Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Bills are set to close out another impressive regular season this Sunday afternoon when they take on the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
While this Week 18 game may not mean anything for the Bills, in terms of playoff seeding, a win for Buffalo would give the team 14 wins on the season for the first time in franchise history.
With the Bills locking down the 2-seed for the AFC Playoffs with their win over the New York Jets last week, most of Buffalo's starters will either get limited action come Sunday in New England, or not be play at all.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is among those that will start Sunday's game in order to keep his active starts streak alive. However, it is expected for Allen to leave the game shortly after taking his first snap(s) of the game.
Meanwhile, one player the Bills will not have in the lineup against the Patriots is linebacker Terrel Bernard. Bills head coach Sean McDermott ruled Bernard out of the game on Wednesday, as he deals with a quad injury. The good news, though, is he returned to practice on Thursday for the Bills, and is expected to be ready for the playoffs.
"I feel pretty good about it, honestly," said McDermott during his weekly appearance on the "Extra Point Show" on WGR. "He feels good about it, and so because of that, I feel good about it. I think 'TB' [Bernard] is going to be ready to go, at this point, for next week."
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The Bills could be without a few other players this week, as safeties Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin, wide receiver Curtis Samuel and defensive back Cam Lewis all practiced in a limited capacity on Friday. Only Samuel was listed a "questionable" on the final injury report.
With the position the Bills find themselves in, they have flexibility to play more of their backup players to find what they have in them ahead of the playoffs. This means some players could be in more elevated roles than week's past. But McDermott says that doesn't mean things will change entirely.
"It's an interesting week," he said with Sal Capaccio on Friday. "It seems like every year when you're in this type of situation, it gets even more interesting with things you're trying to balance, things you're trying to deal with. No. 1, we want to win the game. Then beyond that, there's a lot of things that come into play. There's some guys with certain incentives that come up, and it seems like that's becoming more-and-more relevant year-to-year. Then you've got guys you want to look at. You'd love to bring practice squad guys up, as many as possible, but you're only allocated two, so you try your best to make everyone happy and, at the same time, keep things in proper order here, in terms of what's important."
Earlier this week, the NFL announced this year's Pro Bowl rosters, with the Bills having two key offensive pieces being named starters for the annual weekend of festivities. Allen, as well as left tackle Dion Dawkins, were named to the starting roster, while eight others have been selected as Pro Bowl alternates.
One player that McDermott feels was a surprising snub from Pro Bowl consideration was cornerback Christian Benford.
"I think a lot of our players, Christian, being one of them, deserved recognition that they didn't get," McDermott said. "There's a lot of reasons for that. We all know that it's not just about one thing, there's other things that come into play. At the end of the day, we've talked about it as a team, and some of us need to use it as motivation moving forward. At the end of the day, you don't have a vote, so you're kind of subject to the PR game out there as well. That is what it is, and it's unfortunate, but there's a lot of guys that do get recognized, and rightfully so> But there are some guys I feel like on our team that deserve more than they got."
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.