Longtime acquaintances Derek Carr, Josh Allen meet up as Raiders host Bills

Derek Carr and Josh Allen first crossed paths seven years ago at a summer camp at Fresno State.

Carr was the star quarterback for the Bulldogs at the time, and Allen was a scrawny high school kid hoping to get a scholarship offer from his local college and follow in Carr’s footsteps.

That offer never materialized and Allen eventually ended up at Wyoming before becoming a first-round pick by Buffalo in 2018. Now he gets the chance to play against Carr when the Bills (3-0) visit the Las Vegas Raiders (2-1) on Sunday.

“It’s unbelievable,” Carr said about Allen’s rise from the time they met at the camp in 2013. “I think that’s the last time I was taller than him. He sprouted up. He went on to Wyoming and did fantastic things. We don’t text each other all the time or anything like that. I got too many kids running around. But everything I know about him, he’s a great person. He’s a heck of a competitor. He is having a great year, a hot start to the season.”

After an up-and-down start to his career, Allen has reached another level this season. He has thrown for 1,038 yards and 10 touchdowns in leading the Bills to three straight wins and also has run for two more scores.

He has a franchise record two straight games with at least four TD passes and tied Jim Kelly for the Buffalo record with three 300-yard passing games in a row as experience and the addition of Stefon Diggs have made a major difference.

“I think the better I play, the more I know, the more comfortable I feel, and it’s going to just cycle,” Allen said. “So I’ve just got to stay on top of it, understand what the defense is doing. Understand that it’s really about what they do, it’s about how we react to what they do.”

Allen’s fast start has caught the attention of Raiders coach Jon Gruden.

“The quarterback is eye-opening,” he said. “He is a fun guy to watch, man. He can really throw the ball. He’s got a great playing style. He’s got a lot of John Elway playing style. He can scramble, he’s strong, he’s tough. He’s a big-time player. And they’ve got an arsenal around him.”

Allen always believed Raiders receiver Rico Gafford had NFL-caliber talent. The two were teammates at Wyoming, where Gafford played defensive back before making the switch to receiver with the Raiders.

“I wish like heck he was on the offensive side of the ball when I was there because he was unbelievably fast,” Allen said.

Unlike Allen, who was selected with the seventh pick in the 2018 draft, Gafford was an undrafted free agent, who first signed with the Tennessee Titans before spending most of the 2018-19 seasons on the Raiders practice squad. He then scored a touchdown on a 49-yard catch in his second NFL game.