So, he’s one of the most positive guys in the building. He’s always got juice and energy for the guys. I think that’s something that we love and appreciate about him, and he’s as real as they come.”
The Broncos’ defense is Denver’s strength, as the Bills’ offense is Buffalo’s. The matchup will see who has the edge.
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady talks with quarterback Josh Allen during a drill earlier in the season. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Brady has been going against Patrick Surtain II since Surtain’s college days, when the elite cornerback played at University of Alabama and Brady was at LSU.
The Broncos, under defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, boast a league-high 63.0 sacks. Allen, meanwhile, was the least-sacked quarterback in the NFL this season, with Allen and the offensive line holding strong for just 14 sacks.
“They’re elite at getting to the quarterback,” Brady said of Denver. “They have the defensive player of the year on the outsides. And you can see just Vance’s personality with the way that they play.
“And they have a lot of fun to watch. And sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m going against them this week. And they gave us a lot of issues last year.”
In the end, Brady will succeed this week if he goes about his preparation with the same attitude that brought him to Buffalo in the first place: to absorb as much as he can and to translate those findings to a winning culture.
“Look, I didn’t come to Buffalo to hope to be a head coach,” Brady said. “I came to Buffalo because it was an organization that everybody talked about, and you wanted to see kind of how they did things.”
Injury report
Only two Bills players did not participate in the team’s walkthrough on Wednesday: defensive back and return specialist Brandon Codrington (hamstring) and defensive back Ja’Marcus Ingram (personal/excused).Wide receiver Amari Cooper was a full participant after he was excused over the weekend for a personal matter.
The rest of the Bills players were full participants, including linebacker Terrel Bernard, who had been dealing with a quad injury. McDermott said Bernard will be good to go for Sunday.
Roster moves
The Bills signed defensive tackle Eli Ankou and linebacker Tyreek Maddox-Williams to the practice squad on Wednesday. Ankou previously has spent extended time with the team.The two spots were open from quarterback Mike White being signed to the active roster from the practice squad last week, and because defensive back Lewis Cine was signed off the practice squad to the Philadelphia Eagles’ active roster.
