Rams’ Jalen Ramsey has change of heart toward Bills’ Josh Allen
Los Angeles cornerback Jalen Ramsey has now joined the chorus of naysayers who have changed their tune about Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
To remind, Ramsey did not have a glowing review of Allen coming out of college. The cornerback seemed like a petulant scouting director who wanted to put his stamp on his evaluative skills.
Here’s what Ramsey said in a GQ article from August 2018:
I think Allen is trash. I don’t care what nobody say. He’s trash. And it’s gonna show too. That’s a stupid draft pick to me. We play them this year, and I’m excited as hell. I hope he’s their starting quarterback. He played at Wyoming. Every time they played a big school—like, they played Iowa State, which is not a big school in my opinion because I went to Florida State, and he threw five interceptions, and they lost by a couple touchdowns or something like that. He never beat a big school. If you look at his games against big schools, it was always hella interceptions, hella turnovers. It’s like: Yo, if you’re this good, why couldn’t you do better? He fits that mold, he’s a big, tall quarterback. Big arm, supposedly. I don’t see it, personally.
To add to the disrespect, Ramsey was not accurate with this critique, as Allen never played Iowa State.
But this week’s game was the tipping point for Ramsey.
Allen torched the former All-Pro cornerback, throwing three touchdowns on a 26-of-31 passing day. Allen finished with 297 passing yards.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs smoked Ramsey, and Allen found his standout wideout for a 53-yard touchdown reception.
Pro Football Focus highlights the damage the Bills inflicted on Ramsey:
#Rams CB Jalen Ramsey allowed a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in Week 1, per @PFF's initial grading.
He was targeted seven times, allowing six receptions for 124 yards and 2 TDs.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) September 9, 2022
Now, Allen is a perfect 3-0 against Ramsey’s teams. The QB has thrown for 768 yards and rushed for 163 yards against Ramsey’s teams.
To top it off, Allen has scored 11 total touchdowns in three games.
After the game, Ramsey put it succinctly: “We got our a– beat. Straight up,” via ESPN.
Now it looks like Ramsey is becoming a believer of Allen. On Straight Off the Press, the veteran cornerback slides some praise into thoughts regarding Allen.
His growth has been crazy. So usually I think about quarterbacks like Josh Allen who went to small schools like Wyoming, other quarterbacks you may be able to point to. Carson Wentz came from a small school, even Big Ben (Roethlisberger) went to Miami of Ohio. Quarterbacks like that? They are, in essence, a project, you know what I mean? In terms of the talent they faced so I feel like they drafted off of potential.
Ramsey added to his thoughts on how Allen has become an elite quarterback:
A project in essence. Allen’s got all the intangibles, got the size, can run the ball, got the big arm. He’s like one of those projects that turned out like he’s the real deal. They hit on that project. Sometimes you don’t see that. A guy might have a good year and then they fade off. Eh, that project failed a bit. They hit on that one. He really developed. I don’t know who their coaches are, obviously, credit to him too though. Whatever they were doing, they got him to the level where he’s a top-five quarterback.
Ramsey’s quotes from 2018 will haunt him. And Allen’s potential has come to fruition.
The quarterback has developed like no other player in Bills history. It took Jalen Ramsey four years, but now he’s a believer.
