Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – The Buffalo Bills' injury situation has gotten worse in some cases, and better in a few others.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott met the media on Monday via his usual Zoom call, and gave an injury update on the following players:
- QB - Mitch Trubisky (knee) - Out multiple weeks;
- WR - Marques Valdez-Scandling (neck) - Out multiple weeks;
- TE - Quinton Morris (shoulder) - Out multiple weeks and undergoing further evaluation;
- S - Mike Edwards (hamstring) - Will take part in walk-through and individual work this week, but won’t play Saturday;
- S - Cole Bishop (shoulder) - Will take part in walk-through and individual work this week, but won’t play Saturday;
- LB - Nick Morrow (groin) - Will take part in walk-through and individual work this week, but won’t play Saturday;
- S - Damar Hamlin (hamstring) - Week-to-week;
- LB - Baylon Spector (calf) - Week-to-week;
- WR - Curtis Samuel (turf toe) - Week-to-week;
- DE - Casey Toohill (groin) – Targeting a return at the end of this week;
- DE - Javon Solomon (calf) - Limited this week;
- DT - Austin Johnson (calf) - Limited this week;
- OL - Travis Clayton (shoulder) - No change;
- WR - Lawrence Keys III (leg) - He’s improving.
With Josh Allen not playing Saturday against the Carolina Panthers, Buffalo only has one healthy quarterback (Ben DiNucci) to play Saturday, and he’s just been here a week. McDermott says conversations have been started to get another quarterback into the mix this week.
"They’ve begun, but they haven’t concluded," McDermott said. "We’re working on it, and Brandon [Beane] is working on it with his staff. It’s something we’ll continue to keep our eye on."
McDermott adds the plan for playing time this Saturday is now totally different due to the injuries.
"Initially, the plan was to play the ones this week. Because of the injuries and the lack of availability, we’re going to take the ones out and play the other guys, take a good look at them," McDermott explained. "It should be a good opportunity for them to put their best foot forward."
McDermott already has quite a few players he is counting on this season out do to injury.
"It’s a concern, and right now we’ve got to be solution-oriented," he said. "There is some progress in some areas."
McDermott adds the injuries also impact how the team practices this week.
Meanwhile, a decision on who will call the defense this season has not been made just yet, but McDermott says he’s probably targeting next week.
Lancaster native Joe Andreessen got to play the whole game in Pittsburgh on Saturday at middle linebacker and totally looked the part. McDermott calls the University at Buffalo product, "A football player."
"He did a phenomenal job, and what a story for Buffalo and all of the young football players in Buffalo who get a chance to look up to this young man, to play for the Buffalo Bills, his hometown team," McDermott said. "I know how hard he works in the summer and what football means to him. He’s just a phenomenal young man off the field, and he’s done a tremendous job on the field.
"We named him the starter, and it wasn’t too big for him. He went out there and made plays. I’m very impressed with what he did."
Many are wondering if Andreessen could slide over into Matt Milano’s place on the defense.
"We trained him for both early on, and then a couple of weeks ago, we moved him to strictly middle, and he’s really flourished there," McDermott noted.
"Sometimes you can’t teach instincts. I know everyone wants height, weight and speed all the time, but dang it, a football player at the end of the day is what we’re looking at. We’re not looking at track athletes here, we’re looking at football players. He’s a football player, and I love it!"
Getting back to Trubisky, things haven’t gone well for him this preseason.
"He’s been able to move the ball at times, but not enough. Some of that is drives are stalling, or we’re getting off schedule and we’re making it really hard to move the chains, or get into a rhythm because of the pre-snap penalties," McDermott explained. "But overall, I think Mitch has done some really good things, and then the other night I’m sure there’s some plays he wants back as well."
The team will get back on the practice field in Orchard Park for practice on Tuesday.
