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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- For the first time in his career, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will not play in the preseason. Coach Sean McDermott said during his news conference Thursday that Allen will not be participating in Saturday's third and final preseason game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He did not play in either of the team's previous two games. McDermott said that they are still making decisions on some of the other first-team players for the game, but that Allen will not play. "[You've] got the reigning MVP, and I feel that he's shown to this point that he's in a good spot," McDermott said. McDermott noted his responsibility to protect Allen and the team, and that Allen is "on schedule and he's looked good." Allen has only not participated in one team period during training camp, but has otherwise been a full participant, including in the team's joint practice at the Chicago Bears last week. He said last week that, "I don't think I need preseason reps. If I were to get them, I'd appreciate them, but I don't think it's a situation where we need to get out there. " Going into his eighth season, Allen is coming off his first MVP season and the fewest turnovers (eight) and sacks (14) of his career. The Bills quarterback said earlier in the week that if he wasn't playing, he still would do conditioning before the game as he did last week. "Just making sure that, you know, game reps, it's a lot different," Allen said. "The amount of exhaustion that happens during a game, you can't really rep it. So, just making sure I'm as in control of that as possible and making sure I'm getting extra reps conditioning." When it comes to the rest of the first-team players participating in the final preseason games, McDermott said that they are taking each as a case-by-case basis. "Right now, I'm not just going to make a blanket statement of, yeah, all the ones are playing, all the ones aren't, because that's not going to be the case," McDermott said. "So, that's the best I can share with you guys right now." McDermott did say that safety Cole Bishop will play some in the game after missing time during camp due to a quad injury. Bishop was one of two projected starters (wide receiver Joshua Palmer) to play in the second preseason game. There is another question mark in the Bills' secondary as projected starting cornerback Tre'Davious White left Thursday's practice early with an apparent lower body injury.
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