For the first time in the history of the franchise, the cover athlete for the upcoming Madden game plays for the Buffalo Bills. It was announced on Wednesday morning that Josh Allen, the franchise’s Pro Bowl signal caller, will be the cover athlete for Madden NFL 24, and it’s an honor that he calls “surreal.”
“Madden is so iconic in itself, it is football culture,” Allen told Uproxx Sports over Zoom. “I’ve said this, I don’t know how many times, but I literally learned the game playing Madden as a kid — the rules, the penalties, coverages and concepts. So, I always felt like, as a kid, I felt like I had a step up playing Pop Warner because I know what they’re doing in Madden.”
A lifelong fan of the game, Allen still enjoys firing up Madden and seeing concepts that he runs during games. Of course, we’re still a bit of a way away from Allen leading the Buffalo offense onto the field for games this year, as the team is currently in the midst of Organized Team Activities with all eyes on winning the first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
Earlier this week, we sat down with Allen to discuss Madden, how it’s helped him become the quarterback he is today, how things are going in the team’s lead-up to the 2023 NFL season, and much more.
You’re on the cover of Madden. How’s it feel?
It’s a surreal feeling, and I can’t thank EA and Madden enough for allowing me to be on the cover of Madden 24. For it to be the year after John Madden [passed], it is so, so humbling, and it’s such a big honor for me to be able to, like I said, be on the cover after such an icon of the game. Madden is so iconic in itself, it is football culture. I’ve said this, I don’t know how many times, but I literally learned the game playing Madden as a kid — the rules, the penalties, coverages and concepts.
So, I always felt like, as a kid, I felt like I had a step up playing Pop Warner because I know what they’re doing in Madden — like, this is cover three, they’re trying to do cover two here. I literally learned the game of football by playing Madden. So it’s so cool now, I’ve got so many fond memories of playing my brother, my dad growing up, and all my friends growing up, Madden was my game. So, to now be on the cover, and to understand where I was at not too long ago, zero offers out of high school and junior college, and now to be on the cover of Madden and following some great footsteps like Drew Brees and Tom Brady and some other really cool guys that have graced the cover. So, it’s a special, special moment for me.
You mentioned playing growing up — was there a team that you always used? Were there players that you always tried to use? How’d that work?
Yeah, so I grew up a 49ers fan. I typically tried to play with them. Unfortunately, when I was at that age, they weren’t super good all the time. So, I used Green Bay quite a bit because of Brett Favre, and there was a few other teams that I would mess with, but I tried to play with the Niners as much as possible. I was telling a story earlier that Ken Dorsey is our offensive coordinator here. When I would pick the 49ers, I forgot what year it was of Madden, but I’d always go in and put him in, because his speed rating was way higher than whoever the starter was at the time. I had to tell him that when I saw him.
You mentioned it, but is it still something to this day where you’ll play Madden and you feel like it helps you … maybe now that you have a bit more of a mastery than middle school Josh, it helps you maybe sharpen things like recognizing coverages, stuff like that?
I absolutely think so. And I think there’s so many concepts that Madden has that I actually run in real games. To sit there and like, I’m watching film — you know what? Let’s play some film. I want to go out there and I can actually do it without actually doing it. And I definitely think there’s a lot of application from the game to the field. And I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it is the most realistic experience you can get to actually playing in the NFL.
You’re the first Bills player to be on the cover of Madden, and I feel like “the first Bills player to do this,” or “the Bills record holder for this” is getting to be a little common with you. Does that feeling of being the first Bill to ever do something stop being cool?
A childhood dream come true
#Madden24 | #EAathlete pic.twitter.com/8PYdq9WOuH— Josh Allen (@JoshAllenQB) June 7, 2023
I think it’s more of an important recognition for the organization and the city that’s contributed so much to football, and I think that this community has been starving for one Lombardi Trophy for a long time. And that’s what my goal is, to bring a Lombardi Trophy back to Bills Mafia and Western New York. But you know, I think they’re going to enjoy the cover, I think they’re going to enjoy to have some bragging rights across the league. I was telling someone earlier, something came up, there’s gonna be 31 teams that hate this, right? If there wasn’t, that’s a problem. The only ones that matter is Bills Mafia, to me, and if 31 other teams didn’t kind of hate me a little bit, or at least have a little bit of hatred towards me, I think that’d be a problem. So, I’m fine with it, it’s the world that we live in, the occupation I picked, so, gotta live with it. But as long as Bills Mafia is happy with me and they get to enjoy this with me, it’s all good.
Let’s talk a little bit of ball. Generally, how’s the offseason gone so far?
Offseason has been great, we’re getting after it here during our phase one, two, and we’re now in phase three of OTAs, where it’s actually going on the field to throw the ball around a little bit to some of our guys. We’re just out here working, and some of the new guys that we’ve added, it’s good to get to see their body language and throw with them, know them on a deeper level and just develop that camaraderie and trust that you need to have in a team. So yeah, it’s been going good, a lot of stuff to work on, though — obviously, by no means are we where we want to be and we’re striving to find a way to get the job done, and like I said, bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Western New York. That’s all our team wants to do.
So there have been a couple of quotes that I’ve seen from your coaches that I’d love to ask you about. The first one is from coach McDermott, who said “I’ve seen a different Josh this offseason, he’s got a new sense of focus and determination.” That new sense of focus and determination that a guy who would recognize that by now, where does that come from?
I think as you get older in this league — I’m going into my sixth year now. Understanding what this league is, it’s hard to win in this league, sometimes it takes a little bit of luck, but you earn it now, you earn it in the offseason, you earn winning games by your preparation and coming to OTAs and learning new teammates and developing that camaraderie, like I said earlier.
I don’t want to allow myself to have anything to hang my hat on, like I should have been doing this more, I could have watched more film, I could have thrown more with my receivers. So, I want to allow myself to exhaust every option, that when push comes to shove, I have literally done everything I could do to put myself in the best situation possible and I’m ready for the moment. Hopefully the guys on the team can see me be me, and they can try to match me, and I think the leadership aspects of what I’m trying to do this year is a little bit different, too. And again, leaning on our other leaders and in our locker room and our coaching staff, like coach McDermott. I’m just trying to be the best quarterback that I can be for this Bills team.
Kind of going off of that, coach Dorsey had a quote about how the offense is in the process of growing what our true identity is. So as the guy who’s lining up under center, how would you define the true identity of the Buffalo Bills’ offense?
Well, I think that’s still to be seen. We’re working on different things, and obviously, we’ve got quite a few new faces on our offense this year. And, again, it’s going to take some time to put the right pieces in the right spots to make plays for us. But again, that’s our goal, is to put our guys [in position] to have as much success as they can and put them in positions where they’re gonna succeed. That’s what we’re trying to do, we’re figuring that out right now in OTAs. There’s gonna be stuff that we run in OTAs that we may never run throughout the season, there gonna be some stuff that we don’t run yet, that we’re going to find out — it’s a copycat league, if there’s one team doing something that’s really good that we can apply that to ourselves, and we can learn from it and use it, that’s what we’ll do, too. So, just try new things and just kind of throwing things at the wall right now and see what sticks, and we’re gonna go from there.
I think I found that so interesting because you guys are consistently one of, if not the best offense in the NFL. So in your eyes, is growing an identity a matter of doing something consistently? Is it a matter of having new wrinkles? Is it a matter of going, “this is our system, we’re going to trust it?”
You alluded to it earlier, we’re consistently one of the better ranking offenses in the league. So you don’t want to, you know, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? So, just find new ways to, again, put our guys in positions to be successful — whether that’s bringing a guy inside or outside or lining them up in certain different spots, that’s our coaching staff, and they’re going to figure that out. And it’s my job to be an extension of coach Dorsey and try to do what he’s wanting me to do on each and every play while he’s sitting up in the box calling these plays.
And then my last question, a lot of my closest friends are Bills fans, and I always find it striking how they want you specifically to be the guy who takes this franchise to the mountaintop. How does it inspire you, motivate you, etc. knowing you have an entire city putting its faith in you to get them to this thing that most of these people have wanted their entire life?
I think that’s why I love playing here in Buffalo so much and I can relate to the fan so much, because they care about football almost as much as I care about football. And knowing that, I so badly, that’s all I want to do is bring a Lombardi Trophy back to Western New York. I dream about the day that we get to have this parade and it’s gonna be something special. So again, we gotta get there first. There’s no added pressure from the outside that I haven’t already put on myself, I’m so internally motivated, and I know our team is as well. So, we’re gonna continue to work hard and then try to find a way to get it done.