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Bills HC Sean McDermott details Matt Milano’s ‘unfortunate’ bicep injury

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott spoke about Matt Milano's bicep injury during his Thursday media availability.

Kyle Silagyi

Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The Buffalo Bills’ defense will again be without former All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano for an extended period of time, as the veteran defender is set to be out “indefinitely” after tearing his bicep during Tuesday’s practice. Head coach Sean McDermott provided additional details regarding the linebacker’s ailment on Thursday morning, telling reporters that it’s “too early” to determine whether or not the 30-year-old will be available at any point in the 2024 season.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” McDermott said. “Matt’s a strong young man, I know he’s going to handle this. Certainly tough, especially coming off of the year he came off of already. The good thing is he’s got a good family behind him that are going to support him, teammates that are going to support him as well as the coaching staff and our entire football organization. He’s resilient, we’ve got to be resilient. We’ve got to move forward and be focused on solutions.”

McDermott told reporters that Milano suffered the injury during a tackling drill; the team believes that the defender hit somebody’s leg as he was falling, prompting the tear.

Related: NFL writer projects Bills to tumble in AFC East standings in 2024 record prediction

What makes Milano’s ailment all the more devastating is his recent injury history, as he missed the vast majority of the 2023 campaign after suffering a tibia fracture in Week 5. The linebacker, when healthy, has been one of the league’s most dynamic since his ascension into the starting lineup midway through his 2017 rookie campaign, oft-putting his innate ‘nose for the football’ on display to the tune of 488 total tackles, 39 pass deflections, and 10 interceptions. He’s a rangy sideline-to-sideline defender who is a tailormade fit in a McDermott defense; his availability has been his only lasting deficiency, as he’s missed at least one game due to injury in all but one of his professional seasons.

McDermott discussed the personal side of Thursday’s news, telling the press that it’s upsetting to see Milano encounter another roadblock following his adversity-riddled 2023 campaign.

Matt Milano
Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

“We’re all human, at the end of the day,” McDermott said. “Matt’s a heck of a football player, but if we back up, and those of us that know Matt, he’s a tremendous young man. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s been through it, and this game means a lot to him. This team means a lot to him. That, in addition to the injury, is what makes this difficult. Again, when you know the person, you know that this is not going to beat or keep Matt Milano down. 

“Obviously this period and time right now has been tough for him, for all of us, but in particular for him and his family. He knows all the work that he put in. No one knows the work that Matt put in to get himself back to where he was before this recent injury. That’s probably one of the harder pills to swallow right now is, we just saw him work his butt off. He stayed in Buffalo all summer to get back off of the leg injury, and now this happens. It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances, but again, I know he’s going to handle it well.”

ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted that the organizational “hope” is that Milano can return at some point in December assuming his rehabilitation progresses as expected; this would, in theory, provide Buffalo’s defense a significant boost entering the postseason.

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Kyle Silagyi

KYLE SILAGYI

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