Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Josh Allen on controlling the narrative | O-Zone Podcast

Transcript

Josh Allen on controlling the narrative | O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast presented by by Star Credit
0:13
Speaker 1: with Jaguars senior writer John Osan. All Right, welcome into
0:17
Speaker 1: this week's Ozone podcast. And I'm excited about this. He
0:21
Speaker 1: hasn't been a guest on the Ozone Podcast in a
0:23
Speaker 1: couple of years, but anytime you get a chance to
0:25
Speaker 1: talk to Jaguars outside linebacker Josh Allen, it's a good day,
0:30
Speaker 1: a lot of insight, and I know he's excited about
0:32
Speaker 1: this season. First of all, Josh, welcome, Thank you, Yeah,
0:36
Speaker 1: thank you for having me on. And like you said,
0:37
Speaker 1: it's been a minute. I'm glad the covid is over.
0:42
Speaker 1: You know, have fun last night with the fans. So
0:45
Speaker 1: it's good, tough like going slowly getting back into the
0:48
Speaker 1: groove of normalcy. So, uh, thank you for having me on,
0:51
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to talk. Now. Why is what I
0:54
Speaker 1: said at the top true? Why are you excited about
0:56
Speaker 1: this season? I know there's a lot of reasons, but
0:58
Speaker 1: I want to hear your reason. Uh mainly, you know,
1:01
Speaker 1: for first off, man is what I can bring to
1:05
Speaker 1: this team. Uh so I'm excited about that. Uh. Like
1:09
Speaker 1: I said, man, for shoot, I'm still working, I'm still
1:12
Speaker 1: trying to find my craps. I'm still trying to put
1:14
Speaker 1: the pieces together, but I know I'm taking the strates
1:17
Speaker 1: to where I need to be. And uh So, I'm
1:20
Speaker 1: confident in my game right now. If I know, if
1:22
Speaker 1: I stay committed, to stay true to what I do,
1:24
Speaker 1: uh you know, it's gonna it's gonna come through. Uh
1:27
Speaker 1: So I know with that the confidence my confidence is
1:30
Speaker 1: is really high right now and it's gonna continue to
1:31
Speaker 1: stay high, ups and downs, whatever, I'm going to continue
1:34
Speaker 1: to go and continue to work. Uh So, just having
1:37
Speaker 1: that mentality for me, man, I feel like your best
1:39
Speaker 1: players has to be the best place every week to
1:41
Speaker 1: win in this league. And you know, I want to
1:43
Speaker 1: be one of those guys that can contribute a lot
1:45
Speaker 1: every week. And for this team, Man, we just got
1:48
Speaker 1: we got weapons, we got offensively, defensively, special teams. Uh
1:52
Speaker 1: I think we got a really good group here. I'm
1:54
Speaker 1: excited to work. I'm excited about this Sunday and moving forward.
1:58
Speaker 1: It's been and again, I know players don't want to
2:02
Speaker 1: talk down what's going on in the past in terms
2:05
Speaker 1: of either teammates, et cetera. But from listening to you,
2:09
Speaker 1: you truly believe I think that this is the best
2:12
Speaker 1: roster you've been around, just like from offensively and defensively.
2:17
Speaker 1: I think it. I think it is, and I think
2:19
Speaker 1: it is. I'm excited about this group. I feel like
2:21
Speaker 1: we are a young group, but we're a young experienced,
2:25
Speaker 1: you know group. You know, we have guys that came
2:27
Speaker 1: in this year that had success in the league. For
2:29
Speaker 1: you you know, I'm saying he got the NFL and tackles.
2:32
Speaker 1: It's hard to do that to be as smart as
2:34
Speaker 1: he is to run to the ball, to be physical,
2:35
Speaker 1: to have the mindset of you know what your job is,
2:38
Speaker 1: and you communicate that through all everybody each that he's
2:41
Speaker 1: that guy. That's that's how, that's O milbacker. And having
2:44
Speaker 1: a guy like that just makes it a lot easier
2:47
Speaker 1: for a lot of other people. And then you have
2:49
Speaker 1: Devon and Chad who just flies around to the ball,
2:51
Speaker 1: makes place, you know. And then up front, you know,
2:54
Speaker 1: we add and Foley, who's just you know, a dominant
2:57
Speaker 1: man's naturally just a dominant and visual. And then you're
3:01
Speaker 1: looking at the back and I'm not talking, I'm just
3:03
Speaker 1: telling all the new people. And then you're looking the
3:05
Speaker 1: back and you had d Will back there. Man, It's
3:07
Speaker 1: just you know, I can't wait to see him play
3:10
Speaker 1: because he's won a Super Bowl. He played on that team.
3:14
Speaker 1: He was a huge part of that team. So now
3:16
Speaker 1: the experience and the wealth that he got from being
3:18
Speaker 1: around all those other guys just go and carry on
3:21
Speaker 1: and that kind of gets me excited because he's been
3:23
Speaker 1: around Aaron Donald, he's been around long, he's been around
3:25
Speaker 1: in the floor. He saw how hard those guys played
3:28
Speaker 1: in practice. I want to be I want that to
3:31
Speaker 1: be me, you know what I'm saying. I want him like, Okay,
3:33
Speaker 1: we're gonna be straight, you know what I'm saying, because
3:35
Speaker 1: if we got them up front. So just having that mentality, bro,
3:38
Speaker 1: having those guys around you at all times, flying around,
3:42
Speaker 1: making plays, it's just fun to be around. So it's fun.
3:45
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a bad job of getting to the
3:48
Speaker 1: point here because it's I've been thinking about this for
3:50
Speaker 1: a couple of days and him is trying to have
3:53
Speaker 1: fegar how to ask this, But You've always been a
3:55
Speaker 1: guy since he got here, even as a rookie who
3:59
Speaker 1: seemed to embrace the idea of team maybe more than
4:03
Speaker 1: a lot of NFL players and everybody wants to win.
4:06
Speaker 1: But you've always been a leader, even from day one
4:08
Speaker 1: as a rookie. You were guy the guys I gravitated to,
4:11
Speaker 1: and yet played on these teams that can't quite get it,
4:15
Speaker 1: going a lot of struggles. How much would it mean
4:19
Speaker 1: to you to be involved when this thing turns around?
4:23
Speaker 1: What does that mean? I mean, that's the whole idea
4:25
Speaker 1: of me working. Like I know what you're saying, Like,
4:28
Speaker 1: that's again, that's the reason why I had to change
4:31
Speaker 1: my ways. You know what I had to for me personally,
4:34
Speaker 1: But I felt like I could have done more like
4:36
Speaker 1: my coming in my freshman my rookie year was free. Sure,
4:40
Speaker 1: I was being me, I was around other players. I
4:43
Speaker 1: can do. I can just react. My second year of
4:46
Speaker 1: COVID hit. I'm not making excuses, but it was the
4:48
Speaker 1: reality of it. COVID hit. Hopefully we don't have any
4:51
Speaker 1: ghosts in here. Um, you know, COVID came so like
4:55
Speaker 1: my mentality of coming into that season. I wasn't physically prepared,
4:58
Speaker 1: sure you know, and I got hurt. When I got injuries,
5:01
Speaker 1: I wasn't you know what I'm saying. All that coming
5:03
Speaker 1: in my third year and then dealing what we dealt
5:05
Speaker 1: with I wasn't I wasn't mentally prepared. I came in
5:08
Speaker 1: physically because I told myself, I'm not gonna come in
5:10
Speaker 1: the season not physically prepared because I'm going to play
5:13
Speaker 1: every game this year. Then but then I had to
5:15
Speaker 1: realize I have to train my mind. And so that's
5:18
Speaker 1: all season. Man, It's just how can I group all
5:21
Speaker 1: this together and change my ways? And like I said, man,
5:24
Speaker 1: I can only control what I can control, and what
5:26
Speaker 1: I can control it can be it can benefit this
5:28
Speaker 1: team in a in a in a bright way. And
5:31
Speaker 1: for me, man, I just come to work. I'm not
5:32
Speaker 1: a I'm not a speech guy. I'm not a row
5:34
Speaker 1: r guy. I'll pull you side to side and we'll
5:37
Speaker 1: have a conversation with chatted up. But I want everybody
5:39
Speaker 1: to be the best selves, like I think for you
5:41
Speaker 1: can be all Pro. I think he is an all
5:44
Speaker 1: Pro backer. I think he has the statistics to be
5:46
Speaker 1: all Pro backer. You have to win, just like myself,
5:48
Speaker 1: I want to be a defensive player year. They're not
5:50
Speaker 1: gonna give They're not gonna give that award my rookie.
5:53
Speaker 1: They're not gonna give that award to the guys that
5:55
Speaker 1: aren't gonna winning team. So it's like, you know, you
5:57
Speaker 1: want to, you wanna, you wanna, you want to improve?
6:00
Speaker 1: Be a game you have to win, so you have
6:02
Speaker 1: to bring your best self every week. And I feel
6:04
Speaker 1: like we have we have guys that can do that
6:06
Speaker 1: and the guys that who when we do do it,
6:08
Speaker 1: we're gonna win a lot of games. So I feel
6:10
Speaker 1: like that's the mentality that I'm I'm on that mentality
6:13
Speaker 1: that we're all on, and you know, I think we
6:15
Speaker 1: all can be you know, Pro Bowl, PROB caliber players.
6:19
Speaker 1: We just have to put that work in. Even if
6:21
Speaker 1: we lose a game, come back next week and get better,
6:24
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So now that's gonna I'm
6:27
Speaker 1: excited about this group. I'm excited about Sunday and uh,
6:31
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be started something special. And the
6:33
Speaker 1: thing you're talking about not being quite mentally repaired last year,
6:39
Speaker 1: that's not a want to thing. That's more in your
6:42
Speaker 1: fourth year and now you realize what it takes, right,
6:45
Speaker 1: Like it was prepared, No, it was, it was. It
6:49
Speaker 1: was the demanding part of what what went through in house,
6:57
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So it was, you know,
7:00
Speaker 1: how can I process this but also trying to process
7:03
Speaker 1: something else at the same time, and it was conflict,
7:06
Speaker 1: was conflicting. So like I had to get a grass
7:08
Speaker 1: and I had to control the narrative. And I feel
7:10
Speaker 1: like this all season, I put you all with my
7:12
Speaker 1: narrative on what I want to be and when I
7:14
Speaker 1: want to take onto this team. So uh, like I said,
7:17
Speaker 1: I'm confident. Uh, I want everybody else to be around
7:20
Speaker 1: me confident. But for me to make everybody confident, I
7:23
Speaker 1: gotta make plays. And for me, I gotta be myself
7:27
Speaker 1: every day in practice, in the game, walk through whatever.
7:31
Speaker 1: We gotta be locked there, we gotta execute, we gotta communicate,
7:34
Speaker 1: and you gotta make your own place. So you know,
7:36
Speaker 1: I try to take that and try to feed that,
7:39
Speaker 1: but everybody's on the same page. You know what I'm saying.
7:42
Speaker 1: Everybody got the job, and everybody's doing their job. You know,
7:45
Speaker 1: you can't make every place, but you can make your
7:47
Speaker 1: own places. So and we got guys that make it
7:50
Speaker 1: their places. So I'm excited about this team. I'm excited
7:53
Speaker 1: about the offense. Trevor you know, and all the guys
7:57
Speaker 1: that he got like they got for him. The offensive
8:00
Speaker 1: line has been freaking holding their own. Uh. With James
8:04
Speaker 1: coming back, I'm so excited for James, Like I think
8:06
Speaker 1: him and Travis it's gonna be something crazy and I'm
8:10
Speaker 1: just excited to watch them now. And this is subject
8:14
Speaker 1: you have not talked about a whole lot. You talk
8:17
Speaker 1: like a guy in a contract year. Why have you
8:21
Speaker 1: in speaking out to the media about that. I just
8:24
Speaker 1: not really wanted to go there. It seems to me
8:26
Speaker 1: like it's about more than that for you. I mean
8:30
Speaker 1: the money. The money come with it, like you know.
8:34
Speaker 1: So if my goals is to win Defensive Player of
8:37
Speaker 1: the Year, is to be a first team a Pro
8:39
Speaker 1: that comes with it, you know what I'm saying. So
8:41
Speaker 1: why why would I lower my standard for one thing
8:45
Speaker 1: when I know if I shoot for the stars, they're
8:46
Speaker 1: gonna come with it, like a Pro Bowl. Like you know,
8:49
Speaker 1: guys want to win Pro Bows good like, But if
8:52
Speaker 1: you become all Pro, you can all Pro and Pro
8:54
Speaker 1: Bowl come with it, you know what I mean. So like,
8:57
Speaker 1: let's shoot for the stars and let's let's let's reach
8:59
Speaker 1: the star us because if you put that work and
9:01
Speaker 1: you can achieve it. Uh. So that's really my my thoughts.
9:05
Speaker 1: I know, if that That's just that's just how I feel. So,
9:08
Speaker 1: you know, and the money, the money is, the money
9:10
Speaker 1: is gonna come with it. I'm blessed. You know. My family.
9:13
Speaker 1: I want to set my family for generational wealth. That's
9:16
Speaker 1: that's been my biggest focus, you know, having my kids,
9:20
Speaker 1: having my first son in college. That was my main thought,
9:22
Speaker 1: his generational wealth. And I'm in a position to do that.
9:26
Speaker 1: Uh So you need the right things. All that takes
9:28
Speaker 1: care of itself. All that take care of yourself, got you,
9:30
Speaker 1: Trayvon Walker. I the relationship with him, uh it's the
9:37
Speaker 1: number one pick comes in. Some guys might feel threatened,
9:40
Speaker 1: you know, it's you know, but you have embraced this kid.
9:44
Speaker 1: I talk about your's relationship and what that can mean
9:48
Speaker 1: going forward for this team. I mean just personally coming
9:52
Speaker 1: in you know. Obviously you know my family was like,
9:55
Speaker 1: oh well I have no more, But for me, it
9:58
Speaker 1: was like I'd rather have too. He was the one dude,
10:02
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So like for me, it
10:04
Speaker 1: was like he's he's coming in to help me out, Like,
10:06
Speaker 1: and I'm coming here and help him out because when
10:08
Speaker 1: he's on his game, I'm gonna be on my game.
10:10
Speaker 1: So it was almost a competition, but we kind of
10:13
Speaker 1: grew that competition into moting each other, into getting each
10:16
Speaker 1: other better, which competition it does, but we kind of
10:18
Speaker 1: know what each other wants and needs are you know
10:21
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like we've had deep conversations that what
10:24
Speaker 1: do you want to achieve this ship? What do you
10:25
Speaker 1: want to achieve long term? You know what I'm saying?
10:27
Speaker 1: How is your family? How's this? How's whatever? You know
10:30
Speaker 1: what I mean? So we made it a little bit
10:32
Speaker 1: more deeper and that conversations that we do have. Man,
10:35
Speaker 1: it's just his deeper, especially when we're on the field.
10:38
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, He I mess up, He's
10:39
Speaker 1: on me. He messed up, I'm on them. We corrected,
10:42
Speaker 1: We communicate, and we just have to have that bomb.
10:44
Speaker 1: And I feel like we continue to do that. Man,
10:45
Speaker 1: continue to grow. But I think it's guy coming for
10:49
Speaker 1: for for both of us. You did so much this offseason,
10:51
Speaker 1: maybe as much as any player I've ever been around,
10:53
Speaker 1: in terms of you had a list of things you
10:56
Speaker 1: wanted to get done. What's the one thing maybe you've
11:00
Speaker 1: learned that you didn't expect to learn this ill see,
11:03
Speaker 1: but yourself about preparation, about what you gotta do. I
11:06
Speaker 1: mean for me, man, is to be in control of
11:11
Speaker 1: your life. You know what I'm saying at being in control,
11:15
Speaker 1: like literally everything that I do in my life, own
11:18
Speaker 1: and off football is for one goal. You know what
11:21
Speaker 1: I'm saying is to make sure my family is safe,
11:23
Speaker 1: my family is happy, and I become the best football
11:26
Speaker 1: player that I could be. And with that comes sacrifices
11:29
Speaker 1: and choices that you have to make. And for me,
11:31
Speaker 1: I have to be in control. I can't let anything
11:34
Speaker 1: dictate while I'm making a decision. I have to be
11:36
Speaker 1: in control of every narrative I try to be And
11:40
Speaker 1: that comes with laser. That comes with focus, That comes
11:42
Speaker 1: with preparation, That comes with dedication, you know what I mean.
11:45
Speaker 1: That comes with a routine. And for me, Man, it
11:48
Speaker 1: was to find my routine because I knew being around
11:51
Speaker 1: guys like I know, like I've done it before. I've
11:53
Speaker 1: had a lot of success, you know, nationally, So it
11:56
Speaker 1: was like I know what I had to do to
11:58
Speaker 1: get to that point. It was almost now it's on
12:00
Speaker 1: steroids because I'm in a I meant, I'm at the
12:03
Speaker 1: upper level. So it's like now that now the focus
12:06
Speaker 1: has to be ultra and for me, man is is
12:08
Speaker 1: just figure out how can I be in control of
12:11
Speaker 1: my life? How can I make the right choices? Because
12:13
Speaker 1: every choice that I make is going to dictate your life.
12:15
Speaker 1: So I tried to put myself in the best situation
12:17
Speaker 1: that I can about football, about life, about my family,
12:20
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, continue to grow. Two final things.
12:26
Speaker 1: I ain't a lot of fans who follow the Jaguars
12:28
Speaker 1: have heard the stories of you helping teammates after practice?
12:32
Speaker 1: Uh do you reach out to guys to help them?
12:35
Speaker 1: Do you wait for them to come to you? Uh?
12:38
Speaker 1: How do you lead on that front? Because I know
12:40
Speaker 1: you're very helpful? Then I work, you know what I'm saying,
12:44
Speaker 1: and they see it. Yeah, I mean if you want
12:46
Speaker 1: to come come on, like I mean for me, you know,
12:49
Speaker 1: I got to a point to where it was like,
12:51
Speaker 1: you know, and I used to be one of these guys.
12:53
Speaker 1: You know, I see somebody getting extra work and like,
12:56
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna like for me, it's being like, I'm
12:58
Speaker 1: not gonna tell you to get extra work if you
13:01
Speaker 1: don't want to get extra work. You know what I'm saying,
13:04
Speaker 1: That's not my role, that's not my that's your choice.
13:06
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It's not bad, you know
13:08
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But like I'm not gonna force my
13:11
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna Hey, I'm about to do this. You
13:13
Speaker 1: come do it. They don't getting out of anyway. You
13:15
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. You do, But you have to
13:17
Speaker 1: do what's best for your situation in your life. And
13:19
Speaker 1: if you think you do other things that's benefit you,
13:21
Speaker 1: I'm fine with it. But for me, I know, I
13:24
Speaker 1: think if I you know, if I'm well conditioned, I
13:26
Speaker 1: can play all full quarters. You know what, I I can
13:28
Speaker 1: get my legs under me, I can continue to rush physically,
13:31
Speaker 1: like physically and and and fast all full quarters. This
13:35
Speaker 1: is what I have to do to prepare for that.
13:37
Speaker 1: And for me, so that's what I That's how I
13:39
Speaker 1: take on the game. That's how I take on that mentality.
13:42
Speaker 1: And if guys want to come, let's get it. If
13:44
Speaker 1: you want to work something, if you ask me you
13:45
Speaker 1: want to work something, let's work. You know. I used
13:48
Speaker 1: to do it, like back in O. T S. When
13:49
Speaker 1: I was with the guys, like younger guys, I would
13:51
Speaker 1: pull them with me. You know what I'm saying, just
13:54
Speaker 1: just so I can get a relationship with them just
13:56
Speaker 1: so we can talk football. We can talk like we
13:59
Speaker 1: can established we could stoppish a relationship, cause that's what
14:01
Speaker 1: it is. Football is all about relationships. And for me, man,
14:04
Speaker 1: I want to build as many positive relationship. I want
14:06
Speaker 1: to build a happy workplace environment and I just want
14:09
Speaker 1: to have fun with each other. And I want when
14:11
Speaker 1: we do look like like if we lose, like I
14:13
Speaker 1: wanted for us to grow as it not to be
14:16
Speaker 1: upset orl be mad, but to grow and uh, you
14:19
Speaker 1: know That's where I'm at and gratitude you to be
14:23
Speaker 1: final question for me, um Doug earlier today. This has
14:28
Speaker 1: been recorded on Wednesday. Doug Peterson talked earlier today about
14:32
Speaker 1: the closest of his team and he's been impressed and
14:36
Speaker 1: I think happy about how close these guys have become.
14:40
Speaker 1: H since February, since it's I started coming together. Do
14:43
Speaker 1: you feel that as well? And when? And if so? Uh,
14:46
Speaker 1: how do you explain? Um, I mean training camp. We
14:52
Speaker 1: ain't got no choice, sure, you know exactly, So like
14:58
Speaker 1: the closeness is going to be there. It's how you
15:00
Speaker 1: doing jail And I feel like we've been jailing pretty cool,
15:02
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying from just just from the
15:05
Speaker 1: d line to the outside backers, to the to the
15:08
Speaker 1: middle backers, to the deep to the back end. We
15:11
Speaker 1: all jail like we like, we hang out, like we
15:13
Speaker 1: watch film. We all watch them together. We all communicate
15:16
Speaker 1: with each other because we have to set a standard,
15:19
Speaker 1: and the standard is football. Football is the main thing.
15:21
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep it the main thing. But when you
15:24
Speaker 1: communicate like that in football, it's only right to communicate
15:27
Speaker 1: like that outside of football. So so for us, it's
15:30
Speaker 1: all about having that relationship with each other and knowing
15:32
Speaker 1: each other's family, knowing each other's worth, and uh, just
15:35
Speaker 1: going out there and just playing, playing with the energy.
15:38
Speaker 1: It's not about money, you know what I'm saying. That's
15:39
Speaker 1: why I'm saying. It's not about the money when we
15:41
Speaker 1: go out there, it's about playing for one of them,
15:43
Speaker 1: playing for one another and for the offensively and defensively.
15:47
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, it's it's there. I'm not
15:50
Speaker 1: I can't really speak on everybody, sure, but I know
15:53
Speaker 1: from from my standpoint what I see in our locker
15:56
Speaker 1: room were mixed. So we have we we naturally have conversations.
15:59
Speaker 1: We naturally have deep conversations with God's we n actually
16:02
Speaker 1: play with each other, like we don't play with each other.
16:07
Speaker 1: You know what. I didn't want to put that out there,
16:09
Speaker 1: but we do. You know what I'm saying. We joke
16:11
Speaker 1: and you know we we we we do. We you know,
16:14
Speaker 1: we have a good time. And um, that's just our
16:18
Speaker 1: way of showing that we care for one another, you
16:21
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And uh, you know we like
16:23
Speaker 1: we said, we want to, we want to. We want
16:24
Speaker 1: people smiling here because we're gonna be happy. This is
16:27
Speaker 1: a happy year for us. This is Uh. I feel
16:30
Speaker 1: like this is a this is a turning point to
16:32
Speaker 1: where we're going to get to and I feel like
16:34
Speaker 1: it's gonna it's been started. I think we're still in
16:37
Speaker 1: the process and I think we're going to continue to
16:39
Speaker 1: still be in the process. But for right now, man,
16:41
Speaker 1: we're living in the moment. We're in a happy place.
16:43
Speaker 1: We're excited about Sunday, We're looking forward to Sunday, and uh,
16:48
Speaker 1: we're ready to go. Josh Allen as always and unsurprisingly
16:53
Speaker 1: living after your reputation is one of the best interviews
16:55
Speaker 1: in this team. And it's a busy week and I
16:57
Speaker 1: can't thank you. And after joining the Other Dame podcast
16:59
Speaker 1: this week, Good Block Sunday and hope you talk to
17:01
Speaker 1: you soon. Thank you, thank you, Thanks Laddy Goo Ball