Buffalo Bills fans came through for Josh Allen after a big win on Sunday. Their contributions did not go unnoticed.
Josh Allen’s protection went far beyond his blockers on Sunday.
Hours after Allen learned after the passing of his grandmother Patricia, Allen guided his Buffalo Bills to a statement victory over the Seattle Seahawks, earning 415 passing yards and four total touchdowns in a 44-34 decision. The win over the NFC-leading Seahawks allowed the Bills to create their best nine-game start since their last AFC title season in 1993.
It was another tally, however, that truly made Allen smile. After the Bills’ historic triumph, Allen noticed an outpouring of donations to John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, a Buffalo children’s hospital that Allen frequently visits. The tally was up to hundreds of thousands of dollars by the middle of the week, many contributions coming in increments of $17 in honor of the number worn on his Buffalo jersey.
Time will tell if such a prophecy comes to fruition, but the support was enough to convince Allen to become a Bill for life.
“I know my family is forever ingrained here, myself included,” he said, per Jourdon LaBarber of BuffaloBills.com. “I don’t ever want to leave, obviously. I want to play here for as long as I can and give back to the community and give back to the Bills Mafia here.”
Allen opted to play in Sunday’s game because he felt it would be what Patricia, whom he affectionately referred to as “Grammy”, would want him to do. She was there for each of his high school games over at Firebaugh High School in California and Allen made sure she was at Bills Stadium in spirit, dedicating his performance to her memory. His showing was enough to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, doing so for the second time this season. He and Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City are the only players to win the award multiple times this season thus far.
Allen’s teammates and coaches alike made sure to support their quarterback before, during, and after the Seattle tilt.
“When he came in off the field in the locker room, he just kind of fell into my arms a little bit. A lot of emotion there,†offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said in a report from Matt Parrino of NewYorkUpstate.com. “I’d say particularly for him, but for me also. When you love somebody and something happens like that, it’s tough. Then to see it happen to someone that you really care about as a player, that’s tough.â€
“He’s everything that you would ever want in a quarterback as far as leading a guy and leading his troops. You try not to let things in your personal life play a huge part in your football life because you don’t want it to throw you off,†Allen’s top receiver Stefon Diggs said in another writeup from Parrino. “He took a moment to put his feelings to the side and put his team first, and you gotta respect him. You gotta love him for that. Not a lot of guys could have done that.â€
The support from Bills fans appears to par for the course in Western New York. At the end of the 2017 regular season, Bills fans raised nearly $500,000 for the respective charities of Andy Dalton and Tyler Boyd when the two Cincinnati Bengals’ game-winning scoring hookup defeated the Baltimore Ravens and allowed the Bills to clinch their first playoff berth in 17 seasons.
“Words can’t really describe how I feel, how my family feels,” Allen said in LaBarber’s statements. “Every time I call my parents and let them know the new number, they just start bawling all over again. To know that people care and that so much good is coming out of a tough situation, it means the world to myself, it means the world to my family.
“It just shows how this Bills community and this Buffalo community rally around each other. That’s what they’ve been known for and that’s what they’re still known for. … Everybody who supported and donated, I can’t thank them enough. I mean, it’s overwhelming, for sure. But so much good is coming out of…a tough situation that you can’t help but smile at it. It’s unbelievable.”
Allen and the Bills return to action on Sunday afternoon against the Arizona Cardinals (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags