There was a case to be made that Josh Allen was the best player on the field in Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as the Buffalo Bills quarterback finished 36 of 54 for 308 yards with two touchdowns and one interception (86.1 rating) and rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Allen became just the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in a game (regular season or postseason). He accomplished the feat while dealing with a leg injury, resulting in the Bills quarterback wearing a walking boot after the game.
“He’s a warrior and he played his butt off,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said after the game. “It doesn’t surprise me. It didn’t surprise you I’m sure. That’s why the guys love him, that’s why, you know, he’s our quarterback.”
Allen was in a noticeable limp during the fourth quarter of the Bills’ overtime loss, yet insisted he wasn’t coming out of the game. He threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and led Buffalo on two scoring drives after the leg injury, leading Buffalo from a 17-point deficit to come back and tie the game before falling short in overtime.
“I think there are many teams that would have folded in that position,” Allen said. “Especially, coming out in the second half and we didn’t move the ball like we wanted to early. Getting the ball back at half. Like I said, we’ve just got guys that want to win. We want to be great.
“With how we responded in that second half, again, that’s a team we have to beat moving forward. We understand that, we know that. I don’t expect anything else.”
Brady, who has faced Allen plenty when he was quarterbacking the New England Patriots, certainly was complimentary with Allen’s performance. The Buccaneers quarterback wasn’t surprised Allen was able to put up those numbers against Tampa Bay’s defense.
“He’s a great player,” Brady said. “He has been kind of playing that really unique style — part quarterback, mostly quarterback, but he’s got that running ability and they give him a lot of quarterback runs and he does a great job with it. He’s a real threat back there.”
The extent of Allen’s injury is expected to be revealed Monday, but the Bills quarterback doesn’t expect to miss time. Based on how Allen gutted out Sunday’s game and with the Bills fighting for a playoff spot, sitting and missing snaps isn’t an option anyway.
