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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will not play in his team’s 2021 preseason opener on Friday against the Lions in Detroit. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott announced that on Wednesday prior to the Bills’ final practice ahead of the game.
On the entire starting group, McDermott said decisions on players will be made on an “individual basis,” however, in terms of the QB, he will not be out there.
“A number of the starters won’t play, there will be some starters that do play,” McDermott said.
The coach did express that he’s happy that the preseason is back after the NFL got rid of it in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Allen and the team’s offense had a breakout season a year ago without exhibition games.
Considering that, it’s not exactly a big deal to not many starters on offense play. The defense, which is looking to have a bit of a bounce-back year, might be a different story.
The last time the league did see preseason games in 2019, the schedule was different. There were four exhibition contests in the preseason back then, but now with an added regular season game, there are only three.
When asked how the Bills might handle the other two preseason games in terms of starters playing, McDermott was non-committal.
Earlier in the week, Lions head coach Dan Campbell announced that Detroit will play their starters for roughly a quarter.
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