NEWS » Josh Allen wasn’t sure what to make of someone

BUFFALO http://www.seattleseahawksteamonline.com/marquise-blair-jersey , N.Y. (AP) — referring to him as being a happy-go-lucky person because the Buffalo Bills quarterback wondered if it implied he doesn’t take his job seriously.At the same time, Allen was taken aback Wednesday in deflecting the suggestion he still has plenty to prove entering his second NFL season.“OK? Yeah, absolutely, the team does,” he said, following the second of Buffalo’s three mandatory minicamp practices.Allen wouldn’t budge when pressed further if that included him, by saying: “All right, like I said, we move as a team, and we’re going to try to have to have that same mindset.”This is the same person who a few weeks ago said, “I just want to play football and win football games,” when asked how much pressure he bore to fill what’s been an unsettled position in Buffalo since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired 22 years ago.Don’t let Allen’s aw-shucks, who-me, off-field approach fool you.The just-turned 23-year-old who proudly chugged a can of beer at teammate Micah Hyde’s recent charity softball tournament, is no different from the player who paused to trash-talk Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey on the way to celebrating a touchdown during a 24-21 win last season.What matters to Allen is he doesn’t want anyone to see him sweat.“Time will come where frustrations happen. That’s the game of football,” he told The Associated Press.“When adversity hits, you’ve got to persevere and overcome. A big saying in my family household growing up was ‘APO’. Adjust, persevere http://www.seattleseahawksteamonline.com/cody-barton-jersey , overcome,” Allen added. “That was from my high school coach. My dad loved it and he says it every day.”Allen has persevered through plenty following a college career in which he was initially overlooked by FBS schools and made the jump from California’s Reedley junior college to Wyoming before being selected by Buffalo with the seventh pick in the draft last year.Having assumed the No. 1 job much earlier than expected following Nathan Peterman’s meltdown in Buffalo’s opener, Allen is tasked with having to build off an inconsistent season.Allen finished with a 5-6 record, in which he went 3-3 down the stretch after missing four games with a sprained right throwing elbow. He showed off his athletic ability by hurdling Minnesota linebacker Anthony Barr in a 27-6 win in Week 3, and followed that with a two-interception outing and a 36.3 quarterback rating in a 22-0 loss at Green Bay.In going 169 of 320 passes for 2,074 yards with 10 TDs and 12 interceptions in 12 games, Allen ranked 32nd in completion percentage, yards passing, touchdowns and touchdowns versus interceptions ratio.Not all the inconsistencies were on Allen, who oversaw an offense featuring a patchwork line and no-name receivers led by Zay Jones and undrafted rookie Robert Foster.He won’t have the same issues this year after the Bills overhauled their offense in free agency by adding receivers Cole Beasley and John Brown, and retooled their line with seven newcomers, led by center Mitch Morse.Another advantage is having an entire offseason to prepare after Allen spent most of last spring and summer working as a third-stringer behind Peterman and AJ McCarron. And he is expected to have a better grasp of the playbook and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s philosophies.“He’s grown mentally and physically off the field and on the field as a leader,” said Daboll, noting he’s had Allen call his own plays this spring. “We’re doing a lot of different things right now just to throw on his plate and see what we need to keep getting better and, and see what he’s got a firm grasp of.”Coach Sean McDermott is encouraged by what he’s seen.“Josh is a young man that is driven and very in-tune and very self-aware to his development as a young man and as a football player and how important that is to our organization,” McDermott said. “I’ve seen that through the habits that he’s undertaken since he left here in January, and then when we got him back, and what he’s done since that time.”In March http://www.seattleseahawksteamonline.com/phil-haynes-jersey , Allen invited Bills receivers to work out with him in California. Allen also made a point to greet each of Buffalo’s free-agent additions .That doesn’t mean Allen is anywhere close to being a finished product.A practice highlight Wednesday, featured Allen avoiding the pass rush by rolling to his left and, with a flick of his wrist, lofting a pass to Andre Roberts, who made a leaping catch in double coverage for what would’ve been a 30-yard touchdown. The lowlight followed a few plays later, when Allen rolled to his left and telegraphed a pass easily intercepted by Jordan Poyer.Allen focused on the positive, saying he always looks for the bright side.“I can always find something to be happy about, something to look at and try to improve instead of pouting about it and putting my head down,” he said.“I had a bad throw today and I slapped myself on the helmet and after a brief second, I was, ‘OK, people are looking at me, I’ve got to get back on track,'” Allen added. “I’ve got to have positive body language, positive talk, and that’s how I keep going.”That doesn’t make him any less driven.“If you want to say happy-go-lucky, that’s OK with me,” Allen said. “But it’s just a positive outlook on life. It’s a positive outlook on our season. I’m really looking forward to what we can do this year.” LAKE FOREST http://www.tampabaybuccaneersteamonline.com/mike-edwards-jersey , Ill. (AP) — David Montgomery used to draw inspiration watching highlights of Walter Payton on his grandfather’s VCR, so consider this a moment of sweetness.The Chicago Bears addressed one of their biggest needs with their first pick in the draft, trading up with the New England Patriots to take the star running back from Iowa State on Friday night.Montgomery said he felt “grateful, blessed.” And being drafted by Chicago was particularly special.“I watched Walter Payton when I was younger,” he said. “Seeing how he ran, trying to correlate a lot of the ways he ran into my game.”Chicago moved up 14 spots to grab Montgomery at No. 73 overall, making him the first Cyclones player drafted since 2014. The 5-foot-10, 222-pound Montgomery ran for 2,925 yards and 26 touchdowns in three seasons. He had 1,216 yards rushing and 13 TDs as a junior.Chicago also acquired a sixth-round pick (205), while New England got the No. 87 pick and a fifth-rounder (162) this year as well as a fourth-round selection in 2020.“He’s just a well-rounded back,” general manager Ryan Pace said. “It’s everything you look for in a running back, starting with his instincts, his vision, his ability to make people miss. He’s just a well-rounded player. Good hands. He fits the offense very well.”The Bears had a long wait with no picks in the first two rounds for the first time since 2010. They came into the draft in a far different spot after winning the NFC North at 12-4 in coach Matt Nagy’s first season. The Monsters of the Midway ended a string of four straight last-place finishes and made the playoffs for just the second time since the 2006 team’s Super Bowl run.They sent their first-round pick this year to Oakland in the blockbuster deal for All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack just before the start of last season. And they dealt their second-rounder to New England a year ago when they traded up to get receiver Anthony Miller in the second round.Montgomery is known as a calm, patient runner with size and toughness and a knack for breaking tackles. He ranked third in the Big 12 in yards rushing per game at 101.3 last season.Montgomery also had 71 receptions over three years despite playing in a run-based offense. And Pace sees someone with “natural hands” who can be a good route runner.His ability to catch passes out of the backfield is a big plus, considering Nagy’s system favors running backs who can do just that.Howard’s deficiencies in the passing game made him an odd fit and helped punch his ticket out of town, with the Bears trading him to Philadelphia in March. He went from making the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2016 and running for more than 1 http://www.tampabaybuccaneersteamonline.com/matt-gay-jersey ,100 yards in each of his first two seasons to setting a career low with 935 last season. His 250 carries were also the fewest for him, though he still had more combined attempts than the other running backs currently on Chicago’s roster — Tarik Cohen, Mike Davis, Taquan Mizzell Sr. and Ryan Nall. Even with receiver Cordarrelle Patterson expected to get some carries, there still was room for another running back.In Montgomery, Pace believes the Bears will have an immediate contributor. As impressed as he was with his physical skills, something else stood out.“There are incredible stories about his work ethic,” Pace said. “Going up to the facility late at night and bringing teammates with him to watch additional tape and get extra work in. You just hear one thing after another about his professional approach to the game, how important it is to him and his work ethic is off the charts. And how infectious that was to the entire team there.”Chicago heads into the final day of the draft with one pick each in the fourth and sixth rounds, plus two seventh-rounders.The Bears might look for help at tight end and the defensive backfield not to mention kicker, where they have a major hole. Chicago let Cody Parkey go after one rough season that ended with a double-doink miss off the upright and crossbar on a potential winning field goal at the end of the wild-card loss to Philadelphia. The Bears have three kickers with no experience — Redford Jones, Chris Blewitt and Elliott Fry.“Looking at the board right now and where we’re at, I feel really good about the draft tomorrow (Saturday),” Pace said. “Like I said a couple of days ago, this is a very deep draft, especially in the later rounds and yeah, I think we’re going to be able to hit a lot of good players tomorrow.”