The Bills named offensive captains at the outset of the season, along with the other two phases of their game. Pat DiMarco and LeSean McCoy were chosen by their teammates when the season began and for good reason. Both players are respected in their locker room and have Pro Bowls on their resumes. But as the 2018 season winds down there's another offensive leader who has emerged.
"Josh is a leader," said head coach Sean McDermott. "That's a little bit different for a rookie to be the leader, but the position he plays and the way that he's played and earned their respect, he's the leader on the offense. The goal is to have one leader in every position room, but that's not always realistic."
McDermott said Allen's leadership is a relatively new development that surfaced in the second half of the season.
"I would say probably in the last couple of weeks, really, after he came off the injury and the way he worked through the injury," said McDermott of Allen's leadership role. "Really, you become the leader by earning the respect of your teammates. He was willing to do that early on. He didn't try to jump out in front early on when he hadn't earned it."
McCoy and DiMarco have certainly served their side of the ball well as leaders this season, but with McCoy injured and DiMarco's time on the field on offense limited by game plans, Allen's emergence has been openly welcomed.
"Overall, we've got a young offense, and that's been well documented, probably because of that, but also because of the way Josh has developed," McDermott said. "I think if you polled the players, most would say that Josh [is the leader]. Certainly, LeSean does good things as well, but Josh, because of the quarterback position, has become the leader."
McCoy not practicing, Ivory participating
Buffalo's running back depth could be tested this week with LeSean McCoy trying to recover from a hamstring injury this week.
"McCoy will not practice today," said head coach Sean McDermott. "We'll see. We'll just take it one day at a time right now."
The good news is Chris Ivory, who left last week's game late in the second half with a shoulder injury is participating.
"He'll be good to go today in practice," said McDermott.
The Bills are running a non-contact practice Wednesday on the heels of what was a very physical game against the Jets last Sunday.
Buffalo called rookie RB Keith Ford up from the practice squad Wednesday, who will serve as insurance behind Ivory and Marcus Murphy in the event that LeSean McCoy doesn't recover from his injury in time to be available Sunday against the Lions.
"Keith was brought up. We had two (open) spots," said McDermott. "We both brought Keith and Dean Marlowe up. For a rookie, Keith has worked extremely hard since day one and continues to earn the right, so we brought him up this week."
Hopeful for Hauschka
Also not practicing Wednesday was kicker Stephen Hauschka, with a hip injury stemming from the blind side hit he took after his blocked kick in Sunday's game.
Coach McDermott however, isn't concerned to the point where he feels he'll have to go out and find a new kicker for this weekend's game against the Lions.
"Overall we feel rather confident at this point in the week that he'll be ready to go (Sunday)," McDermott said.
Hauschka was able to finish the game after taking the cheap shot hit from the Jets defensive lineman. He attempted three more kicks after sustaining the injury.
