PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — As Josh Allen launched into a defense of the Buffalo Bills’ new alternate “Nickel City” uniforms on Wednesday, the quarterback segued into making a bigger-picture case of embracing change.
It’s a concept the 30-year-old Allen has had to accept personally in becoming a new father this spring, and professionally this offseason. The ninth-year player enters his first NFL campaign under a new coach in Joe Brady, and with the team
preparing to move into its new $2.1 billion stadium.
And the same approach, he said, should apply to those who have spent the past few days on social media criticizing the gray uniforms with blue helmets Buffalo debuted this week.
“Stop hating on the jerseys, guys,” Allen said after the Bills opened training camp.
“It’s a new look. I understand that. But we’ve got to be new. And I think these jerseys are kind of symbolic of that,” he added. “I understand people want the old jerseys and the old helmets and all that. But at some point, too, we are moving forward. We have to move forward and do something new.”
The Bills opened camp with familiar high expectations but with an altogether fresh approach. It’s now on Brady, who at 36 enters this season as the NFL’s youngest head coach, to oversee a talented team that's perennially fallen short of a Super Bowl berth in the previous nine years under Sean McDermott.
The coaching change came in January, mere days after Buffalo’s latest collapse in a 33-30 overtime loss to Denver in the AFC divisional round. The defeat, and Allen’s teary-eyed post-game news conference, were the last straws for owner Terry Pegula in believing the Bills had hit " the proverbial playoff wall.”
Though Brady represents change for a franchise that’s reached the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons, he also reflects a semblance of continuity in having spent the previous two-plus years as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator.
Brady put familiarity and the past aside in stressing this being a new start.
“This is Year 1 for everybody. Like I told the team, we’ve never been here before, right?” Brady said. “This training camp is going to be different than we’ve ever had. And that’s not to say anything that we’ve ever done was wrong. It’s just I need guys to understand that approach, and we can’t assume anything.”
And that includes any initial expectations of the team being a playoff contender: “We haven’t earned a damned thing," he said.
Allen and an offense that finished fourth overall in yards and led the NFL in rushing last year returns mostly intact.
It’s on defense where the Bills have undergone the most significant changes. The unit is now overseen by first-time NFL coordinator Jim Leonhard, who is seeking to establish more of an attacking identity and making the switch to a 3-4 system.
Buffalo returns only six of 11 defensive starters from last season.
Among the newcomers are veteran hard-hitting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
“I think that the standard here right now is winning. Championship and winning,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Everybody understand what’s going on. We’re too good of a team to fall short. It’s as simple as that.”
Among Brady’s initial tweaks to training camp include an earlier practice time, with sessions opening at 8:30 a.m. as opposed to 9:45 a.m. under McDermott. The Bills also worked at a faster pace, finishing their first practice in 90 minutes.
“It’s the first time in my four years here that we're under time, so that’s nice,” center Connor McGovern said. “It’s nice getting out here so early. It’s 10 o’clock and you’re already done with the hardest physical part of the day.”
Brady refused to let a persistent drizzle dampen his day by actually welcoming the rain.
“Who says it’s a crappy day? It’s football,” Brady said. “This is perfect. It’s the first day, 8:30 practice, raining. That’s what I want. It’s got to be a tough camp. ... You want it to be hard. This isn’t supposed to be just fun.”
Receiver Tyrell Shavers opened on the physically unable to perform list, six months removed from tearing his ACL. GM Brandon Beane expects Shavers to miss the start of the season. ... OLB Michael Hoecht is being eased in and could be ready for the start of the season after tearing his right Achilles tendon in November.
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