Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - After picking up a win this past Sunday against the Miami Dolphins to improve to 7-2 in the standings, the Buffalo Bills will look to extend their win streak to five games this coming week against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Heading into Sunday's matchup, the Bills are a bit banged up at the wide receiver position with two of their most notable wideouts dealing with nagging wrist injuries. Amari Cooper missed this past week's matchup against the Dolphins, while rookie Keon Coleman was injured during the final drive of the game to help seal the victory.
At this time, Coleman has been declared out of Sunday's contest, and is considered week-to-week, at this point. And while Cooper practiced on a limited basis over the course of the week, he's still considered as questionable to play in Indianapolis.
Despite the injuries, Bills head coach Sean McDermott knows his team has to be prepared to step up and be ready to go with or without Cooper and/or Coleman.
"To be honest with you, I just listened to what our trainer says. He gives me the information. When he gives me the green light, that's when he's playing. To this point, we haven't had that since he's gone down with the injury. So we'll see where it goes," said McDermott during his weekly appearance on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "Obviously, he's a really good player, and so he's a good player for us. But, all the while, somebody else has to step up and fill in for both Keon in this case, and if Amari can't go."
This past week, the NFL Trade Deadline came and went, and while the Bills did not make another trade, the team did sign two familiar faces on the defensive line, signing defensive tackles Quinton Jefferson and Jordan Phillips.
This will be the third-career stint with the Bills for Phillips, while Jefferson returns to Buffalo after playing one season in Buffalo during the 2020 campaign. McDermott says it's very possible that both players could play this week.
"We'll see what their pitch count is, because they haven't been playing all that much at their previous teams to this point this season," McDermott said with Sal Capaccio. "It'll be an interesting rhythm to see what we can get established there, and trying to put each player in the best position with the right amount of reps for each of those guys."
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The Bills are preparing for a unique opponent in the Colts, a team that has had success running the ball against the Bills in the past. Running back Jonathan Taylor has only played the Bills once in the regular season, but recorded 185 rushing yards and five total touchdowns in that game.
"It's a line of scrimmage game, it is every week, but in particular this week," McDermott noted. "We've got to make sure we establish a line of scrimmage on the offensive side, and make sure that defensively we play really well at the line of scrimmage and have good run fundamentals. This is going to be a big challenge against a team that has played extremely well at home, and their losses, they've lost by eight points or less. So a team that's used to playing complete, full games, and we have to continue to prepare that way."
Kickoff on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m. EST, and you can hear all of the play-by-play action on the official voice of the Bills - WGR Sports Radio 550 - with Chris Brown, Eric Wood and Sal on the call.
