Josh Allen is one of the more prominent success stories in recent NFL memories. A former Wyoming quarterback who had all the tools but struggled to put it all together on the college field and developed steadily into one of the NFL elite quarterbacks early in his NFL career.
Last year, Allen earned NFL MVP honors for his work leading the Buffalo bill to the AFC Championship Game, but another loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs sent bills again in the offseason, trying to find the next level to eventually return to the Super Bowl. That championship pursuit drives him to make his work better in his work, but he also finds the importance of balancing his desire to win from a more important field in the grand scheme.
In a sit-down with Evan Washburn from CBS Sports this week, how did Allen explain before Scottie Scheffler’s recent viral comment (this is what I’m talking about). He won in a dominant way) True fulfillment is not the result of “speaking a lot to me,” but about how he learned that it comes from life from the field.
“That’s infuriating,” Allen said he felt that you did everything right but didn’t get the results you wanted. “But at the same time, it helps you put things in perspective about the important things in your life and you can help you realize that it’s pretty fast. Scotty Schaeffler had a really good interview before the opening to tell me a lot.
“Yeah, it’s kind of crazy to have you come here and do everything you can to enjoy it quickly. And it’s like an MVP award. I don’t look back and think about that night. It happened.
Washburn asked if that mindset would help alleviate some of his anxiety before playing those big games, and Allen agreed, pointing out more about the Bill’s locker room’s message not about the outcome, but about the importance of doing the right thing and living with the outcome.
“It’s true, you can go out there and play freely, and the main thing we always preach here is to play for each other and put your best in there,” Allen said. “And as long as you’re doing everything right (that’s enough).
Schaeffler’s comments have released a lot of jokes and memes about nihilist Scotty, but Allen is expanding the way that thinking makes you the best of your athlete. That perspective comes from finding more life from the field, and for Allen, he includes marrying Haley Steinfeld this offseason. But what’s probably lost in comments like Schaeffler and Allen is that they still feel a strong desire to be great on the field.
The desire to be great and give your best to the field or course need not be consistent with the sense that the outcome of a game or tournament is either life or death. Instead, you can play more freely by removing some of that pressure from those moments. It eliminates some of the fear of what will happen if you fail, so you are more likely to perform at your best.
