Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills
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Quarterback Josh Allen has officially arrived at Buffalo Bills training camp.
The week has finally come for Buffalo Bills regular-season football. In five days, Buffalo will kick off against the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of last year’s AFC Divisional Round Matchup.
Buffalo has yet to announce what jersey they will be wearing for the first game. But whatever color they are in, quarterback Josh Allen will have a new design on his.
Josh Allen Will Have a Golden NFL Shield
On September 2nd, the NFL announced a change to NFL jerseys. This will feature a Golden Shield NFL logo on the collar that will be given out to last season’s MVP and player of the year award winners.
“Some news — NFL MVP and Players of the Year will wear Gold Shield patches on their jerseys this season instead of the traditional NFL logo. Players with the patch: MVP Josh Allen, OPOY Saquon Barkley, DPOY Pat Surtain II, OROY Jayden Daniels, DROY Jared Verse,” Alaina Getzenberg wrote on X.
Allen brought home his first league MVP last season after finishing the regular season with 3,731 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, while rushing for 531 yards and 12 scores.
Last year’s MVP race was one of the most interesting the league has seen in quite a while. Allen was competing with Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson for the award. Jackson is a two-time league MVP, even putting up better passing stats than Allen last year, throwing for 4,172 yards and 41 touchdowns.
Allen was better than Jackson at getting the ball in the end zone with his legs. He had eight more rushing touchdowns than Jackson, which likely helped put him over the top.
Jackson will be able to get his revenge on Allen this week and show the world that he should be wearing the Gold Shield this season.
Adding the Gold Shield to every award-winning player from the previous season is a nice touch. It’s always easy to forget about the stars who claimed an award the year prior, since it happened seven months ago. Now, fans will be reminded about which players won what award when they look at their jerseys.
The Bills Will Have Changes Coming in The Year
The Gold Shield on Allen’s jersey isn’t the only new addition the Bills made to their uniforms this season. Buffalo is returning to the iconic red helmet with the white face mask the team wore full-time from 1987-2001.
Buffalo will wear the helmet in Week 18 against the New York Jets for the final regular-season game at Highmark Stadium. Next season, Buffalo will be moving into an open-air stadium. Two-thirds of the seats will be covered from weather elements, but the entire stadium isn’t closed.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had excellent things to say about the new stadium earlier this year.
“It’s a real thrill for a kid from Jamestown to be here today,” Goodell told the Bills media on April 4th. “I wish I were a kid going to the new stadium because it’s just remarkable,” Via Alex Brasky.
It’s a great time to be a Bills fan, with the team performing exceptionally well and the new stadium set to open in under a year. Hopefully, the Bills can send the old stadium off with their first Super Bowl win in team history.