The Buffalo Bills already weren’t expected to be a good football team in 2018, and now they’ve lost their starting quarterback to injury.
A.J. McCarron reportedly suffered a hairline fracture in his collarbone during Buffalo’s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns on Friday night after taking a hit from Myles Garrett.
.@buffalobills QB A.J. McCarron suffered broken collarbone in preseason game against the #Browns 😣
➡️ https://t.co/QAMro8JyV3🎥: @NFL pic.twitter.com/5KobPwvoIU
— Yahoo Sports NFL (@YahooSportsNFL) August 18, 2018
McCarron was also crunched by Myles Garrett on the #Bills third drive of the game pic.twitter.com/7zoPmFTooc
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) August 18, 2018
Via BuffaloNews.Com:
Buffalo Bills quarterback AJ McCarron suffered a hairline fracture in his collarbone in Friday night’s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, The Buffalo News has learned.
A source close to McCarron confirmed the injury.
McCarron is likely looking at a 6-10 week absence, which would obviously prevent him from playing the Bills’ Week 1 game at the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 9. That leaves Nathan Peterman and first-round pick Josh Allen as the options to start at quarterback.
Peterman was absolutely brutal as a rookie in 2017, throwing two touchdowns, five interceptions, and putting together a passer rating of 38.4.
And then there’s Allen, the highly talented seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft. Allen wowed evaluators leading up to the draft, due to his size, ridiculous arm talent, and athleticism. However, his production left plenty to be desired in college, even with a bad supporting cast at Wyoming. And his accuracy was frankly awful.
But all of the *talent* is there for Allen to put it together, and that’s been put on display through two preseason games.
Allen has completed 18 of 32 passes for 176 yards, two touchdowns, and a 92.7 passer rating. On Friday night, he made a tremendous play to avoid pressure in the pocket and throw a touchdown pass:
Give me an IV of this.
On this play Josh Allen:
-Stands tall in the pocket
-Keeps his eyes up with pressure around him
-Accurate on an off balance throw#Bills pic.twitter.com/gGTSgHWs58— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) August 18, 2018
The September part of the Bills’ schedule is very difficult: at Ravens, vs Chargers, at Vikings, and at Packers.
For a raw rookie quarterback, that could be rough. Very rough. But in what’s viewed as a rebuilding season, being able to get Allen’s development accelerated immediately may not be the worst thing. And his talent alone likely gives the Bills a better chance than Peterman to win right now anyway.
UPDATE: Several days later, ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported that A.J. McCarron *did not* break his collarbone.
Tests have revealed that Bills QB AJ McCarron did not suffer a fracture in his collarbone, per a source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 20, 2018
And he’ll be back at practice soon.
McCarron is expected to return to practice soon, per source. So another twist to the Bills’ QB competition. https://t.co/igzEOItFYd
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 20, 2018