Josh Allen excited to face his old Wyoming teammate Logan Wilson

ORCHARD PARK - Unlike Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow who has played against many of his old LSU teammates on defenses all around the NFL, Buffalo’s Josh Allen has rarely faced anyone from his days at Wyoming.

There are currently seven Wyoming players on NFL active rosters, practice squads and reserve lists who were teammates of Allen’s at some point during his time in Laramie including Bills practice squad receiver Tanner Gentry.

Five are defensive players, but Allen has only played against Carl Granderson (Saints defensive tackle) and Andrew Wingard (Jaguars safety), both last season. Monday night, a third will be added to the short list when he goes against Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson.

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“We call him the Governor,” Allen said with a smile. “He’s in my phone as ‘LJ Wilson the Governor.’ Obviously a Wyoming kid, went to Wyoming. He’s going to run for office there one day and he’s going to win it.

“We spent a lot of time together in Laramie. Our football team was extremely tight. It’s always fun to see your friends and your brothers succeed at any level. He’s playing some really good football right now. He’s got the whole state behind him.”

If Wilson actually wants to turn to politics, that will have to wait because he’s making a fine career for himself in the middle of a stout Cincinnati defense.

“He’s a smart, very talented player,” Allen said. “He can recognize routes, he flies around, he makes plays. Off the field he’s one of the best dudes you’ll ever meet. Looking forward to that. It’s always fun. I try to jersey swap with all my teammates in college. Hopefully he’s got one for me.”

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Allen and Wilson were teammates in 2016 and 2017 during which Wyoming went a combined 16-11. Allen was the star quarterback and Wilson was the top defender as he recorded 205 tackles in those two seasons. Ultimately, Wilson closed his four-year career in 2019 with 409 tackles, and the Bengals picked him in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Wilson became a full-time starter in Cincinnati last year and finished with 100 tackles in the regular season and 39 more in four playoff games. This season he’s already at 115 and according to Pro Football Focus his 48 stops (defined as tackles that constitute a failure for the offense) are 12th-most among all NFL linebackers. For comparison, Matt Milano leads the Bills with 44 stops.

“I’m proud to be his former teammate,” Wilson said of Allen Tuesday during an interview on Cincinnati Bengals Talk. “I knew that talent was there. In college, he was just very raw. Those skills weren’t as developed. Sometimes those things just take time. They obviously had a good coaching staff that brought out the best in him. What he is today didn’t happen by chance.”

The one thing Wilson will try to avoid is becoming the latest in a growing list of Allen leap memes.

“He’s been known to hurdle some guys,” Wilson told Kay Adams on her Up & Adams podcast a couple weeks ago. “He’s a freak athlete, truthfully. And he’ll also run you over so you gotta worry about everything he’s going to do when he’s got the ball in his hands.”

Cole Beasley staying patient

The wide receiver who re-signed with the Bills a couple weeks ago has played sparingly in his two games back with the team, seeing only 17 snaps on offense with two catches for 18 yards.

“Competitive fire, you can’t take that away from a person,” Beasley said, acknowledging that, of course, he’d like to be playing more. “But last week was a weird game. The wind was crazy, we were running the ball really well. We’re gonna do what it takes to win whether I get six snaps or 30. I’m cool with that.”

The Bills have only one practice squad elevation left on Beasley and they’ll likely use it for this game. For Week 18, he won’t be able to play unless the Bills sign him to the 53-man active roster. However, once the postseason arrives, Beasley would be eligible again to be activated off the practice squad on a game-to-game basis.

As for getting back into the groove of preparing and playing, and making sure he’s on top of the playbook, none of that has been an issue.

“There’s nothing that we’re doing now that I didn’t know already,” he said. “There’s a few new things but it wasn’t anything crazy. It was still stuff that we ran, we just call it a little different. Most of the things I’m trying to do is getting into the rhythm of getting used to practicing every day and getting my feet back up under me and just having my body ready for the most part.”

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Ike Boettger thrilled to be back with team

When Ryan Bates had to leave the Chicago game briefly and Greg Van Roten had to slide over to center, Boettger made his season debut almost a year to the day after he suffered a torn Achilles. He played six snaps on offense and five more on the placekicking protection unit.

“It was nice just getting back out there and proving to myself I can still do it,” Boettger said. “Just getting out there, even if it’s for a few plays, was awesome.”

Coach Sean McDermott has spoken a couple of times about how difficult it was for Boettger to recover from that particular injury, and all the behind the scenes hard work he put in to be in position to help the team late in the season.

For Boettger, he’s thrilled to have all that behind him and it’s all about “just trying to focus on what I can do to help the boys and help the team in whatever form or fashion that is. It was a long journey and something that I think will help me the rest of my life just as a dad and a husband and a man. It was bigger than football, but football wise, I feel great again and that’s all I was shooting for and it’s good to be back.”

Western New York blizzard relief is underway

Donations to help offset the cost of the recovery from the deadly Buffalo snow storm are starting to come in and the Bills, the NFL, and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York have stepped up in a big way.

Each organization is contributing $100,000. A portion of the funds will be allocated immediately to region-wide storm-relief efforts and the rest of the money will be used for the future needs of the community over the next couple months.

“Yeah, difficult situation, difficult circumstances,” McDermott said. “Great to see that money, that contribution going to a good cause and helping the people of Western New York and everyone affected by the storm.”

Allen added, “Obviously it’s very tragic, extremely sad. It’s hard to find the right words to describe it. I know the Pegulas and the Bills have donated some money. I want to help some way, somehow, just trying to find the right spot to help. But I know there’s a lot of families impacted and my heart goes out to them. They keep talking about these storms once in a lifetime. It’s just extremely sad. I don’t know how else to put it.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Ex-Wyoming teammates Josh Allen and Logan Wilson meet Monday night