Quarterback Josh Allen of the NFL’s Super Bowl-hopeful Buffalo Bills is back in the news as his team makes a drive into the postseason, but one story has resurfaced that carries far more significance. Allen is one of many young NFL star QBs who have turned their attention away from fame and success and toward Jesus Christ.
For context, Allen was on the 2023 Bills team that witnessed the gut-wrenching collapse of then-24-year-old Damar Hamlin, the team’s defensive safety. The on-field, cardiac episode captivated the entire nation as America anxiously awaited news of his condition and recovery. Hamlin would go on to live but never suit up for an NFL team again.
After the traumatizing experience, in the very next game – the first since the medical episode – the Bills’ very first play resulted in a 96-yard touchdown run on the opening kickoff. It was this incredible turn of events that Allen said he realized something bigger was going on. “I was just going around to my teammates saying, ‘God’s real.’ You can’t draw that one up, write that one up any better,” Allen remarked in that contest’s post-game press conference.
In a later podcast appearance in January of 2023 that Allen further expanded on his Christian-centered comments. “I said this in my press conference the other day, [there was] just kind of a spiritual awakening really for me, and I know for a lot of other people that maybe didn’t have the strongest belief, or wasn’t one of the biggest, strongest Christian followers,” the young quarterback said during an appearance on the ‘Kyle Brandt’s Basement’ podcast.
“To see what’s transpired here, it’s a crazy, crazy feeling. It’s something I’ve never felt before. It’s something I know a lot of my teammates have never felt before. You can’t really do anything but accept it and lean on your brothers and share that moment with them,” he said reflecting on the pain felt in the entire locker room and the unifying elation they felt upon that kickoff-return score.
Allen then opened up quite honestly about his own faith journey, admitting he grew up Methodist but hadn’t attended church as an adult or spent much time thinking about his Savior. “I’ll be the first to admit, I haven’t been the most devoted Christ-follower in my life, and I’ve had my different beliefs and thoughts and ideas and stuff like that, but something got hold of me there, and it was extremely powerful, [something] that I couldn’t deny.”
“It’s been so long since I’ve actually been to church,” he continued. “I went this last offseason one or two times, but not as much as maybe I should,” he said. “But again, I think this conversation that we’re having right now, we’ve had all these conversations in our locker room. It’s been really cool to see how guys have been moved and touched by this whole instance and situation, and to see the country come together in support for Damar and maybe having those talks.”
“Again, it doesn’t matter what you think and who you think in; I’m not going to judge based on any of that. But to hear some of these stories and just feelings from our guys, to be going through this situation, it’s been really cool to see that unfold in front of us. Again, I can’t chalk it down to anything else but a Higher Power. Yeah, I’m extremely moved. I don’t really have the words to explain it.”