The Buffalo Bills needed a victory to get things back on track and despite it not being the powerful statement, Buffalo did end up defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18 on Thursday Night Football.
The victory didn’t come without drama, as Bills quarterback Josh Allen apparently avoided an injury that occurred as he was tackled near his feet by Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker YaYa Diaby forcing Allen to land on his right throwing shoulder and bring both social media and NFL journalists to speculate on if a major injury occurred.
Allen got up and scored on a 13-year touchdown run on the very next play.
“Took a little, little fall on it and felt a little funky about it, but you know, just trying to keep it warm and keep it loose,” Allen said, according to ESPN’s Alaine Getzenberg. “I’ll be sore for a couple of days, but we’ll be fine.”
Allen went to the medical tent, and Bills head coach Sean McDermott said that he was informed that Allen would not be available, which prompted Bills backup quarterback Kyle Allen to start getting ready. However, Allen came out of the tent and started throwing the football a few minutes later, and would head back to the field.
“I’m always concerned about anyone’s injury, in particular Josh’s,” McDermott said. “He’s so tough, so competitive. It didn’t surprise me when they said, ‘Hey, he’s going back in.’ … You’re gonna have to take his helmet from him to keep him from going back out there. So, I mean, he’s a warrior.”
McDermott added that he has emphasized sliding to Allen, which Allen did at the end of a 9-yard run on a third-and-five play.
“I’m done saying [that he needs to slide.] I’m done saying it. He knows. So, he knows,” McDermott said. “So, if he’s gonna run, he needs to slide. He knows that. So that conversation’s been had over and over and over again, so short of hitting him over the head with a baseball bat, knocking him out, it’s his job to slide.”
Aside from the drama, there was a it of history as Allen became the first player in Bills history with at least five rushing touchdowns in each of his first six seasons, passing Thurman Thomas for the longest streak to begin a career in franchise history.
“It’s always good to get those runs where you’re not taking any hits,” Allen said. “I slid, so that’s a plus. But again, just getting everybody involved and I think that’s another thing that defenses have to worry about. And if they don’t, we’re gonna have to be able to utilize that going forward. And again, I don’t think it’s something that you can major in and live in continuously, but if the opportunities are there, we got to take advantage of them.”
