Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott ruled out three players on Friday ahead of the team’s Week 9 game against the Kansas City Chiefs. McDermott also gave an update on three other players as the Bills put
the final preparations on together for Sunday’s showdown.
It came as no surprise when McDermott announced that defensive tackle DaQuan Jones and linebacker Shaq Thompson wouldn’t play Sunday. Jones has been out for weeks with a calf injury he suffered in a pregame warm-up ahead of Week 6. Thompson developed a hamstring injury midweek that has seen him downgraded every day.
The third name McDermott added to the list of players ruled out really comes as no surprise either. Joshua Palmer won’t suit up. The wide receiver suffered knee and ankle injuries in Buffalo’s Week 6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Palmer worked his way up to being a limited participant in Thursday’s practice this week, but it wasn’t really expected that he would play Sunday. The only question was how up front McDermott was going to be with that information. Apparently, very.
McDermott did say that he saw no reason not to expect kicker Matt Prater, who has been limited all week with a calf injury, to play in Sunday’s game. He added that Tyler Bass, who has been on Injured Reserve since before Week 1’s gametime, is “doing well.” In McDermott language, that means absolutely nothing. Prater’s kicking, Bass isn’t. There won’t be any changes until Prater can’t go – but how serious is his calf injury?
One other update included the fact that wide receiver Gabe Davis didn’t practice on Friday and the Bills will not be calling him up to the game day roster this weekend. Davis, who has been on the Practice Squad (PS) injury list all season, began practicing on Wednesday when the Bills officially added him to the PS roster. But, after two days of practice, Davis has some swelling in the knee he has been rehabbing and is sidelined, at least for the weekend.
There was some good news in the form on non-news from McDermott’s pre-practice press conference on Friday. Neither Terrel Bernard nor Matt Milano have been ruled out for this week. While both have been full participants at practice this week, and (technically) Bernard was on the Week 8 game day roster, the lack of news is a good sign. There really wasn’t any concern that Buffalo’s defensive captain would miss this week, but after the Bills brought Milano back too soon earlier this season, there was still concern for whether he was ready to be back full speed after the Week 5 setback. However, both enter the weekend without an injury designation, so presumably they will each get the start.
After practice, there was an updated report that included a new name McDermott hadn’t mentioned and that hadn’t been on any other daily reports. Nickel cornerback Taron Johnson is listed as questionable for game day as he was limited on Friday with a groin injury. Considering McDermott didn’t mention him during the pre-practice media session, it’s easy to assume that the injury took place during practice. Whether or not Johnson is able to play Sunday remains to be seen. If not, we may get to see more of rookie Jordan Hancock this weekend as both he and Cam Lewis are depth pieces at nickel and safety – another place that the Bills’ roster is thin.
Teams have until an 90 minutes before kickoff to announce their game day rosters, including practice squad elevations. So, at 2:55 p.m. on Sunday, we will know exactly who will be in uniform, and who will be wearing street clothes while watching the Bills take on the Chiefs in the next chapter of this rivalry.
