Buffalo Rumblings
Day two of Week 4 and the Buffalo Bills’ injury report is an exact duplicate of day one. That’s not a bad thing – no new injuries. But it’s also not a good thing as the Bills have three starters not progressing towards returning to play.
The good news, besides the fact that no one is suffering from a random illness or got hurt during practice, is that defensive end A.J. Epenesa is still practicing. Epenesa popped up on Wednesday’s injury report as limited with a pectoral injury. With no game-time updates, and with head coach Sean McDermott not mentioning him in his pre-practice press conference, I was concerned that the injury could have taken place in practice. If it had, he could very easily have been a DNP on Thursday (example: Ed Oliver in Week 2). However, Epenesa practiced – still limited – but practiced. This is good news for the Bills who are low on established, veteran defensive players right now.
The bad news: Ed Oliver, Matt Milano, and Spencer Brown continue to be sidelined. Brown played all of Week 3’s game with a calf injury, saying that it took place on Bill’s first offensive drive of the game. He is claiming he “should be good” but I would bet the Bills sit him out a week.
Here’s my prediction for tomorrow’s game day designations: Milano and Oliver will be out. Brown will be doubtful (if he practices, if he doesn’t, he will be out), and Epenesa will be questionable.
As for Sunday’s opponent, the New Orleans Saints, their injury list is much longer. With seven names on their Week 4 list, the ones that stand out are defensive end Chase Young and offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga.
Young hasn’t played a game yet this season after injuring his calf in a practice ahead of Week 1’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals. After an ACL injury shortened his 2021 and 2022 seasons and a neck injury shortened his 2024 season, Young played in all 17 games last year, recording 31 tackles and 5.5 sacks. He’s not going to be among the Saints trying to help keep Josh Allen behind the line of scrimmage on Sunday.
As for Fuaga, he missed last week’s game with a back injury he suffered in Week 2. He’s also receiving treatment for a lingering knee injury. However, on Thursday, he was upgraded from a limited participant to a full practice, so it looks like New Orleans will expect to have him in full uniform in Buffalo.
