Bills HC Sean McDermott provides encouraging injury update ahead of preseason finale

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott provided an encouraging update on the team's injury report on Thursday.

Kyle Silagyi | Aug 22, 2024

Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

In this story:

Buffalo Bills | News, Scores, Schedules & Standings

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott painted an alarming picture of the current health of the team during his Monday media availability, listing 14 players on the injury report in addition to former All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano, who is set to be out until at least late November with a bicep tear. It’s a concerning state of affairs roughly two weeks out from the regular season, especially considering the turnover Buffalo’s roster experienced in the offseason; injuries are preventing a bevy of new contributors from getting much-needed reps with their teammates as they ramp up for the new campaign.

McDermott provided an encouraging update during his Thursday media availability, initially about new wide receivers Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as he told reporters that it looked as though both pass-catchers would be available for Week 1. When asked to clarify, the sideline boss stated that the team will not yet rule any player out (sans Milano) for the start of the regular season.

“There’s no one, other than Matt Milano at this point, that I understand, if I go through the list real quick, that we can definitively, at this point, rule out for Week 1,” McDermott said. “It’s just a matter of, there’s a lot of murkiness right now. But we’ve been through this before . . . where you have a number of injuries and then all of the sudden, Week 1, you’re down to, like, three guys on the injury report. We’ll go through that and we’ll work our butts off. I know they will, as well, to get back and help our team.”

Though not necessarily confirmation that Buffalo expects a majority of its injury report to clear up before the start of the new campaign, McDermott’s comments suggest that all of its sidelined players are progressing in their respective recoveries. The team is taking additional measures to prevent any additional injuries to the starting lineup ahead of their September 8 regular season opener; Buffalo will hold its starters out of its preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, and the team withheld star nickel cornerback Taron Johnson from its Thursday practice in what McDermott described as a “preventative” action.

McDermott went on to speak about the general unpredictable nature of injuries, stating that with the adversity comes an opportunity.

“The reality of it is, no one is God, no one has a crystal ball as to, ‘Hey, I can say definitively, especially for some of these injuries, this is when this person’s going to be back,’” McDermott said. “It does make it a little bit cloudier, if you will. And then if they are deemed ready, or given the green light, what can they perform if on the field? And then how does that affect game planning, right? As troubling as it is, it’s also a challenge and brings an opportunity for all of us to come together and really work together to communicate and make sure we’re on the same page to figure this out.”

The preventative measures of Buffalo’s brass should, in theory, prompt the injury report to lessen in length in the leadup to the regular season. We’ll know more in the coming weeks.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Bills from Buffalo Bills on SI —