Josh Allen carried the ball five times for four yards in Buffalo’s 29-26 loss to New England on Sunday. For a quarterback whose entire identity includes running through linebackers, that line was odd enough to start a rumor, and by midweek a chunk of the internet had decided it knew the reason: a hidden knee injury.
On Thursday, Allen closed the door. Asked by The Buffalo News reporter Jay Skurski whether an injury explained the five carries, he said, “There is no truth to that.” Then he added, “Feeling great.”
Believe him. The last month of production is about as clear as this stuff ever gets.
Seven Rushing Touchdowns Is Not a Bad Knee
Allen has 33 carries for 118 yards and seven rushing touchdowns through four games. Seven. One of them came Sunday, a two-yard score that somehow got filed out of the panic. Quarterbacks with ligament damage do not volunteer for seven goal-line collisions in a month.
The passing has held up too: 1,039 yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions on the season, including 23-of-33 for 253 yards against the Patriots. He has not missed a regular-season start since 2018.
The speculation traces to Week 3, when Allen took a low hit to the outside of his left knee on a scramble against the Chargers. He stayed in the game. He scored a rushing touchdown. He missed no snaps, he did not appear on the following week’s injury report, and Buffalo won 24-16. Head coach Joe Brady waved it off at the time, saying Allen is always a little sore after games.
There is no reported diagnosis here, no imaging, no named source. What circulated was a video clip and a lot of amateur orthopedics. The Bills have not announced a knee issue and Allen has not described one.
New England Just Had a Better Plan
The honest explanation for four rushing yards is that the Patriots took the run away from him, and Allen said so himself: “I think they had a good plan of keeping me rallied in the pocket.” A defense that keeps him between the tackles removes his most dangerous weapon without laying a finger on him.
It nearly did not matter. Buffalo still scored 26 points. What actually cost the Bills was two turnovers, including an Allen interception on their final offensive possession, which is how a three-point game slips away at home.
Buffalo is 3-1. New England is 2-2. The AFC East is going to be a street fight, and the real question for Brady in his first year is not whether his quarterback’s knee is intact. It is whether he will turn Allen loose against defenses built specifically to keep him in the pocket.
Monday Night Settles It
The Bills go to SoFi Stadium to play the Rams on Monday, October 12. Allen has given the only answer available to him, and the game will either confirm it or reopen every thread. Two scrambles for first downs in the first quarter and this story disappears for good.
Until then, treat it as what the evidence supports: a healthy quarterback who got out-schemed for one afternoon by a division rival that came in with a plan.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.