Bills' Josh Allen wasn't 100 percent amid MVP performance vs. Lions

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen produced a performance worthy of future Most Valuable Player Award votes as the Bills opened their new Highmark Stadium with an impressive 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. 

During the Amazon Prime Video postgame show, former NFL player and current analyst Richard Sherman broke some news regarding Allen's status for the Week 2 contest. 

Josh Allen had a "flu game" against the Lions

As shared by the Fox Sports Australia website and Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, Allen was dealing with an illness while preparing to face the Lions.

"You were shivering in a hot tub before the game," Sherman said while speaking with Allen. "You're getting IVs. You didn’t want to get admitted, but you were having a 'flu game' of your own. How does it feel to accomplish that?"

Allen neither confirmed nor denied Sherman's revelation, but the update may give Allen's far-too-early MVP candidacy an extra boost. Against the Lions, he completed 20-of-31 passes for 248 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 69 yards and two additional scores on 14 attempts.

Joe Brady: Josh Allen "gave everything he had out there" against Lions

Like Allen, first-year Bills head coach Joe Brady did not directly confirm that the signal-caller was less-than-100-percent on Thursday night. However, it sounds like Brady was particularly impressed by what Allen was able to accomplish. 

"You watch how [Allen] plays, and it’s like, how does everyone else not feel like they need to empty it out," Brady said, per Matt Parrino of Upstate New York. "Because he literally gave everything he had out there. He put the team on his back in a lot of those situations."

The StatMuse website shows that three quarterbacks ended Week 1 of the season sharing the league lead of four combined rushing and passing touchdowns. To compare, Allen produced nine total touchdowns over his first two games of the campaign. 

"(I’m) Seeing it really well right now," Allen said after Thursday's win. "Still a couple times, maybe trying to do too much and put the ball in harm’s way. So I gotta keep just again letting the game come to me. And our guys doing such a great job in man and zone, finding windows and catching the ball. So just keep doing that." 

The Bills will next have a home game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 27. The 0-1 Chargers host the 1-0 Las Vegas Raiders this coming Sunday.