Allen addresses elbow injury, doesn't expect surgery

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen said Monday that the right elbow injury he suffered in Week 9 against the New York Jets bothered him for most of the season's final stretch, forcing him to change his throwing motion for several weeks.

Allen, who downplayed the impact of his elbow ailment on Sunday's 27-10 divisional-round loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, added that he and the team don't believe offseason surgery is "necessary at this time."

"There was a period obviously right after for a few weeks where it was pretty bothersome ... Just kind of felt like maybe I was trying to throw it a little differently," Allen said, according to Heather Prusak of News 4 Buffalo. "Mechanically, (I) had to change a few things and got away a little bit from how I'm used to throwing the ball. That's just kind of a byproduct of that. But again, it didn't affect me too much."

He added: "Rest and recovery is going to be really good for it."

Allen said his throwing mechanics didn't improve until the start of the playoffs.

"Really, two weeks ago was when I kinda felt I got back to, mechanically, what I like," he said.

"Being the rotational thrower, it's very kind of elbow-prevalent, and maybe I got a little bit to more of a linear-type deal cause I just couldn't really use all that much force and kind of flicking it out there. But, again, just adapting."

Allen sustained the injury in November late in the fourth quarter against the Jets. He didn't miss any snaps because of the issue, but the Bills listed him on their injury report for multiple weeks.

The 26-year-old posted a 59.2% completion rate for 617 yards and three touchdowns against three interceptions in two playoff games this season. He added one score on the ground.

Allen emerged as an MVP front-runner in the first half of the season as Buffalo won six of its first seven games. But the star signal-caller couldn't sustain that pace and finished the campaign with an NFL-worst 23 total turnovers (including the playoffs). The Bills' defense also regressed, giving up at least 400 total yards in three games following Week 9 after holding its opponents under 400 yards through the first eight weeks of the season.

* Week 17 vs. Bengals canceled.

Buffalo entered the playoffs as the AFC's No. 2 seed after going 13-3. The Bills averaged 28.4 points per game during the regular season to rank second behind the Kansas City Chiefs.