Maybe it was just a warmup exercise, but Josh Allen’s handshake ritual with Buffalo Bills teammates is taking on a life of its own. The team has been practicing the in-game handshake for weeks before kickoff and have yet to perform an elaborate version that includes handshakes with wives, girlfriends and even children.
Josh Allen is a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. He has a unique handshake with his teammates that includes an elaborate dance routine. Read more in detail here: josh allen.
6 a.m. ET
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ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg
NEW YORK — BUFFALO, N.Y. — They begin by touching their pinkie and index fingers. Then they lock hands, sweep over each other’s arms, tap each other on the backs, bring their arms down to holster their finger weapons in air holsters, and fire the guns into the air.
Then, from Josh Allen’s finger pistol, Stefon Diggs blasts smoke.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback’s handshake with his No. 1 wide receiver has evolved over time. At this stage, the teammates’ actions are so swift and instinctive that it’s difficult to decipher what’s going on. The back taps represent how they constantly have each other’s backs.
Please give this handshake a rating… @StefonDiggs | @JoshAllenQB pic.twitter.com/R0MQOSlljs
August 21, 2021 — Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills)
Allen’s handshake with his teammates is one of his more complex ones. And since his debut in the NFL in 2018, the fourth-year quarterback has had a slew of them.
He has one for each offensive player and goes through them at least once before each game, and he will undoubtedly do so again before Sunday’s divisional-round game against the Kansas City Chiefs (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS). However, Allen’s view that handshakes bring teammates closer together and develop relationships demonstrates many of the quarterback’s characteristics, including his job as a leader, which he has stepped into even more this season, excellent recall abilities, and his finger-wagging demeanor.
“This is a huge, goofy-ass quarterback,” Buffalo safety Jordan Poyer joked to teammate Levi Wallace on the sideline of the Bills’ wild-card playoff victory against the New England Patriots on Saturday. “They have no concept how ridiculous he is… “I adore him to the point of death.”
The required skill set
Allen walks around the huddle before practice starts, doing his “antics” with the offensive starters, as tight end Dawson Knox recalls it. Wide receivers and running backs go from the left side of the line to the right. They represent the lighthearted attitude with which some of his teammates see him, with Knox wishing he had known his quarterback in college, “back when you could go hang out after a Saturday night victory.”
So, first and foremost, you’ll need a fun side. However, Allen’s motivation for the handshakes extends beyond amusement.
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