JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jaguars outside linebacker Josh Allen made NFL history on Sunday ... thanks to Buffalo's Josh Allen.
When the Jaguars' Allen sacked the Bills' Allen for a 10-yard loss with 21 seconds to play in the first half, it marked the first time that a player sacked another player with the same name.
Josh Allen sacked Josh Allen 🤯 pic.twitter.com/RJz2CKHIV9
— ESPN (@espn) November 7, 2021
In order to further ensure that it will be a tough task for another player to top in the future, the Jaguars' Allen intercepted the Bills' Allen late in the third quarter and recovered a a Bills' Josh Allen fumble in the fourth quarter. So he's now the only player in NFL to record a sack and an interception against a player with the same name.
Elias Sports Bureau did not find any exact matches of names involving sacker and sackee, but said it's impossible to say with 100 percent certainty that it has never happened before because of different variations and spellings of first names -- such as James and Jimmy, for example.
And to be completely transparent, the names aren't completely the same. The Jaguars' Allen has no middle name, but the Bills' Allen is Joshua Patrick Allen. But that's a bit of nitpicking. When it comes to first and last names only, it doesn't appear there has been an instance where someone sacked their namesake.
Especially when you consider there have been some quarterbacks with pretty unique names that have played in the NFL: Terry Bradshaw, Rayne (Dak) Prescott, Tony Romo, Fran Tarkenton, Aaron Rodgers, Roger Staubach, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, Trevor Lawrence, Blake Bortles ... you get the idea. Surprisingly, the Jaguars' Allen didn't seem all that excited about potentially earning a piece of NFL history.
"That's the goal," said the Jaguars' Allen. "I told myself I'm not chasing. I'm going to let the play come to me. Take one play at a time and when that play comes, I'm going to do what I do."
The Bills' Allen, who entered the game with 17 TD passes to three interceptions and is third among quarterbacks with 269 yards rushing, and the Jaguars' Allen have never met. But they have messaged back and forth on Twitter and Instagram, especially after the Jaguars' Allen was taken with the seventh pick in the 2019 NFL draft -- one year after the Bills took their Allen with the seventh pick.
The Jaguars' Allen, however, did get an email once about a business opportunity that would have been somewhat lucrative. He was excited about it, until he realized it was supposed to go to the quarterback.
"I'm not going to tell his business, but I got an email [that was supposed to go to the other Allen] and I'm reading [it and] I'm like, 'Oh yeah!'" he said. "Then I went to the bottom and I was like, 'I don't think this one was for me.' It would have good if it was on me, I'll tell you that.
"I'm excited about this one, not just because who we're playing against or him, but just the team and how that team's been playing recently."