• last year
Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills have fairly different approaches in how they are preparing their teams.
Transcript
00:00As the NFL has navigated a virtual 2020 offseason, players at different points in their careers
00:09have adapted in varying ways.
00:12In today's Daily Cover, Albert Breer looks at two quarterbacks, Josh Allen and Matt Ryan,
00:17and examines the things they're doing differently to make up for the time they're losing in
00:21the spring.
00:22Albert, these two guys are at very different points in their career.
00:25How have they approached this unique offseason differently?
00:28I think what's so interesting about it, Madeline, is every quarterback's sort of been handed
00:31a blank slate, and they are all responsible for getting their teammates together.
00:36And I think most of them have sort of approached it as, this is a chance for us to get ahead
00:40of everybody else.
00:42And I think you do see different challenges in front of different guys.
00:45And Matt Ryan and Josh Allen have approached this a little bit differently.
00:48You know, Matt has the advantage of having a lot of teammates that live right there in
00:52Atlanta, and he's taken advantage of that.
00:55And they've basically recreated an offseason program.
00:58Normally there'd be a nine-week offseason program with about six weeks of throwing.
01:02When all is said and done, they're going to have eight weeks in the books.
01:05It starts with four weeks in Atlanta, then they have three weeks out in California, another
01:09week back in Atlanta before they get to summer.
01:12So that's more throwing than they would have in a normal offseason program.
01:15And then on top of that, he plans on getting the guys together for another two weeks after
01:20the 4th of July.
01:21And so Matt Ryan's really taken the bull by the horns and said, we're going to do more
01:25than we would normally do.
01:26We're going to be ahead of everybody else because of this.
01:29And then I think on the other end of the spectrum, you've got Josh Allen, who's got the challenge
01:32of playing in Buffalo, where not a lot of guys live in the offseason.
01:37So he's focused more on relationship building and finding a way to get closer to his guys.
01:43And it's of course important with a new guy coming in like Stefan Diggs, but it's really
01:47worked with a lot of teammates where he's done things like playing Call of Duty with
01:51them or just texting and calling them when it's not necessary to try and build those
01:56relationships.
01:57And it really kind of built up to this guy's weekend that they had down in Florida, where
02:01he brought all the guys out for sushi.
02:03The quarterbacks went and played golf together.
02:06All these guys got together from different parts of the country to meet up in Florida.
02:10And I really think it did.
02:11You know, it does speak well of Josh Allen, that about 20 guys wound up showing to that
02:16that showing up to that because they didn't need to be there in the middle of their offseason.
02:20So, you know, I think that's a sign, at least to Josh, that this is all working.
02:24So two different guys, two different approaches, two separate sets of challenges.
02:28But I think the idea for every quarterback is exactly the same, which is there's a blank
02:33slate in front of me.
02:34Now I'm going to use it as I can to try to get ahead of everybody else.
02:37Well, and you mentioned the importance of relationship building, which is obviously
02:40key, but also from a football perspective.
02:42I mean, Matt Ryan, obviously the veteran guy who's been around and has seen these offseason
02:47programs so much that it's more kind of familiar to him.
02:50Do veterans have a leg up in a situation like this?
02:54Well, I mean, if you want to look at 2011, which is like the closest facsimile we have
02:59to this because the lockout had taken away the offseason that year.
03:04You can see if you look at the Super Bowl, teams with experienced coaches and quarterbacks
03:08got there.
03:09It was the Giants with Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning and the Patriots with Bill Belichick
03:13and Tom Brady.
03:14But there were other teams that were able to make it work.
03:17And if you look at the other teams that made the playoffs, the Niners, Jim Harbaugh was
03:21in his first year as a coach, as a head coach there.
03:24The Denver Broncos, John Fox, first year head coach, Tim Tebow, second year quarterback.
03:28The Bengals made it to the playoffs with Andy Dalton in his rookie year.
03:31And so experience does matter in this situation, but I think creativity can be just as important.
03:38And that's what these quarterbacks have to do.
03:39They've got to be creative in finding ways to use the three months of the offseason that
03:43would normally be occupied by OTAs and minicamps to their advantage.
03:47And so I think every single guy is trying to do that in a different way.
03:51And I can tell you this, Madeline, when we get to October or November and some team is
03:56out there at 10-1 or 9-2, I guarantee you we're going to be hearing about the stuff
04:02that they were doing in May and June when no one was really asking them to as a way
04:06of getting ahead.
04:07MMQB senior writer Albert Brewer, thank you so much for the time.
04:11All right.
04:12Thanks, Madeline.