Brandon Allen Will Start for Bengals Against Giants | Report
The Bengals are reportedly planning to start Brandon Allen and not Ryan Finley at quarterback Sunday against the Giants when the team begins to pick up the pieces following the devastating season-ending knee injury suffered by promising rookie Joe Burrow.
The NFL Network was first with the report of the Bengals' pending decision.
The 6-foot-2, 209-pound Allen was a sixth-round draft pick by the Jaguars in 2016. He played his college ball at Arkansas, where his head coach was current Giants outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema.
Allen was a three-year starter for the Razorbacks, for whom he completed 583 out of 1,016 pass attempts (57.4%) for 7,463 yards, 64 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions (134.8 passer rating).
As a runner, Allen rushed 134 times for 136 yards and four touchdowns. In his final season at Arkansas (2015), he even caught a pass for 11-yards on a gadget play.
In the NFL, Allen has started all three of his NFL games to date, those with the Broncos last season. Compiling a 1-2 record as a starter, Allen has completed 39 of 84 pass attempts (46.4% for 515 yards and three touchdowns to two interceptions.
Allen also has ten career rushing attempts for 39 yards, four first downs. He had been on the Bengals practice squad until Monday, when he was promoted following the Burrow injury.
Allen was with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor when the two were with the Rams in 2017-18, the latter season pairing Taylor as the Rams quarterbacks coach.
Finley was drafted by the Bengals in the fourth round of the 2019 draft. He finished last week's game against Washington after Burrow exited the game in the second half with his knee injury, completing just three of ten pass attempts for 30 yards and an interception.
Finley is 0-3 as a starting NFL quarterback.
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