Sometimes when I drive on Allen Road, I think of William R. Allen and the lengthy discussions in the 1970s surrounding the "Spadina Extension" to the road which now bears his name (and which was never built). The road's southernmost portion ends abruptly at Eglinton Avenue and this intersection is now quite often the scene of some of the worst traffic congestion in the City of Toronto. On the rare occasion when I find myself on Allen Road inching southbound toward Eglinton Avenue (and I'm done with pondering William R. Allen), I often think of the legendary NFL coach George Allen who coached the Rams and Washington from 1966 to 1977. Allen was known for his eccentricity, his paranoia and for being the first coach to put in 16 hour days - something that all NFL coaches now do regularly. Allen hired security guards to patrol the perimeter of his practice facilities for fear that his practices were being secretly observed and filmed. He also gave an up-and-coming coach named Marv Levy an NFL job as special teams coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams in 1970. Those are the first two Allens to be discussed here, with three more to come.
2019 will be known, among Allens worldwide, as their year in the NFL as no less than three Allens were under centre yesterday as NFL starting quarterbacks. One had a successful day, one had a decent game but came up short and the third has a long way to go if he wants to have a long career in the league. Let's start with Kyle Allen, the Texas A&M product, who almost quarterbacked the Carolina Panthers to a win in New Orleans but a missed field goal cost his team the game. He is now starting for the Panthers in place of the injured Cam Newton.
Allens two and three faced each other yesterday in Orchard Park. As the CBS graphic pointed out, it was only the fourth meeting in modern NFL history between teams whose starting quarterbacks bear the same sir name. Brandon Allen, who played his college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks, started the game for the Denver Broncos, replacing the injured Joe Flacco. He struggled for most of the day against the swirling winds of New Era Field and against the Bills defence which had a big game. The Broncos ended the day with only 9 first downs and a paltry total of 134 yards of offence. Allen looked overwhelmed at times against the Bills pass rush but threw only one interception on a route mix-up between quarterback and receiver.
Last but certainly not least, we turn to Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The good news is that he finally hit on a deep ball attempt - this time to John Brown on a play which was incomprehensibly called incomplete on the field but was ruled a touchdown after replay review. That sealed the game for Buffalo. Earlier on, Allen threw his first interception in 173 attempts and had another errant throw which should have been picked off but wasn't. His reversion to accuracy problems possibly had more to do with the wind than anything else as he threw the ball well for most of the day.
Congratulations this morning go to Bills running back Frank Gore who passed Barry Sanders for third place on the NFL's all-time rushing list. With 15,289 rushing yards in his career, Gore now stands behind only Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton. For his part, Devin Singletary carried 21 times for 106 yards to add to Gore's 65 yards.
Canadian football had a good final weekend with the Calgary Dinos winning the Vanier Cup before a decent crowd of more than 8,000 in Quebec City and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers capturing their first Grey Cup since 1990. A near 30 year championship drought is something that's not easy to maintain in a nine team league. And as critical as I was of Calgary football fans who boycotted the Mitchell Bowl last weekend, more than 35,000 attended the game at McMahon Stadium yesterday. As for how many paid full price for their tickets, well, whatever.
The Bills have their only scheduled nationally televised game of the regular season coming up on Thursday afternoon in Dallas (the flex schedule has created another one on Saturday December 21st in New England). The Cowboys lost a close one in New England yesterday in a monsoon and will present the biggest challenge of the season for the Bills since their week four loss to the Patriots. They will then have 10 days to prepare for the high-flying Baltimore Ravens who come to Orchard Park after playing the Rams tonight in Los Angeles and the 49ers at home next week. At 8-3, the Bills are finally embarking on a slate of important games in December.
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