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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPNSep 23, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
- Alaina Getzenberg is a staff writer who covers the Buffalo Bills and the NFL. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. You can follow her via Twitter @agetzenberg.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen arrived at his first news conference of training camp as the fans cheered him.
Sitting down after the first practice at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford, New York, the Buffalo Bills quarterback — a noted lover of camp — complimented the fans. He spoke about how appreciative he was to be there and the supportive environment.
Then, Allen made a serious announcement.
“I won the inaugural Catan game last night against Dawson [Knox], Dalton [Kincaid] and Spencer [Brown], ” Allen said. “So, make sure you let ’em know that. It was a … pretty sweet win.”
Bills quarterback Josh Allen, “I am the Lord of Catan throughout training camp.” Perry Knotts/Getty Images
Settlers of Catan — a world-famous board game — has been a staple of the team’s extracurriculars for years, mainly surfacing during camp. It’s part of the milieu of playing in Buffalo, the second-smallest NFL market. Catan and other amusements have helped create camaraderie and perhaps help lift the Bills to a 2-0 start going into Monday Night Football against Jacksonville (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
LIVING IN A smaller city means inventing ways to spend time together. Buffalo is a community that lives and breathes its sports teams, which makes it tough to go out in public without being recognized.
“There’s less to do in Buffalo,” left tackle Dion Dawkins said. “We’ve got to lean more on each other to have a good time … you don’t really not want to be outside, but you don’t really want to be outside because you can’t hide, and it’s not like we’re trying to hide. It’s just sometimes you just want a second to just let the shield down. … We enjoy hanging out with each other. Like a couple of us have really, really nice established homes and we want to put ’em to use.”
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The gatherings come in many forms. Veteran Von Miller has introduced dominoes to teammates and center Connor McGovern holds handmade pizza parties at his home. Rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman described Allen’s house as so nice that “I’d never leave if that was my house” and said all it is missing is a bowling alley, something he has jokingly offered to add.
There are also games in the Bills team facility including corn hole and ping pong. Last year, a small card table was added and players often partook in Uno — with audible results for a Draw 4.
Team bonding has been a “point of emphasis,” per third-year wide receiver Khalil Shakir. The Bills underwent significant change this offseason, with eight new starters in the lineup for Week 1.
“Obviously, when we first started doing it, it was such a new team, it was getting to know each other, but now, I mean, we’ve done it so much where everybody’s clicked and our team chemistry is great,” Shakir said. “I always feel like the closer the team, the better the performance will be on the field, you know? Cause you’re playing for each other.”
FOR A SUBSET of players that bonding comes from playing Settlers of Catan, sometimes referred to as just Catan.
Catan is a board game created by Klaus Teuber that was first sold in Germany in 1995. It is now available in over 40 languages and more than 40 million games have been sold, with online versions also available. National competitions are held. The civilization-building game is based on strategy. The object is establishing settlements using resources (cards earned) that are acquired or traded to continue to expand the settlements. The standard game includes three or four players. Each player starts by placing two settlements and two roads on the board. The first person to 10 or more victory points wins. Catan’s strategy draws comparisons to those of Monopoly and Risk.
It may not be a game traditionally associated with professional athletes — however, the Bills are one of several teams that play the game.
The core settlers of the Buffalo Bills are QB Josh Allen, tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid and offensive linemen Spencer Brown, Ryan Van Demark and Tommy Doyle. Peter Joneleit/Getty Images
The core settlers are Allen, tight ends Knox and Kincaid and offensive linemen Brown, Ryan Van Demark and Tommy Doyle.
Allen says he began playing in 2020. With so many meetings on Zoom that year due to COVID-19, it was an opportunity to keep in touch and play online. The quarterback describes the game as a “fun way to clear your mind.”
Doyle and Brown first learned how to play during their rookie year of 2021 from offensive lineman Ike Boettger and center Mitch Morse, a member of the Bills from 2019-23 who is now with the Jaguars. Morse will be one of two former team captains — wide receiver Gabe Davis is the other — facing the Bills on Monday night.
“Settlers was already a thing before [Brown and Doyle] got there,” Morse said. “I kind of brought it to Buffalo, just in general. I don’t want to toot the old horn here, but [it] took off. “
Morse has continued playing in Jacksonville with some of the offensive line, but that it doesn’t happen as much as in Buffalo with players living more further apart.
Brown was hesitant when learning the game, only to come full circle on it.
“Like a lot of board games that I play, like new games, I’m like, ‘This is stupid, like this is a dumb game’, and then the competitiveness gets into it,” Brown said. “You finally understand the scheme of everything. I got it on my Nintendo Switch, I got it on my phone now. I got it everywhere.”
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The consensus among the group is Allen is the best player with Kincaid a close second. In one standout performance by the quarterback, he did not place a single new settlement outside of the initial two, and just built the cities — no roads, and won through development cards.
“He got 10 points in two cities, ” Brown said. “It was dumb as hell.”
Brown’s strategy was to build the longest road when he first started, but now he thinks the ports are the key. Knox agreed on the ports and said he thinks you need “a diversified portfolio of numbers.” Kincaid refused to share his strategy.
Bring up Doyle upsetting Knox to get to the final table at the end-of-training camp tournament — which started with six players, ending with four in the final game — and everyone has something to say about it.
Knox remembers being unfairly targeted in the loss and joked that he’s still processing it, while the others call it a major upset. The game allows for a players to collude against each other and trade resources, something Knox has fallen victim to, or so he claims.
On this occasion, a few opponents traded with Allen, allowing him to build five roads, taking the longest road from Knox. Allen revealed his victory points and took away the win. In the tight end’s words, “He won, left me out of the tournament and they all cheered.”
“No, Dawson wants to play the victim, but he’s just not … He didn’t make it to the final board game for a reason, ” Kincaid said.
Knox, well, objected.
“I’m easily the most ganged-up upon player at Catan,” Knox said. “Of course [Kincaid] said that wasn’t the case. He’s already trying to get out front of it cause he knows the truth. They always gang up on me cause I’m typically the person who would win if I wasn’t ganged up upon. So that’s the only chance they have.”
Knox says Allen is to blame.
“Josh is kind of the ringleader ’cause he’s like the most persuasive,” Knox recalls. “He’s like, ‘Oh, Dawson already has six points. Y’all know what to do, start blocking him.’ Then nobody trades with me. It’s all right. I still fight though. I still win every now and then, but they’ve made it harder for me.”
The final round had its own share of drama.
“That one was some bulls–t, I should have won that,” Van Demark said. “It’s all government politics and conspiracy, because they’ll be like — Dawson’s the worst. They’ll be like, ‘Oh, why are you coming at me? Like Josh is winning. Like, go after Josh, go after Josh,’ and then boom. Like, Dawson wins. Spencer does it too. Spencer’s the worst at it. He’ll be like, he’ll put the blame on everybody else, and then he’ll end up winning. It’s government conspiracy that’s what’s going on.”
“God, I just hate when Josh wins, honestly,” Knox says of Allen during their Catan games, “…we’re definitely not teaming up against him, but we just, we hate when he wins.” AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
The Bills have had new players try the game, including kicker Tyler Bass, linebacker Terrel Bernard and punter Sam Martin. Martin took part in one game and didn’t get hooked, but said he is open to trying again.
“I kept getting the cards wrong,” Martin said. “I’d be like, ‘I need rocks.’ They’re like, ‘You need bricks, not rocks.’ I’m like, ‘What the hell?’ I couldn’t get it down.”
Winning is a point of pride, and Allen’s competitiveness has provoked his competitors.
“I just hate when Josh wins, honestly,” Knox said. “But no, it’s been fun. We’re definitely not teaming up against him, but we just, we hate when he wins. “
“Oh, it’s me or … Dawson’s going to say everyone teams up against him, but I think I’ve got them,” Allen said. “I am the Lord of Catan throughout training camp, so it’s an honor.”
Allen said the season starting has resulted in the game being played less, but that “I’m sure it’ll pick back up soon.”
With the season fully underway, the focus is on what is ahead, including the possibility of starting 3-0 for the first time since 2020 and beating a Jaguars team that has won the last two meetings.
While this version of the Bills continues to build over the season, the bonds — and competitiveness — built in Western New York have been “pretty sweet” as they continue to build what they hope to be their longest road … to the Super Bowl.
Michael DiRocco contributed to this story.
