Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Bills wrapped up their spring workouts last week with mandatory minicamp. It was a time for quarterback Josh Allen to learn Joe Brady as a head coach, as well as new offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr.
Allen feels this spring went well for him and the team.
"We competed at a very high level, guys were flying around. We did a good job of connecting," Allen said with reporters last week Tuesday. "A couple of the things that Joe had wanted for this OTA period to be is connect, compete, condition, and then come out here and have a lot of fun and play some football."
Allen got his first reps in a practice setting with new wide receiver D.J. Moore. Allen says it's been moving forward.
"Still working on it. Still working on it with everybody," the quarterback said. "There's just different nuances that some guys have in their body language. He's as smooth of a football player that I've ever been around, and he works extremely hard. It's fun to be out there with him."
The players know Brady, but they also are seeing a different side of him now that he's a head coach.
"I'm no stranger to coach, and to have the familiarity I do with him and to bounce different ideas off of him, he's still our play caller, so that's not going to change," Allen noted. "But his wants or emotions during practice have changed a little bit, because he's got to root for both sides now, which is awesome to see. He's going out there, he's cheering our defense on, he's cheering our offense on. He just wants us to go out there and compete as hard as we can."
Carmichael may not be calling the plays for the offense, but the new offensive coordinator will have a huge hand in the game plans. Allen likes what he's seen so far.
"It's a lot of meeting time, and that's what the OTAs are for as well. You're reinstalling the playbook," he said. "It may be the same type of playbook that I've been in in the last eight years, but a lot of different nuances this year, and he brings a lot of knowledge from his previous stops in the league, to talk through different concepts and defenses in how he sees it and conveys it to us. We're lucky to have him."
Throughout the years, Allen has a good sense of what he needs to do in the offseason to make himself a better quarterback. This past spring was no different.
"Similar routine, spent a little more time on the body, working out and continuing to hone in on the mechanics side of things," Allen noted. "I feel like I'm in a good spot right now, but can still be better. So I'm going to continue to find ways I can do that.
"Having a baby now, I'm sticking around the house a little bit more and trying to balance being a dad and going out there and getting my work done."
Allen is entering his ninth season with the Bills, but doesn't put much into a number.
"A lot of hard work, but I don't think about it too much, because it still feels like I'm in Year 3 or 4," Allen said. "So the time does fly by, and I'm just trying to enjoy every moment of it."
The Bills will open training camp at St. John Fisher University on July 29 with an 8:30 a.m. practice.
