Tom Brady offers advice to Bills' Josh Allen amid injury worries

Retired quarterback Tom Brady recently noted he worries about NFL signal-callers "running the ball a lot more" because doing so can make "for a shorter career." 

Brady had Buffalo Bills starter Josh Allen as a guest on the latest edition of the "Let's Go!" SiriusXM program and spoke directly to Allen about not putting himself "in harm's way."

"I would love to see Josh save those for very special moments and special occasions to run the ball rather than to run the ball six minutes into the game on a second-and-six," Brady explained, according to Mike Chiari of Bleacher Report. "Not that he shouldn't run, but when he does run, f------ slide and make sure no one hits you because I don't ever want to see him get hurt and I want to see him out there playing out there because he's such a f------ stud. ... I want to see him play another 10 to 12 years and really see how he can maximize his potential."

Brady isn't the only person concerned about Allen's health. This past winter, Bills general manager Brandon Beane mentioned that the 2018 first-round draft pick needed to take fewer hits after Allen dealt with a lingering elbow injury during the second half of last season. 

Across Buffalo's first eight games this season, Allen has accumulated 189 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 36 carries. To compare, he tallied 124 rushing attempts during the 2022 regular season. 

"I'm not saying that he's wrong, but you can get hurt in the pocket just as much as you can outside the pocket," Allen responded. "That's the only caveat that I have for that. ... You gotta go win a football game and sometimes that calls upon me doing something like putting my body on the line for my teammates because of how much I do love my teammates and how much I see them working their tails off too. ... That's where the flip for me is so hard to turn off because I just care so much about winning football games and sometimes it does cause the risk to be a little bit higher than maybe even the reward."

As of Tuesday afternoon, OddsChecker listed Allen fifth among the betting favorites at +1400 odds to earn Most Valuable Player. Of course, the 27-year-old likely will need to stay healthy through Week 18 to remain in the running for that award.

Allen and the 5-3 Bills play at the 4-3 Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night. OddsChecker had the Bills as two-and-a-half-point underdogs for that matchup on Tuesday afternoon.