The Buffalo Bills opened Week 11 with 14 names on their injury report, but it’s not as bad as that tally sounds.
The good news is that wide receiver Joshua Palmer was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.
This is a huge uptick for Palmer who has been sidelined since he injured his knee and ankle back in Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons. Also fully participating was defensive end A.J. Epenesa who has cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Epenesa’s availability could be even better news than Palmer’s considering the Bills lost edge rusher Landon Jackson to Injured Reserve (IR) this week. The rookie, who has been a healthy scratch for most of the season, left Sunday’s game early with a knee injury. Jackson’s early departure left Buffalo with just three true defensive ends as the Bills lost defensive end Michael Hoecht to an Achilles tear in Week 9.
Adding to Buffalo’s health problems at defensive end is the fact that Joey Bosa showed up with a club on his left hand. Bosa was limited all last week, and again to start Week 11, as he’s dealing with what the team classified as a wrist injury.
In the good news category for the Bills’ defense, rookie defensive tackle T.J. Sanders had his practice window opened this week and was listed as a full participant at his first practice back with the team. That’s positive news for the rookie who has been on IR with a knee injury since October 11.
Other good news came in the form of a lot of players getting limited work on Wednesday. Cornerback Christian Benford and nickel cornerback Taron Johnson were both working, as was linebacker Shaq Thompson. The trio missed last week’s game in Miami as the first two were dealing with groin injuries, while Thompson has been trying to make his way back from a hamstring injury.
There was some not-so-great news for the Bills, also in the form of limited participants. Wide receiver Khalil Shakir is dealing with both an ankle and a rib injury. Linebacker Terrel Bernard is still not healthy, despite being active the last two weeks. Bernard has an ankle injury that’s visibly slowing him down on the field. Linebacker Dorian Williams was listed as limited with a groin injury – however, unlike both Bernard and Johnson before him, Williams’ injury didn’t come as a result of a practice mishap. Instead, head coach Sean McDermott listed the linebacker among the injuries the team would be managing this week in his pre-practice media session.
The tough news comes in the form of a couple of new non-participants. Tight end Dalton Kincaid was unable to finish Sunday’s game as he pulled up grabbing the back of his leg in action against the Dolphins. Now McDermott considers Buffalo’s leading pass catcher as week to week with a hamstring injury – which means it’s likely we won’t see him back in play before December.
Also in the new-injury-resulting-in-non-participation category is defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis. The Bills’ defense can’t catch a break, and Mathis, who was just signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad last week, is out with a shoulder injury.
The Bills’ training staff will have their work cut out for them once again in order to get enough healthy players on the roster Sunday. At least this time there seems to be more moving in the right direction than not.
