Bills HC: Josh Allen to Start vs. Patriots amid Streak, Play 'Short' Amount of Time

The Buffalo Bills are locked into the No. 2 seed in the AFC standings and will treat their Week 18 contest against the New England Patriots somewhat like a preseason game with quarterback Josh Allen taking the field for only a short amount of time.

Head coach Sean McDermott told reporters Monday the plan is for Allen to be "out there for a short" amount of time, which is notable because it will preserve the quarterback's ongoing 114-game start streak.

McDermott also said the team will play "some starters" and rotate in other players they want to see get some game action.

The most notable development with such an approach is Allen given the streak, which underscores the quarterback's overall durability as he developed into one of the best signal-callers in the league.

"One of the things that we know is very, very important to [Allen] is his consecutive starts streak, if you will, and it's important to him for a great reason," McDermott said. "He wants to be out there with his teammates and so he will be out there for a very, very short-lived amount of time and then he'll be off rather quickly there."

That he will be taken out of the game shortly after it starts is also notable, though, as Allen is in the middle of an MVP race alongside other candidates such as Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Saquon Barkley.

Jackson and Burrow are still battling for playoff positioning and will presumably play their entire games in Week 18, so the Bills' leader will sacrifice the opportunity to put up some individual numbers in the middle of that MVP race.

Still, he has made quite the case for himself while leading Buffalo to a 13-3 record and completing 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and six interceptions to go with 531 yards and 12 scores on the ground.

He will likely see his streak of seasons with more than 4,000 passing yards end at four, but he and the Bills have their sights set on a far loftier goal with the opportunity to win the Lombardi Trophy.

Buffalo hasn't made it past the AFC Championship Game during Allen's tenure in large part because of the presence of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Bills won the head-to-head showdown this season, are playing excellent football and wouldn't have to worry about another battle with Kansas City until the AFC Championship Game.

Keeping Allen healthy for a potential long playoff run is key, so the team won't take many chances in a meaningless contest against the Patriots.