Getty New York Jets defensive lineman Quinnen Williams sacking Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen during an NFL game.
Buffalo Bills fans got a scare when Josh Allen suffered injury scares in consecutive practices last week and had to leave another this week with trainers, but the team’s offensive coordinator is assuring them that everything is all right with the star quarterback.
Allen took hard hits at practices on July 31 and August 1, with the second incident ending with Allen limping off the field to be tended to by the team’s medical staff. Allen had to leave practice again on August 7, thought was able to return a short time later.
“Upon coming back to the field, Allen did partake in team drills, signaling he’s OK. No update has yet to be provided in terms of what the QB had checked out,” Nick Wojton of USA Today’s Bills Wire reported on Twitter.
There had been some lingering fears after Allen spent much of last season nursing an injured elbow, but offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey gave the quarterback a clean bill of health this week and said the team will be doing more to protect him in the future.
No Worries for Josh Allen
Speaking to reporters on August 9, Dorsey said that there were no immediate concerns about Allen’s health after the incidents in training camp.
“Bills OC Ken Dorsey said that QB Josh Allen is fine after leaving practice briefly on Monday,” ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg reported on Twitter. “He said that Allen got stretched out when he left. He returned to practice after and fully participated.”
Ken Dorsey spoke to the media #BillsMafia
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Dorsey added that there are no long-term concerns about Allen’s elbow, which was initially injured in a loss to the New York Jets last November and remained a bother throughout the season. As Adam Zientek of AtoZ Sports reported, Dorsey hinted that the team will put more care into managing Allen’s hits going forward.
“Dorsey, looking to Allen’s future, also discussed how there is some thought to managing Allen as the years go on,” Zientek reported. “The superstar quarterback will probably have to limit the amount of hits he takes that are self-inflicted.”
That echoed statements made earlier this offseason by Bills general manager Brandon Beane, who said the team wanted Allen to take fewer risks and cut down on unnecessary hits in the future.
“The only thing I’d get on to him is he’s got too many bruises on him,” Beane said in a season-ending press conference, via the Democrat & Chronicle. “And we’ve got to work on taking less hits. That’s the only reason I’m going to ever criticize Josh is just take less hits.”
Josh Allen Supported His OC
Dorsey fielded some criticism for the disappointing end to last season, where the Bills scored just 10 points in a playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Allen, who had advocated for Dorsey to take over as offensive coordinator when Brian Daboll left last season to take the head coaching job with the New York Giants, stuck up for his coach.
“I thought he did a really good job of putting us in positions to be successful,” Allen said via video conference after the loss to the Bengals. “I got to be better for him, and especially when he gives me some shot plays. I turned the ball over too many times this year. Didn’t really bite us all that much, only losing three games in the regular season. But there’s opportunities where it could have. And just taking a deep dive into that and understanding defenses as well as I can and just trying to make the right play moving forward.”