A week after the Buffalo Bills lost to the Houston Texans in the first round of the 2019 NFL playoffs, Josh Allen returned home to Northern California and went golfing with three buddies, Greg Panelli, Dominic DeFrancesco and Nolan Sorensen.
Once the foursome finished their round at Dragonfly Golf Club in Madera, Calif., they went to lunch at the PressBox Sports Grill in northeast Fresno, where they walked into the restaurant in the third quarter of Houston’s second-round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I won’t be over this until we start playing again,” Allen told reporters in Buffalo a week earlier, the morning after the Bills blew a 16-point second-half lead and were ousted from the postseason 22-19 in overtime. His anguish was still raw.
But now, a year later, Allen is an NFL MVP candidate and the Bills are preparing to face the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs in the AFC championship game Sunday in Kansas City.
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And his friends from back home, who have known Allen since high school or earlier, spoke to The Buffalo News to recount one of the most unusual meals they’ve ever shared:
Panelli: “Josh came back and obviously wanted to get out and clear his head a little bit and then we went to go grab some lunch, and right when we walked in, it was just Chiefs fans everywhere. I remember walking in and just looking over at him watching the game and I could just tell, and he said a couple of times, ‘Man, we should be here. We should be here. We should be here.’ ”
DeFrancesco: “Just knowing how competitive he was growing up, it was really tough sitting there. We were trying to have a good time and watch the game and Josh is just kind of beside himself, because he just knows he shouldn’t be with us watching the game. He should be playing in it.”
Sorensen: “People didn’t even really recognize him at the time. It’s just like a lowkey pub. We had Buffalo wings and had a beer and watched the football game after a round of golf.”
Panelli: “I remember the waitress looked at his ID and she said, ‘Wait a second.’ And she looked up at him and then looked back down, and she’s like, ‘This is – you’re the Josh Allen?’ And he’s like, ‘Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ And that’s how Josh is. He’ll (mess) around all the time. Always having fun.”
DeFrancesco: “Golfing, we’re not trying to talk about (the Bills) too much. We were trying to unwind, have a good time on the course.”
Sorensen: “It’s fun going out there. It’s a public course, and we don’t really know anyone there. We just go out and have a good time. And it’s a longer course, too. Josh can hit the ball about a mile, especially if he plays his little ‘butter cut,’ as we like to call it, and so he just rears back and lets it fly. Some call it a slice. Some call it a butter cut. Pick your poison.”
Panelli: “I definitely won that day. This was the first time (we played last year), so of course his rebuttal was, ‘Well you had the chance to play. I’ve been playing football.’ ”
DeFrancesco: “But sitting there at the PressBox and just looking at Josh – never once did he chime in on the game or a play or anything – he just kind of sat there and watched and didn’t really say much.”
Panelli: “I could just tell in his face, I wouldn’t say he was aggravated, but it was getting to him a little bit. He knew they were just a few plays away from playing another week, from playing against the Chiefs.”
Sorensen: “It really wasn’t that weird until they started showing highlights of him playing. And then I’m looking at him and looking at his highlights on TV and then we’re all kind of laughing, joking.”
Panelli: “I think, determination wise, that unsettling feeling of knowing that we were in there watching in a town in the Central Valley that he’s familiar with, and people are starting to get familiar with him and who he is, that was kind of a reminder about where he’s at and where he’s come from, but also where he’s heading."
DeFrancesco: “I think the loss to Houston fueled him a ton. And not just the loss. The loss sucks, but the doubt that came with it. ‘Is Josh the guy for Buffalo?’ I think getting (quarterback Jake) Fromm in the next draft class kind of ignited that fire under him again and he acted like, ‘I’m going to come out this season and show you guys that I am the quarterback for this franchise.’ ”
Panelli: “I almost saw like something clicked and he realized, ‘What are some of the things we could have done different?’ And those things were replaying in his head. He mentioned a few plays that could have gone differently, that would have changed the outcome of the game.”
DeFrancesco: “Everything that came after that loss and what people were saying really fueled the fire to establish himself as the franchise quarterback in Buffalo. We all know that’s where we’d prefer Josh to be. We love when he’s down playing golf with us, hanging out, but we’d much rather have him go all the way to the Super Bowl.”
Sorensen: “I hope he gets to play in the Super Bowl against (Tom) Brady. That was his guy growing up. I went to the (Bills’ regular season) game a couple of years ago when they were playing the Patriots and Josh was hurt that game. He’s always been a big Brady fan, so I know he wants to play Brady in the Super Bowl.”
Panelli: “Cornhole, golf, football, video games, constantly talking (junk). That’s what gets him to tick, is being competitive and knowing he belongs on that stage, too. And going into this year, he finally realized, ‘This is where I belong. I can settle in.’ And now we’re watching him heading to the AFC championship game.”
DeFrancesco: “It’s due. He’s due for all this. Everyone knows when you talk about Josh, he took the JUCO route, he had one DI offer at Wyoming. He’s been putting in this work for a long time.”
Panelli: “Later, at the end of the game, we’re leaving. And I get up and turn around because we’re facing the TV and our backs are to the rest of the restaurant, and there’s about 15 people lined up at the bar and everybody’s looking at us as we’re walking out of there.”
Sorensen: “And then Josh said something like, ‘I don’t think I’ll be playing golf with you boys this time next year. I think I’ll be playing football still.’ And we’re all kind of laughing and joking like, ‘Oh, sure. We’ll see about that. We’ll be right here waiting for you.’ ”
