Here’s my favorite Josh Allen UW memory:
It is late in the game and UW is still in it. It is snowing and the wind is blowing hard. The Cowboys have their backs against the wall but everybody knows as long as we have Josh, we still have a chance.
He runs around avoiding tacklers and then spots Tanner Gentry headed to the end zone in the opposite side of the field. No human could throw a ball all that way in these conditions, right?
Yet, Josh heaves the ball and yes, it travels over 50 yards and is caught for a touchdown! Unreal. What a play. That’s our guy, Josh Allen.
Of course, I am watching this from the warmth of the press box at War Memorial Stadium as the chilly hard-nosed Wyoming crowd cheers until they lose their voices.
Yup. That is my memory and it is shared by thousands of other Wyoming fans.
Can you believe Josh Allen has been gone from UW for seven years? I never saw a player like that. He was super-human. He was our superman.
So, What Is A Bronco Fan To Do?
Wyoming fans have always been Denver Bronco fans. They are our regional pro team and you can find orange and blue sweatshirts all over the state.
But from 2018 and on, most of them have also been Buffalo Bills fans because that is the team that was smart enough to draft Josh Allen.
Our stupid Broncos drafted a lineman ahead of Allen in the 2018 draft in what John Elway calls “the most stupid mistake of my career.” Just think, we could have been cheering Josh here in the Rocky Mountain region all these years instead of Buffalo. Oh well.
This Sunday the Broncos play the Bills in the playoffs. It is a game of our dreams but who do we cheer for?
Buffalo Bill
As an aside, we probably should have been cheering for the Bills all these years because the team is named after Wyoming’s most famous citizen in its history.
Buffalo Bill Cody always had a good sense of timing. He was revered as a national hero during a time of the penny press or dime novels around the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century, from 1895 to 1905. More than 5,000 books and pamphlets were published with him as the hero, resulting in the claim that he was the most famous person in the world at that time. Certainly, he was the most famous in the USA. And he was from Cody, Wyoming, the town he founded and named.
So yes, we probably should have been cheering for the Bills all these years. But I digress.
What Do You Think?
Despite all of our ardent Bronco fans who are ecstatic this year that we are in the playoffs for the first time since 2015, most are hoping the Bills win this game. What a surprise.
The consensus was that the Broncos were a surprise to make it to the NFL playoffs while the Bills have been chomping at the bit for a long time now. The folks I reached out to felt this is the year that the Bills can win it all, while the Broncos can just be thankful they got this far.
Ray Hunkins of Wheatland/Cheyenne is as big a Bronco fan as you can find but he says: “I am still rooting for Josh Allen and his team. But I am very pleased that Denver is back.”
Joe Glode of Saratoga says: “I love Allen and the Bills but the Broncos look better every game. Home field goes to Buffalo so that’s the way to bet.”
Methodist Minister Mark Calhoun is a die-hand Bronco fan. “Mixed emotions! At first, I was hoping that my favorite team . . . the Denver Broncos would not have to play my favorite Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen! Dreading it, in fact, but now I am excited for it. I was born in Denver, so the Broncos have been my team since I was carried out of the hospital and breathed my first breath of mile high air. This is a win – win situation for me. I am OK with whoever wins. It will be a great game. I am equally interested in some team… any team… putting a shellacking on the Kansas City Chiefs. Prediction: Bills 38 Broncos 34.”
Chuck Brown of Wheatland says: “I clearly recall that the Broncos had the first option to draft Josh Allen, but they passed, and the coffee shop talk at the time was that Josh wanted to go to Denver as well. What a shame! Now, a lot of us tried and true Cowboy fans who are also Bronco fans (and now Bills fans too!) are conflicted, eh? The Broncos would have to be considered the underdogs, I would think. I would predict a win for the Bills.”
Sally Ann Shurmur of Glenrock says: “I was surprised at how many Wyoming folks are Bills fans. Seems Broncos loyalty is a thing of the past.”
Mandy Fabel of Lander says: “My thoughts are Wyoming values loyalty above all else. Josh Allen has been loyal to Wyoming through and through. The Broncos barely know Wyoming exists. Let's go Bills!”
Pete Illoway of Cheyenne says: “Both my wife and my daughter are Bills and Broncos fans, however I believe they favor Josh Allen a lot. As for me, I like both teams and hope it is a great game. I will take the Broncos to win and see how far they go."
Ernie Over of Riverton says: “Like many Wyoming fans, I think I had to pause just a moment or two before deciding I will root for the Bills. The Broncos are building their way back up, and they will have time to grab the spotlight in future years. But Josh Allen's talent is too much for the Broncos to overcome. The mountain Josh had to overcome to get his team, as the number-two seed, I think says it all. Sorry Denver, I am going with Buffalo in the first round.”
Jim Hicks in Buffalo says: “This game is like the old joke of watching your mother-in-law go over cliff in your new SUV. It would have been easy to root for Josh and the Bills . . . but the Cinderella story of the Broncos this year tends to pull a lot of former Bronco fans back into the fold. Josh will prevail in a close game.”
My Prediction
This is a terrible draw for the Bills in the first round. Lately, the Broncos have been playing like a Super Bowl team and defeated the Bills the last time they played last year, 24-22.
I am rooting for both teams and by the time you read this, we hopefully will know that Josh is the MVP for the league. I think it will be Buffalo 28, Denver 24.
The Bills way to a Super Bowl win could be through Denver, Kansas City, and Detroit. Denver might end up being their most dangerous opponent as they have already beaten the other two this season.
Bill Sniffin can be reached at: Bill@CowboyStateDaily.com
