Josh Allen to talk with Daniel Jones about Brian Daboll-led offense
Brian Daboll and Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills look on prior to the AFC Divisional Playoff game against Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium on January 23, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri. Credit: Getty Images/David Eulitt
LOS ANGELES — One of the first things Brian Daboll did upon meeting Daniel Jones a few weeks ago was hand him a pen, put him on a whiteboard and ask him to draw a few of his favorite plays.
Josh Allen says Jones should get used to that.
The Bills quarterback, who had Daboll as his offensive coordinator for the past four years, said on Thursday that the new Giants head coach is always asking his quarterbacks for input.
"He made me become not a yes man in terms of concepts," said Allen, who was at Super Bowl LVI on behalf of USAA. "He would be like, ‘I need you to tell me the concepts you love and the concepts you hate because if you do not love this concept, we will not run it. We will get rid of it.’
"He’s going to put you in good situations and give you plays that you absolutely love and know like the back of your hand," Allen added. "I think that’s part of the fight. He’s not going to call plays to fulfill himself, he’s going to call plays that will help you as a quarterback to make the right decision and make the best play possible."
Allen said Jones reached out to him about working with Daboll, and the two quarterbacks had tentative plans to get together in Los Angeles on Thursday night. Allen wouldn’t divulge what he intends to tell Jones, but chances are they’ll have future conversations as well, given what Allen said about Daboll’s preference to put his current quarterbacks in touch with those he’s worked with in the past.
"Giving me examples from the quarterbacks that he’s been around, Tom [Brady], Brett Favre, even Chad Henne and Jake Delhomme, and giving me the tools to talk to these guys and have conversations about being an NFL quarterback," Allen said of the benefit of working with Daboll. "He gave me so many tools and taught me so much over the last four years, I’m just so thankful for him and I’m so happy for him too."
n Praise for Giants’ new OC
Allen wasn’t the only player at the Super Bowl to rave about a former coach who is now with the Giants.
Kansas City wide receiver Mecole Hardman said the Giants will benefit greatly from new offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who had been the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for KC.
"He’s really going to do good, especially being from a Coach [Andy] Reid offense and seeing the things that we kind of do as a team and taking the experience working with Pat [Mahomes] going to the Giants, it’s going to be great," Hardman said.
Despite the vast difference in the teams’ offensive production, Hardman said he thinks the Giants have the players on their roster to use some of the concepts that worked so well in Kansas City.
"They got a good group of guys over there," he said. "The way we called plays, the way we dialed things up, the way we used the offense to put specific guys in certain situations will definitely help them for sure. Coming from Coach Reid, it’s going to be great for the Giants. He can bring what we do to them in a similar way. It’s going to be good."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
