Regardless of what happens in Week 18, the Buffalo Bills are locked in the No. 2 seed in the AFC, making their Week 18 game against the New England Patriots rather meaningless for them.
With this in mind, most would assume that the Bills would be sitting the majority of their starters. Especially star quarterback Josh Allen, who has frequently been on the injury report throughout the season due to a multitude of hand injuries in both his throwing and non-throwing hand.
Instead, Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters on Tuesday that Allen will be playing on Sunday for a “very very short-lived amount of time” against the Patriots.
“Josh Allen will be out there for a very, very short-lived amount of time on Sunday,” said McDermott.
Perhaps the Bills will use their Week 18 game as essentially a preseason game where we see Allen for only a few offensive possessions.
Regardless, it’s a bit of an odd choice to play Allen at all considering what’s at stake for the Bills. Any kind of serious injury to Allen in Week 18 would of course make the Bills essentially a non-competitive team in the AFC postseason instead of a true contender.
There is also another potential factor as to why Allen may be asking to play some in Week 18.
Even though he has publically said that he doesn’t care about winning the MVP Award as much as making a deep postseason run, Allen does find himself in the thick of a highly competitive MVP race against Lamar Jackson.
Maybe Allen would like to make one last impression with a couple of impressive drives against the Patriots in Week 18.
Regardless, Bills fans will surely be on the edge of their seat hoping Allen doesn’t put his body in harm’s way against the Patriots.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.