Following their devastating overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Buffalo Bills are looking to bounce back big time when they face the Cleveland Browns in Week 11. During an appearance on “Kyle Brandt’s Basement,” on Tuesday, November 15, Bills quarterback Josh Allen spoke about the team’s plan to channel that fight toward securing a win against their upcoming opponent.
However, the Browns have the same goal. Cleveland is 3-6 after getting trounced by the Miami Dolphins 39-17 in Week 10 and Browns defensive Myles Garret said afterward, “We have to win the next two,” per Cleveland.com. “First we have to win the Bills (game) and then we’ll get on to the next one. But we’re looking to the future. We have to win both of them.”
As for going up against Allen and then Tom Brady, “They’ve shown to be prolific, but they’ve also been stopped,” Garrett said of the superstar quarterbacks. “Those guys are very talented, but they’re in no way, shape or form unbeatable — especially for us.”
Allen recognizes Garrett and the Browns will show up to Highmark Stadium on a mission but says he’s preparing for everything Cleveland’s defense could possibly throw at him, in particular, Garrett, who already has 7.5 sacks on the season along with 16 solo tackles.
“It’s a team that’s hungry. It’s a team that’s fighting for their season,” Allen told Brandt. “But I think we have that same type of urgency in our locker room right now, as well. In terms of defense, they’re one of the better defenses in the league. You’re talking about Myles Garrett being one of the most premiere defenders in the entire league. He’s a freak. He really is.”
Brandt brings up how last year, Garrett dressed up as the “Sack Reaper” for Halloween and turned his backyard into a quarterback graveyard of the players he’s sacked. While Allen admits that he hasn’t really gotten into the Netflix series, Stranger Things, he’s aware that Garrett “dressed up as… I’m not sure which character…”
“Vecna,” Brandt said of the All-Pro’s 2022 costume. “He’s such an interesting guy and very intelligent, but he’s the closest thing the league has to like an actual villain who embraces being the villain. He’s like this is me: I dress up as Vecna and I got skeleton wearing the jerseys of quarterbacks I’ve sacked in my yard. Is that amusing to you?”
Allen said, “His play speaks for itself. I think when your play speaks for you like that, you’re able to do all those things. Wear the outfits and talk the trash because you back it up on a daily basis. It’s something he continues to do in his career. He’s been lights out. Statistically, the sacks, the pressures. He’s always up there year in and year out. He’s a handful and we’ve got to be prepared for everything.”
The 26-year-old also knows it’s not just Garret he needs to look out for on Sunday. “They got Jadeveon Clowney, they got some good DBs back there… We’re going to have a really good week of game planning and practice and go out there and execute.”
Allen Said of Buffalo’s Recent Losses, ‘We’ve Been Hurting Ourselves a Lot’
With the Bills now sitting in third place in the AFC East, the room for error is minimal, especially against a conference rival. While Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is squarely in the hot seat amid Buffalo’s mid-season slump and their inability to keep the momentum going in the second half of games, Allen knows he’s personally responsible for several costly mistakes.
However, it seems the MVP candidate has listened to his teammate, two-time Super Bowl champ Von Miller’s message and agrees that there’s no reason for panic.
“Big picture, We’re 6-3. We’re not going to let us end and tear us apart in the locker room and we’re going to try and play some good football moving forward,” Allen told Brandt.
“We don’t have to make this a bigger deal than it is. We want to win every single game, when we step out on the field, it’s our goal… and obviously, we haven’t done that in the last couple of weeks… It’s not like we’re not a bad team. We’ve been hurting ourselves a lot. If we can make smarter decisions, if we can play situational football and complimentary football, that’s all we gotta do.”
Allen Always Knew He’d Play Despite Suffering an Elbow Sprain in Week 9
The biggest storyline leading up to the Vikings matchup was whether or not Allen would even play after he suffered an elbow sprain to his throwing up against the Jets in Week 9. For Allen, however, the issue of starting was never a debate.
“I had an inkling Monday when I’m talking to the doctors, I won’t really go into specifics of it but they didn’t seem too optimistic about my chances that week. But I knew. I was like well, this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to freakin’ grind my tail off in the training room.
“It was countless hours of staying in that training room, hyperbaric chamber, all the modalities you think of, and just trying to get back to the playing field. That’s all it was. It was a process to be able to get to the field on Sunday. But I knew on Monday that it was my goal.”
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Bills QB Josh Allen Sounds Off on Browns Star DE Ahead of Week 11