Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen took all the blame for his team’s 22-16 loss to the New York Jets on September 11, but a new report speculates that there may have been other factors at play in the poor performance for Allen and team.
Allen struggled against an aggressive Jets defense, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble as the Bills lost to their divisional foe in overtime on Monday Night Football. Though Allen accepted full blame for the performance, a report from The Big Lead speculated that Allen may have suffered a concussion from a hard hit during the game.
Though Allen was not taken out for an injury and the team has not reported any injury, video of Allen hitting the turf hard sparked speculation on social media.
Josh Allen ‘Looked Lost’ Against Jets
The report speculated that an apparent hard hit to the head may have affected Allen throughout the game.
“Allen looked like he might have hit his head on the MetLife Stadium turf on two separate occasions,” reporter Stephen Douglas noted. “One came while running the ball, the other was while he was throwing his second interception of the game.”
The report added that Allen looked off during the game, especially after the second interception.
“Allen looked lost on that replay, but he could have just been reacting to the interception,” Douglas wrote. “Still, his play for most of the second half made you wonder if something was wrong. He turned the ball over two more times after that — another interception and then a fumble on a play where he didn’t catch a snap cleanly, then ran into one of his own teammates and lost the ball.”
The New York Post’s Mike Rosenstein picked up on the report, noting that “social media was buzzing” during and after the game on Monday night with speculation that Allen may have suffered a head injury.
There was a very real injury on the other side. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered what appears to be a season-ending injury early in the game, with head coach Robert Saleh saying it was a torn Achilles tendon. Saleh said not all hope is lost, even though Rodgers made it just four plays into the season.
“I don’t know why people are trying to put an obituary onto our team name,” Saleh said, via NBC Sports. “Aaron is an unbelievable piece to this whole thing, and we love him, but I think there’s 52 other guys in the locker room, plus the 16-practice squad guys who believe that we can do a hell of a lot of good things here. We’ve got a championship-caliber defense. We’ve got great skill guys on the offensive side of the ball. Our offensive line is continuing to gel and get better. We’re excited about our group.”
Allen has been hounded by the Jets before. He was hurt in last November’s loss to the Jets, suffering an elbow injury that never forced him to miss a game but did bother him over the course of the season.
Josh Allen Vows to Bounce Back
After placing the blame on himself for Monday’s loss, Allen said he’s ready to move on and hoped to rebound in next week’s home opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Yeah, it’s not like I’m going out there and trying to throw interceptions,” he said, via NFL.com. “I guess we’ll find out on tape, try to correct it and got to correct it fast. We’ve got a short week and can’t let this game turn into two.”