Josh Allen practices without elbow brace, sleeves

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen sprained his throwing elbow at the end of a November 6 loss to the New York Jets. Today, November 22, Allen was spotted throwing at practice—without a brace on his elbow—for the first time since the injury.

Allen did caution reporters after practice that the session being a walkthrough contributed to the lack of a brace, though the fact that he was spotted throwing at all by media still represents a step in the right direction.

Allen has played in each of the Bills’ two games since the sprain occurred—a 33-30 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and then Sunday’s 31-23 win over the Cleveland Browns—with mixed results. He had been in an elbow brace, on a limited throwing count both in practice and in pre-game warmups, and wore sleeves on each game day. The brace removal and, seemingly, uptick in throwing reps are encouraging signs for his injury prognosis for the remainder of the season.

Buffalo’s star quarterback has been in something of a slump of late, with turnovers plaguing him (and the team’s overall performance) from the second half of the win against the Green Bay Packers through most of the first half of the Browns game. After starting that game 4-of-10 for 27 yards, however, Allen ended the game on a 14-of-17 heater for 170 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. He looked a bit hesitant at times against Cleveland; whether that was a byproduct of reeling himself in to avoid turnovers, or issues with his elbow, remains to be seen.

The Bills fly back to Michigan tomorrow (Wednesday) for a Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Detroit Lions.