It absolutely was a “come to Jesus” move that Mc D did with starting Allen. Before the bengals game, one of the sideline reporters was talking about how McD would occasionally have to tell Josh things like “at some point you will get your ass kicked” to ground him a bit.
The bengals game wasn’t an exposure to game planning but it was an exposure to the speed of the game. There was, IMO, no plan to ever start Allen day 1 and that game was to show Josh what was what. And I’m glad they did it. That game will do more for Allen than lighting it up against Cinci ever would have.
And yes, it’s weird how much people hate him. Every time someone makes a rational observation someone immediately posts something in direct contrast to it.
I just saw cowherd say Allen looked rattled and overwhelmed vs cinci. Allen was alot of things in that game but overwhelmed and rattled was no where near what was going on. He’s not ready, but he’s got more stones and composure and talent than anyone that’s been in here in a long time .