Josh Allen ‘Day-to-Day’ with Elbow Sprain

The Minnesota Vikings face the Buffalo Bills on the road Sunday in a matchup of two of the best teams in the league at the halfway point of the season.

The Bills have at least a few players described as ‘day-to-day’ by Bills’ head coach Sean McDermott, and one of those players is starting quarterback Josh Allen. Allen sprained his elbow in the Bills’ loss to the Jets last weekend after having his arm bent awkwardly under pressure while attempting to throw the ball. It is being described as an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament or UCL. Allen was able to continue and complete the game last Sunday following the injury, and even through a 70-yard incompletion so the injury is unlikely a severe one.

However, it’s a long season and the health of Josh Allen down the stretch is more important to the Bills than his availability against the Vikings on Sunday. Allen will be limited in practice this week (he didn’t practice on Wednesday), and my guess is that the Bills will be cautious in determining if Allen can play this weekend. It wouldn’t be surprising if Allen was sidelined for precautionary reasons and to give his elbow more time to heal.

Betting markets reflected the uncertainty of whether Josh Allen will play on Sunday, with the Bills line moving from -6 to -3.5 on that news. It had been as high as -9.5 earlier in the year. That suggests the expectation is that it’s more likely Allen won’t play on Sunday.

In the event that Josh Allen doesn’t play on Sunday, the Vikings will face former Viking Case Keenum at quarterback. Keenum will have a familiar target in Stefon Diggs, but Vikings fans will be hoping that there will be no miracles in Orchard Park on Sunday.

The Bills have a few other injured players that will either be questionable or out on Sunday as well. DE Greg Rousseau suffered a high ankle sprain last weekend and is described as ‘week-to-week’ suggesting he’s unlikely to play against the Vikings as well. Safety Micah Hyde has been on IR and will not play, and the Bills other starting safety Jordan Poyer missed last weekend and is described as ‘day-to-day’ along with LB Tremaine Edwards. The Bills’ other starting LB Matt Milano missed last weekend with an oblique injury but may be more likely to play this weekend against the Vikings.

It will be interesting to see how things progress this week with the various players likely to be on the Bills’ injury report, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the focus for the Bills was on getting healthy rather than getting players available for the Vikings on Sunday for an inter-conference matchup.

Stay tuned.