Buffalo Bills Injury Primer: Week 4

The Buffalo Bills are back in action for another throttling in Orchard Park. This week, the Bills are looking to massage the Houston Texans, but we all know Bills Mafia will be the ones with the happy ending. The Bills do have some ailing stars, but I believe the team is playing it conservative due to the matchup.

Houston enters the game with no hope. The obvious is the Deshaun Watson fiasco, which has him out all year for sexual predation. The Texans also have a healthy dose of players on the IR including QB Tyrod Taylor, DT Vincent Taylor, and LB Kevin Pierre-Louis. Throwing gas on the fire, LB Zach Cunningham and DT Ross Blacklock were placed on the COVID list. Even WR Danny Amendola is out with an injury to my favorite body part, the thigh.

OUT

S Jordan Poyer

Jordan will miss the game with an ‘ankle’ injury. He had his left ankle rolled up on in the 4^th quarter last week and never returned. It appears he avoided a high ankle sprain, but likely sustained a grade 2 medial ankle sprain. He was seen in a boot after the game and was DNP the entire practice week.

The injury mechanism was near identical to Gabriel Davis’ ankle injury, as discussed last week. Medial ankle sprains are usually a little slower to heal and need 1-2 weeks to return to play. I’d like to believe the Bills are being ultra conservative here due to the competition this week, and Jordan should be fully recovered next week.

OL Jon Feliciano

Mongo played 100% of Buffalo’s offensive snaps in week 3. When the practice week started on Wednesday, he was listed with an ‘illness’ and limited. On Thursday, he was a DNP and the listing changed to ‘concussion’. The oddest part is that he was seen playing around with Josh Allen at practice on Thursday, with a gentle head butt (ironic). The circumstances are unclear, and he either had delayed symptoms from the game or was injured in practice. Players usually take a full week to return from the concussion protocol, so look for Mongo to return next week.

Buffalo Bills on Twitter: “QB1 out here bringing people back to life. 🤣@JoshAllenQB | @MongoFeliciano pic.twitter.com/niLdOmKEa0 / Twitter”

QB1 out here bringing people back to life. 🤣@JoshAllenQB | @MongoFeliciano pic.twitter.com/niLdOmKEa0

Questionable

CB Taron Johnson

Taron also played 100% of the snaps in week 3. However, he was listed as limited with a ‘groin’ injury on Wednesday. He was then downgraded to DNP for the next two practices. It is unclear if he sustained the injury in the game, practice, or just dealing with a lot of soreness. 

Taron is no stranger to soft tissue injuries. He’s had documented injuries to his hamstring and groin dating back to college. The groin itself has popped up once each of the past three years. In my opinion, Taron is dealing with a mild strain. Unless he hurt it badly in practice, I think the Bills go conservative; shutting him down tomorrow, he can (hopefully) suit up next week.

Prediction: OUT

DE Efe Obada

Efe has something going on with his ankle/calf and there is not much info available. He emerged on the injury report two weeks ago with a ‘calf’ injury and missed the Dolphins game. McDermott said it was partly an injury issue, but also a numbers issue. Last week, he was listed with the ‘calf’ but practiced in FULL the entire week. This week, he was not listed initially on Wednesday. On Thursday, he was DNP with an ‘ankle’, but then practiced in FULL on Friday. It is concerning, but also not clear what is going on. Potentially, he may be working through some Achilles tendonitis, or something rarer, such as Os Trigonum Syndrome. I personally think he is available this week, but likely will be a healthy scratch for the Bills again.

Prediction: OUT (via healthy scratch)

Also Listed

S Micah Hyde

Micah came off the week playing 100% snap counts as well. Fortunately, his ‘quad’ injury is minor and he will be playing Sunday. I would assume he is dealing with soreness, which caused a limited practice which was followed by two full practices.