Bills’ offense is going to be okay — the defense, not so much
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott got right down to business when he took to the podium Monday afternoon. The business: a very concerning injury report on a very short week for the Bills.
The good news is that quarterback Josh Allen, who injured his non-throwing hand when he decided to become his inner-Olympian self and high-jump over Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker for a touchdown, is cleared to play on Thursday when the Bills play the Miami Dolphins (also 1-0) at Hard Rock Stadium. Of course, he’s also cleared to practice in the days leading up to the game.
When asked if he foresaw any problems with Allen handling snaps, McDermott was quick to reply. “I don’t think so. He was able to do it (late in Sunday’s game), so we’ll just see how it goes today more than anything.”
The not-so-good news is that nickel cornerback Taron Johnson isn’t yet cleared to play. In fact, at this point, McDermott, who prefers not sharing much information when it comes to players’ injuries, doesn’t know when we’ll see the All-Pro back in action.
“I don’t know his timeline on when he’ll be back,” McDermott said. “So we’re still doing some further research on that. But as far as other questions go related to injuries, I’m not going to go any further than I’ve already gone.”
Johnson’s injury occurred just seven plays into the game as he and Bills safety Taylor Rapp collided on a tackle. Johnson was seen on the field looking at his arm before trainers rushed to check on him. Once on the sideline, he was seen going through what appeared to be grip tests before being ruled out at halftime.
Without Johnson, defensive coordinator Bobby Babich had to adapt his original game plan, which was to have safety Cam Lewis play in dime coverage. Instead, Lewis took over for Johnson while Ja’Marcus Ingram came in when the Bills were in dime. The result wasn’t terrible as Ingram was tight in coverage on the final play of the drive making sure that Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray wasn’t able to complete another “Hail Murray” — as the football fell harmlessly to the ground securing the Bills’ 6-point win.
Other injury news from McDermott included the announcement that Dawuane Smoot, who was a late addition to last week’s injury report and missed the season opener with a toe injury, was not likely to be ready to play by Thursday either. While there’s no official word on the injury, it’s reasonable to assume the 6’3”, 264-pound defensive end is suffering from turf toe.
McDermott also said that running back Ty Johnson, who was banged up in Sunday’s opener but managed to get back in the game, along with defensive end Javon Solomon, who was out all last week with an oblique injury, will continue to be day-to-day.
Still on the injury report are Mitch Trubisky (knee) and Quintin Morris (shoulder), but McDermott said that they would both be full participants in Monday’s practice.
Monday injury report pic.twitter.com/4mOhhbsPWE
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) September 9, 2024
It’s only Week 2, and the Bills only have two days to practice before taking on a divisional rival — and one that challenged them for the AFC East crown the last two seasons — but, as quarterback Josh Allen said on Sunday, ‘We’ll be aiiight.’
"We'll be aiiight"
— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) September 8, 2024
Josh Allen tells @tiffblackmon his hand injury is nothing to worry about after the @BuffaloBills gutsy win pic.twitter.com/VNUIWCEl6w
You can catch up with all Sean McDermott had to say in the video embedded below.