Kids have nightmares about monsters, adults have nightmares about daily stresses and defensive coordinators have nightmares about Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Heading into Saturday’s matchup against Buffalo, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph talked about the issues that players like Allen give to opposing teams. While noting that Allen can absolutely wreck the dreams of the Denver Broncos’ season, Vance said a game like this was bound to happen in the AFC.
“He’s a special player, obviously. It’s certain guys in this league that can take over games, and he’s one of those guys,” Joseph told the Denver media on Wednesday. “But we knew to win a championship here, it was going to go through Patrick (Mahomes) and Lamar (Jackson) and Josh and Joe Burrow. I mean, that’s the AFC side, unfortunately. That’s where we live. So, we knew we gotta face one of those guys eventually. So, watching Pittsburgh and Baltimore last week, I was cheering for Pittsburgh. Because I knew that Lamar can wreck your dreams and so can Josh. So, that’s part of it, you know. If you’re going to win the AFC side, it’s going through those four guys, and it’s our turn.”
Joseph and the Broncos lucked out as three of the four quarterbacks that he mentioned did not make the postseason this year. While avoiding Mahomes, Burrow and Jackson makes Denver’s path to the Super Bowl a bit easier on paper, their first test in the postseason will come against Allen.
All that stands between the Broncos and the AFC Championship Game is Buffalo’s dream wrecker.
On Saturday night, we’ll know if Denver was able to overcome one of its boogeymen or if Allen was able to dash their dreams in his quest to win his first Super Bowl title.
