Coach Joe Brady promised that if a player was healthy, they were playing in the Bills’ first preseason game. Honestly, who really thought that included star QB Josh Allen? I was ready to bet my last dollar that he’d suddenly develop a mysterious, last-minute hangnail. But then, number 17 actually took the field on the Bills’ opening possession. What? That first drive ended in a field goal, and I was sure that was it. Nope. The starters got one more drive, capped off by a Keon Coleman touchdown. Turns out, this was the most preseason football action Josh Allen has seen in years. And that’s gotta be huge for the team’s prep.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Allen’s Unexpected Workload
Let’s break down exactly how much action Allen actually got. He played 15 snaps against the Carolina Panthers, which was about 22% of the team’s total snaps. For comparison, Kyle Allen and Shane Buechele both got more, with 27 and 25 snaps respectively. So yeah, Josh wasn’t exactly out there for the whole game, but he wasn’t just doing a quick cameo either. He led two drives, picking up that field goal and that Keon Coleman score.
This is a massive shift from last year. Seriously, in the entire 2025 preseason, Allen didn’t play a single snap. He went straight into the regular season and still put up a good opening night against the Baltimore Ravens. You have to go all the way back to Week 1 of the 2024 preseason, way back on August 10 against the Chicago Bears, to find the last time Allen played at all. That was over two years ago! In that 2024 game, he had only eight snaps, which was 12% of the team’s playing time. He had two drives back then too, but they weren’t exactly barn burners, which explains the shorter play time. To find a preseason game where Allen actually played more than this year, you gotta rewind one more year. On August 19, 2023, he logged 16 snaps against the Pittsburgh Steelers, amounting to 27% of the team’s total snaps. Kyle Allen and Matt Barkley played 24 and 20 snaps in that one. Allen also had two drives in that Steelers game, though a long second drive that inflated his snap counts ended in a punt. He even played in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears in 2023, just less than he did against Pittsburgh.
More Than Just Showing Up: Actual Reps
So, was Allen just nominally on the field for show, or was he getting some real warm-up reps in this time? Let’s look at the stats from that 2023 game against the Steelers as a baseline. That day, Allen was 7 of 10 passing for 64 yards, with zero sacks, zero touchdowns, and zero interceptions. That breaks down to 10 passing downs versus six rushing ones. Contrast that to 2024 against the Bears, where he was “definitely not out there to play.”
This year, getting those 15 snaps, leading two drives, and connecting for a touchdown with Keon Coleman? That’s not just a token appearance. That’s real, tangible work. Getting those game reps, even in the preseason, when he hasn’t had them in years, can only be a good thing for a guy like Allen. As the regular season gets closer, those live-action reps are priceless, giving him a chance to fine-tune things and build chemistry before the games actually count.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Buffalo Rumblings.
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