Josh Allen confirmed he will not undergo offseason surgery on his troublesome elbow as he reflected on the Buffalo Bills' season after crashing out of the playoffs against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Allen suffered his elbow injury in the Bills' Week 9 loss to the New York Jets in early November, and despite trying to tough his way through it, it clearly affected his play.
The month of November was easily his worst of the season, throwing only four touchdowns with five interceptions over four games while also sporting a passer rating of 75.9 – far below the 98.8 figure he either reached or eclipsed in September, October, December and January.
Although his stats rebounded in the lead-up to and during the playoffs, Allen still appeared to be struggling with his elbow on certain throws, and he could only lead the Bills to one touchdown in the 27-10 elimination loss at home to the Bengals.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Allen acknowledged the pain in his elbow messed with his throwing mechanics but said the rehabilitation plan is simple.
"Rest and recovery is going to be really good for it," he said. "I mean, there was a period, obviously, right after, for a few weeks, where it was pretty bothersome – but again, it didn't affect me all that much.
"I just felt like maybe I was trying to throw it a little differently mechanically, had to change a few things and got away a little bit from how I'm used to throwing the ball. That's just a by-product of that.
"I think, really, two weeks ago is when I felt like I got back to mechanically what I like. Being the rotational thrower, it's very elbow prevalent, and maybe I got a little bit to more of a linear-type deal because I just couldn't really use all that much force and flicking it out there, but, again, just adapting."
When asked about what will stick with him from the 2022 season, Allen said he was proud of how his team came together during a string of traumatic events – including a deadly blizzard in Buffalo and the cardiac arrest of safety Damar Hamlin.
"The adversity that this team [has] overcome," he said. "There's a lot of stuff that happened to a football team that I don't know if it's ever happened before.
"Just battling through that with the guys in this locker room and us trusting each other. Obviously, we want to win, make no mistake about it. But I'm proud of how this team was able to fight through some of the stuff that we went through."
That sentiment was echoed by defensive leader Von Miller, who said: "It's an honour to be a Buffalo Bill. I've never been on a team that handled as much adversity in a season."