The waiting game to see whether or not Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will be starting against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10 is reaching a fever pitch. While head coach Sean McDermott called Allen “day-to-day” earlier this week after the superstar injured his throwing arm against the Jets in Week 9, he gave a slightly more positive update on Friday, November 11.
During an appearance on WGR 550, McDermott said they have not yet ruled Allen out for this Sunday’s game. “Today we’re going to literally take it one hour at a time and see how things go through the course of today and then go from there,” McDermott said. Hour-to-hour is definitely an upgrade from day-to-day, especially since the latter is how McDermott described safety Jordan Poyer earlier this week, and the All-Pro safety was officially ruled out for Week 10 on Friday morning.
However, the most telling update on Allen’s status was revealed by ESPN reporter Alaina Getzenberg. “Media was just allowed in the field house after practice,” Getzenberg tweeted on Friday afternoon. “Josh Allen ran off the field in his practice jersey. First time this week we’ve seen him wearing it.”
While Allen’s official status will likely remain in limbo until the active roster is announced before kickoff on Sunday, November 13, Allen didn’t participate in practice all week, so Bills Mafia was thrilled to see a move in the right direction.
Syracuse.com‘s Matt Parrino confirmed Getzenberg’s report. “Allen was on the field when we were let into the field house for open locker room. He quickly ran off and into the building,” he tweeted.
News 1 Buffalo report Jon Scott actually caught the moment on camera. “Here is Josh Allen at the end of #Bills practice today,” he tweeted. “No brace or sleeve seen on right elbow, but appears to be taped.”
Here is Josh Allen at the end of #Bills practice today.
No brace or sleeve seen on right elbow, but appears to be taped.
Once he notices media inside the team’s fieldhouse, Allen runs off to locker room.
While the bulk of fans cheered on the positive news on Twitter, as it’s hard to imagine Buffalo would allow their $258 million superstar to practice if he wasn’t medically clear to do so, others weren’t quite sure what to make of this Allen sighting. One man tweeted, “Anyone feel like Josh is just having fun trying to mess with the media?” while another person responded, “No I honestly think he hates this and just wants to play.”
@agetzenberg MCD was like ok put this on and run off the field quick!
“He’s screwing with us just like the red helmet prank. He’s not playing this week,” one person assumed, while another man wrote, “Oh he’s playing.” One fan tweeted, “I would consider that it is a good sign even if he doesn’t play this week that it seems he is throwing.”
Several people expressed the belief that this was McDermott’s attempt to keep Allen’s status under wraps. “Don’t tip off Minnesota,” one fan tweeted to Getzenberg, while others believed this was possibly a trick to make the Vikings think Allen will be playing when it’s obvious he won’t. One person shared a GIF of Conan O’Brien twiddling his fingers in a conspiratory way and wrote, “MCD was like ok put this on and run off the field quick!”
NFL Insider Says Allen Told His Teammates He’ll Be Ready to Go
Coach McDermott: Josh Allen is day-to-day and we will see if he plays on Sunday.
Of course, if the decision was up to Allen, he’d be suiting up no matter what when the Bills host the Vikings at Highmark Stadium on Sunday. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweeted on Wednesday, “Word is Josh Allen has expressed confidence to teammates he’ll be able to play Sunday vs. the #Vikings but that’s what I’d expect him to say. We’ll see as Sunday draws closer for the #Bills’ franchise QB.”
While McDermott has refrained from defining Allen’s exact injury, NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport reported earlier this week that “Allen is believed to be dealing with an elbow sprain, a UCL sprain, which is something actually he has had in the past,” and that it’s “not considered to be a major, major injury. Which means the belief is that it is something he can play through.”
Allen previously suffered an elbow sprain during his rookie year at Wyoming in 2018. The injury kept him out for four games.
“I’m not saying that he is definitively playing this week. That is described to me as being up in the air,” Rapoport continued. “Essentially, we do not know if Josh Allen is going to be on the field this week. From what I understand, he is expected to be limited in practice and then will be judged day-by-day to see how he progresses.”
The Bills Remain Slight Favorites to Beat the Vikings in Week 10
While backup quarterback Case Keenum possibly getting the start against his former team on Sunday continues to gain momentum, it’s also quickly affecting the team’s betting odds to win.
While the Bills were initially favored to beat the Vikings by 9.5 points, those odds dropped to 7.5 points following Allen’s injury, and with his status up in the air, Buffalo is now deemed 3.5-point favorites, per Fan Duel.
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Video of Bills QB Josh Allen at Practice Turns Heads on Twitter