Josh Allen didn’t just make a cameo in the Buffalo Bills’ preseason opener. He got real work.
That was the surprise in Buffalo’s first exhibition game, because head coach Joe Brady had already made his stance clear: if a player was healthy, he was going to play. Allen was on the field for the Bills’ opening possession, which ended in a field goal, and then he was right back out there for one more series that finished with a Keon Coleman touchdown. For a quarterback who has barely touched preseason football in recent years, that was notable.
Allen logged 15 snaps against the Carolina Panthers, good for 22% of Buffalo’s total plays. Kyle Allen had 27 snaps and Shane Buechele had 25, so Josh Allen wasn’t the focal point of the night, but he was involved far more than you’d normally expect in August.
The last time Allen played in a preseason game before this one came on August 10, 2024, against the Chicago Bears. He appeared in that game for just eight snaps, or 12% of the team’s total.
The starting offense still got two drives that day, but the reps were shorter because the drives didn’t go very far. Allen did not play at all in the 2025 preseason before the regular season began, and he had a strong opener against the Baltimore Ravens once the games counted.
Go back another year, and you find Allen’s previous busiest preseason outing: August 19, 2023, against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played 16 snaps in that game, which was 27% of the team total.
Kyle Allen and Matt Barkley handled 24 and 20 snaps, respectively, and the Bills’ second drive was long enough to pad the numbers, even though it ended in a punt. Allen also played against the Bears in Week 2 of the 2023 preseason, though he had less action there than he did against Pittsburgh.
The bigger question is whether Allen was just out there to shake off rust or actually asked to do something. Against Pittsburgh in 2023, he went 7 of 10 for 64 yards, with no sacks, touchdowns, or interceptions.
That game featured 10 passing downs and six rushing ones. In the 2024 preseason game against Chicago, Allen barely threw at all, finishing 2 of 3 with no sacks, touchdowns, or interceptions.
That workload broke down to three passing downs and five rushing downs.
This year was a different story. Allen threw eight passes and took one sack across nine passing downs in his 15 snaps, which came out to 60% of his playing time.
That lines up much more closely with the 2023 Steelers game than the lighter 2024 outing against the Bears. The stat line was also much more substantial: 111 passing yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
His longest completion went for 32 yards, compared with a 15-yard long in the other two games. He finished with a 156.2 passer rating, and in neither of the earlier games did he even get to 90.
So what does it mean? Mostly that Brady backed up his word.
If a player was healthy, he played. Maybe the new scheme on offense made it worthwhile to get Allen and the starters into rhythm.
Maybe Brady simply sees preseason differently than Sean McDermott did. Or maybe there was a little extra motivation to have Allen be the first player on the field at the new stadium.
Buffalo won the coin toss, sent Allen out first, and then opened with him on the field. That much was plain enough.
In Other News...
Bills Suddenly Need Answers On Keon Coleman After Promising Start
A promising start to the week turned into a concern when Keon Coleman was nowhere to be seen in Buffalos open practice session ahead of the joint work with Cleveland. The third-year receiver had been one of the more encouraging storylines early on, so any interruption to his momentum carries extra weight for a Bills offense trying to sort out its options before the Browns arrive for joint practice.
Colemans absence stood out even with several other players sitting out practice, since most of those absences are not believed to point to anything major. Still, the sight of Coleman dealing with an injury leaves Buffalo with an immediate question at a position where continuity matters, and the team will be watching closely to see how much of this is just a brief setback and how much more time it might cost him. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Stadium Reveal Just Put Fresh Heat On The Bills
The Browns unveiling of their new domed stadium design did more than generate buzz in Cleveland. It also added a fresh layer to the conversation in Buffalo, where the Bills recently revealed their $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium plan and immediately found themselves answering questions about the sightlines in some seats. In a league where stadium renderings can turn into talking points almost overnight, the timing made the contrast hard to miss.
Clevelands concept is already being framed as a clean answer to one of the biggest fan complaints around modern builds, with reportedly unobstructed views from virtually anywhere in the building. For the Bills, who are trying to sell a future home that balances atmosphere, comfort and cost, that kind of rollout only raises the bar. The architectural details in Buffalo are still going to be debated, but the Browns just gave that debate a new reference point. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Fringe Standouts Just Made Buffalo's Roster Battle A Lot Harder
The Bills used their first official game at Highmark Stadium this preseason to take a long look at the full healthy roster, and that included plenty of work for the starters as Joe Brady sorted through the early roster picture. Buffalo handled the Carolina Panthers while also giving several fringe players a chance to make a case, with Deone Walker, Kani Walker, Mike Danna, Javon Solomon and Ian Wheeler all standing out in ways that could matter once cutdown decisions get serious.
For a team that always seems to find competition at the bottom of the roster, that kind of showing only makes the next few weeks tougher. The Bills do not have many easy answers with the 53-man deadline approaching, and performances like these can force the staff to keep digging, especially when younger or less established players keep turning preseason snaps into real arguments for a longer stay in Buffalo. [Read more 🡒]