Josh Allen played through pain more than once this season. However, that edge still didn’t carry him to the Super Bowl. What it did do was leave him needing an immediate foot surgery once the season ended. And that surgery sparked a strange little moment online after a Buffalo resident and longtime Bills fan happened to cross paths with the quarterback on a morning walk.

The fan, Dave, shared a photo that quickly made the rounds. In it, he’s standing next to Allen, smiling, with Allen holding the phone for the picture. SportsCenter reposted the image along with Dave’s original caption, and the framing made it seem as if Allen was being a bit too casual with a freshly repaired foot.

“The fan mentioned Josh Allen was walking around without his boot 👀”

That didn’t sit well with Dave once the reaction picked up. He jumped into the comments to clear things up, saying the context was missing.

“He didn’t have his boot on, but he didn’t have his shoe on either. I told him to take care of his foot. He said it’s all good. The Bills are so lucky to have him! Go Bills!” he wrote.

“Let’s be clear about this,” Dave commented. “I’m the guy in the picture with Josh. He was not walking around or being cavalier with his foot. He had just gotten out of the car. He signed my hat, took our picture, and we had a nice conversation, and I told SportsCenter that’s what happened. But they decided not to post that. Don’t talk bad about my quarterback. He’s the best.”

Allen is not a stranger to ignoring injuries or cutting corners with recovery. He’s coming off another brutal ending to his season, the eighth of his career in Buffalo, and another playoff exit that kept him short of the Super Bowl again. He understands better than anyone how much getting the rehab right matters if he’s going to take another run at it next year.

Allen’s foot injury first showed up in Week 16 against the Browns. The Bills’ QB played through it, then aggravated it a week later against the Eagles. From there, surgery became the worst-case scenario, and that’s exactly what happened. But on the flip side, the procedure went well, and Josh Allen should make it back during the offseason.

Josh Allen is expected to be ready for the offseason

Josh Allen’s surgery was more than a routine clean-up. Insider Ian Rapoport reported that the procedure repaired a fifth-metatarsal avulsion, an injury Allen played through down the stretch. Buffalo went 2–2 while he was dealing with it.

When the Bills introduced Joe Brady as their new head coach, Allen showed up on crutches. It didn’t take long for the focus to shift as the press conference quickly turned into an injury update on the quarterback instead.

“I had a little broken bone in there, so they went and took it out and cleaned it up,” Allen said. “Obviously, not an ideal situation. Painful throughout the weeks. But, again, game day, different story, just being able to put that to the side and go out there and play football.”

The projected eight-to-ten-week recovery should have Allen ready for offseason workouts, a crucial period for a quarterback who, even while battling this and other nagging injuries, still managed to put up 3,668 passing yards and 25 touchdowns.

“I’m not even lying, if we had to play a game this week, I would figure it out to play a game,” he said, highlighting how the Super Bowl mattered more than anything. “It’s a little painful right now, but it wasn’t a crazy surgery. Not too long. OTAs, I’ll be back, and it shouldn’t hinder anything.”

Getting back to full strength matters more than ever. This will be Allen’s first season without Sean McDermott on the sideline, and another swing at chasing the one thing missing from his résumé.