Allen’s Response To Adversity Was Perfect

It certainly was not the 24 hours that Josh Allen dreamed of.  Nowhere in his mind did he ever consider that intertwined within the joy of becoming a first round pick would come questions of his character.

The way that Josh Allen handled himself when faced with questions stemming from racist tweets appearing on his Twitter account, was nothing less than perfect.  I want to say that Josh Allen grew up a lot in the 24 hours before he was drafted, but the truth is, he was already grown up before the adversity struck.  The Bills knew who they were getting.  That hiccup, much like every hiccup life throws our way, was just a reaffirmation that Josh Allen was a mature, humble, young man who is more than willing to be all that this franchise needs him to be off of the field.

Within an hour of being drafted, a cool, calm and collected Allen was poised when he expressed remorse on a conference call with the Buffalo media:

“Obviously, going back six years ago, very dumb, young, immature. What happened was my fault and I didn’t mean any malintentions towards anybody. At the same time, I’ve got to take responsibility for what happened.”

More of Allen on the tweets:

“I’ve learned lessons along the way and this just kind of reiterates the lesson that whatever you say can come back to haunt you and got to be more careful, but the lesson has been learned and it’s been learned extremely well.”

Allen wants to get up in front of his teammates and explain when he sees them for the first time, as hard as that is going to be:

“I don’t have to [talk with the team], but I probably will, I want them to know that I am going to work on being the best teammate possible.  I’ve never head a problem in the past with any teammates.”

Do you know how many players would sit there with a chip on their shoulder thinking they wouldn’t need to explain their mistakes from when they were young?  There are plenty of players who would want to sweep this under the rug.  Not Josh Allen.  How many young men would want to get up in front of a locker room of seasoned veterans and explain his mistakes?  I can think of a certain QB from the West Coast that the Bills passed on who might feel that he is above an explanation…

Allen’s response on expecting a lot of questions moving forward from the tweets:

“Oh, definitely, absolutely. I’ve got to take it. That’s my fault, it was on my Twitter, so I’ve got to be able to roll with the punches, understand the seriousness of it all and the carelessness I had when I was 15.”

That one might be my favorite quote of all.

This is a grown man, who is saying that he is understanding of the fact that he is suffering because of the carelessness he had when he was a kid.  Who speaks like that?  I can think of plenty of people who would rather make excuses for themselves when they were 15 instead of owning it, regardless of their age.  This is some serious maturity on display here.

Our true character is on display is when we are faced with adversity.  As if the Bills’ brass needed one more reason to know Josh Allen was their guy, his response his controversial tweets should leave no doubt: Josh Allen is a leader and is ready to handle whatever comes his way.

Now, let’s throw him some blitzes…