Kim Pegula was not surprised to see how Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen handled adversity in Miami last Sunday. The Bills dealt with a lightning delay and a lost lead in the second half, yet Allen responded with a career performance in which he passed for 415 yards and four touchdowns.
It reminded Pegula of meeting Allen for the first time at a dinner in Laramie, Wyoming prior to the 2018 NFL Draft.
"What I saw way back when before we drafted him, we're still seeing that now in his third year," the Bills owner and team president said.
You can hear the full story on this week's episode of "Bills Pod Squad," presented by New York State Lottery.
Each week, Pegula joins multimedia journalist Maddy Glab to discuss the previous week's matchup and interview personalities from around the Bills and across the NFL.
Episode 3 is available now on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. You can also watch every episode on BuffaloBills.com, the team's YouTube channel, and the Bills Mobile app, presented by M&T Bank.
This week, Maddy and Kim were joined by hall of fame coach and CBS NFL analyst Bill Cowher. Here are three takeaways from their conversation.
1. What makes a quarterback great
Cowher coached his own young, gunslinging quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger to a championship at Super Bowl XV in 2006, making him an ideal candidate to comment on Allen's growth.
"The one thing that the great quarterbacks do, the franchise quarterbacks do, is they can make plays that aren't scripted," he said. "They can do things with improvisation that, as a coach you sit there and try to dial up 10-, 11-play drives, you try to hit the right, perfect play against the perfect defense. But great quarterbacks, what they're going to do is they're going to make plays.
"I see that in Josh Allen and I see him now adding a little bit of touch to his throws. But his ability to extend plays, to see the field, to give you those big plays – that's what separates him."
Cowher also comments on Allen's ability to run the football and reflects on interacting with Roethlisberger during the quarterback's rookie year in 2006.
2. Earning players' respect
Cowher discussed the impression he has of Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and the culture he's created in Buffalo.
"I go back to when Sean was in Carolina," he said. "… I watched his team play. Players played hard for him. There's a reason for that. You can just see what the reflection of a coach is by seeing how players play. I've always watched him [coach] and the players in Carolina played hard. I watched them when he came up there (to Buffalo), they're playing hard.
"You're a first-time head coach, certainly right now he's better than he was when he first came in, right? He's got experience and the more experience you get, the more you can draw on that as you make decisions moving forward. But at the same time, you don't want to lose sight of what you want to do and having a feeling for your whole team."
3. Looking back on facing the Bills
Cowher had high praise for Bills fans as he reflected on coaching against the teams of the early '90s.
"I got to tell you, there's no more rampant fans than Buffalo," he said. "There's two places, Green Bay and Buffalo, you actually go through neighborhoods on your way to get to the stadium. You were getting booed and everything else. I said, 'Isn't this great? This is awesome.' I just love the city of Buffalo."
Cowher also tells a story involving Jim Kelly and stolen play calls and discusses what it was like to coach against Bruce Smith. Don’t miss it.
