Buffalo Rumblings
On Monday afternoon, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott listed off four players who wouldn’t participate in practice. He also listed another nine who would be limited participants.
With a Thursday night football game for Week 12, the Bills have just three days to prepare for their game with the Houston Texans. However, having just played their Week 11 game on Sunday afternoon, Monday’s practice was a walkthrough. This means that the participation level of all players is estimated to be what it would be if it had been a full practice.
If this practice was on Wednesday, the lengthy list would be concerning. However, with a lot of the names below being veterans, a day of rest (or partial rest) is not unexpected or worrisome.
Those who were not practicing included tight end Dalton Kincaid and defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis – both of whom didn’t practice or play at all in Week 11. Wide receivers Mecole Hardman and Curtis Samuel were also listed as non-participants. Hardman injured his calf on a fumbled punt return. Samuel wasn’t noted with any injury during the game; however, he’s now listed as dealing with both a neck and an elbow injury.
On the limited practice list were cornerback Christian Benford, linebacker Terrel Bernard, defensive end Joey Bosa, nickel cornerback Taron Johnson, wide receiver Joshua Palmer, and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips – all of whom were on last week’s injury list with varying degrees of participation throughout the week leading up to Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, all of them played in Sunday’s win, so it’s likely that they just need some time to recover.
Also, listed as limited on Monday were safety Jordan Poyer and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (both of whom had vet rest days), and linebacker Dorian Williams.
The real tell will be on Tuesday. While it’s still a day earlier than “usual” for team practice, the Bills will have to get as many players practicing as possible.
