Buffalo Rumblings
We knew a clean injury report was too good to be true. On the second day of practice ahead of their Week 15 showdown with the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills had a new injury to report.
Christian Benford is now listed as limited with a toe injury. Maybe it’s a hangnail. Maybe it’s turf toe. Hopefully it’s not of the needs-surgery variety – aka Joe Burrow’s season-deterring injury. Benford, who has scored touchdowns, recorded two interceptions, and has a fumble recovery over the past 12 days, is critical to the Bills’ game plan on Sunday.
A limited designation after not being listed at the all day before always elicits a lot of questions. Did the player get injured from the facility? Was the player sore previously but passed it off as tolerable and didn’t say anything until now? Or the most common, and most worrisome, did the player start the day’s practice perfectly healthy and then experience an injury?
Benford’s participation status in practice tomorrow is going to be a big indicator of how serious the injury is, when it happened, and if he will be available to help contain former Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs on Sunday.
On a more positive note, defensive end Joey Bosa continued to practice and looked good pushing off despite having injured a hamstring in Week 13. The Bills’ posting Bosa’s practice video to their social media is a good indication that he’s trending upwards, and we could see him on the field in Foxborough, MA this week.
The same could be said of linebacker Terrel Bernard. He dislocated his elbow back in 12, and today is the first we’ve seen Bernard working with his teammates. While he has a hinged brace on his arm, that isn’t indicative of him not being ready to play. Linebacker Dorian Williams and safety Jordan Poyer have both played in those in recent seasons and it’s likely that we will see Bernard wearing it for the remainder of this year.
Wide receiver Joshua Palmer is still a big question mark. Not unexpectedly, he continues to be limited and, with not much video on his progress, it’s likely he will stay inactive for another week. The Bills have wide receivers Gabe Davis and Brandon Cooks, neither of whom were on the active roster the last time Palmer was in uniform, so there’s no need to rush him back back onto the field.
Right tackle Spencer Brown continues to be limited but has said he intends to play this week. Tight end Dawson Knox is back to practice after being excused from Wednesday’s walkthrough for personal reasons, while quarterback Mitch Trubisky stayed home with an illness on Thursday.
