Josh Allen's foot injury probably won't keep him out Sunday against the Eagles, but he did not practice on Tuesday.
ORCHARD PARK - With the Buffalo Bills’ practice schedule pushed up a day because of Christmas falling in the middle of the week, Sean McDermott didn’t have much of an injury update Tuesday afternoon, nor did the Bills have to put out an official injury report.
The team was only going through a walk-through, but McDermott did list Josh Allen, Jordan Phillips, Matt Prater, Jordan Poyer, DaQuan Jones, Dalton Kincaid, Cam Lewis, and Joey Bosa as players that were not participating.
Will Josh Allen play vs Eagles?
Allen, of course, is the biggest name of the bunch, but on Monday McDermott was asked if there was any concern that Allen would not be able to play Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles and he said no.
“As far as I’m aware, yes,” McDermott said when asked if he’d be able to play.
McDermott also said that it was possible the foot injury Allen suffered late in the first half at Cleveland could impact his practice time this week, and that has come to fruition with him sitting out Tuesday’s walk-through.
“No real changes, today was just a chance to get around him a little and see how he’s feeling,” McDermott said. “He’s still a little sore, so he’s not going to practice today and we’ll see how tomorrow goes.”
What Josh Allen says about his injury
After the late afternoon session, Allen was his usual upbeat self whenever talking about an injury.
“Feels good, ready to go,” he said. “Still sore, walk through today so really not a practice, but feeling good. Yes, planning on playing.”
What makes Allen’s practice situation complicated is the Bills lost their practice squad QB, Shane Buechele, who was signed to the Kansas City Chiefs’ 53-man roster on Monday. The Chiefs are down their top two quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minschew, and Buechele has experience in Andy Reid’s offense so that signing comes as no surprise.
McDermott admitted he wishes Buechele was still here because now, backup Mitchell Trubisky has to take all the reps. Also, when the Bills conduct a full practice, unless they sign a QB Tuesday night, Trubisky will have to run the scout team, too.
“Yeah, we’ll look into that part in terms of adding another quarterback,” McDermott said. “I think more than anything, I’m happy for Shane. He and his family, they’ve been with us and done a phenomenal job, and have a ton of respect and love and admiration for Shane.”
Dalton Kincaid injury update
Regarding Kincaid, McDermott said the team is still trying to manage his injuries, and he apparently suffered against Cleveland what the coach termed “Not necessarily a setback, maybe a small one. Just trying to manage it, what did we call it last week, injury management?”
Poyer suffered a hamstring injury late against the Browns and was limping noticeably in the locker room. Given that injury, and the fact that Poyer is 34, the Bills may play it safe with him to make sure he’s ready for the postseason. On Monday, McDermott said Allen, Poyer, Jones and Shaq Thompson would all be day-to-day.
Prater is improving according to McDermott, but whether that means he can play Philadelphia is an unknown, so there’s a chance the Bills will push forward with Michael Badgley who kicked for them last week.
Will Bills clinching a playoff spot, will they handle injuries differently?
When he was asked whether clinching a playoff berth - which happened Monday night when the Colts lost to the 49ers - might impact his approach on whether to play some of the injured players, McDermott said, “It’s a valid question based on where we’re at and the injuries we have that we’re dealing with. We’re gonna keep an eye on it. At this point doesn’t change anything. But certainly gonna keep an eye out on things specific to some of the guys on this list here.”
Of course, the Bills are still alive in the AFC East race, and they could move up to the No. 5 seed among the wildcards, but to do so, they pretty much have to win their last two games.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills injury report: Josh Allen upbeat despite sitting out
Category: General Sports
