Tag: buffalo bills espn

Bills’ Sean McDermott offers injury updates during bye week

Bills’ Sean McDermott offers injury updates during bye week

During NFL Week 12, the Buffalo Bills enjoy their bye week, offering an opportunity for some rest and extra advance preparation for their next game following a 30-21 home win against the Kansas City Chiefs.

They topped their AFC rival without several key starters including middle linebacker Matt Milano (bicep tear), wide receiver Keon Coleman (wrist), tight end Dalton Kincaid (knee), offensive lineman Spencer Brown (ankle), and defensive tackle DeWayne Carter (wrist) who were out with injuries.

Next up the team will host the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium, and fans and media members have been wondering which players might return to the field in that contest.

Milano, who’s missed most of the season so far, has begun to practice again and could see a return to gameplay as early as Week 13. The rookie Coleman as well as second-year pro Kincaid received a positive update by way of ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler in terms of recovery this week.

While he did not definitely say whether the two impact players on offense would be back for the game against the Niners, he did share that neither player’s injury appears to be substantial or long-term.

Buffalo has notably never lost coming out of a bye week under head coach Sean McDermott, a trend they hope will continue and one they hope will extend to the postseason, as they pursue the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed and first-round bye.

He had good news for the Bills and their fans following Sunday’s win over the Chiefs, sharing that the team didn’t have any new additions to the injury report. And there may be more good news on their existing injured players coming soon, though he made a point to manage expectations.

“There’s this pool of players that they’re kind of tiered as to when we expect to get each one of them back,” McDermott said.

“Again this week being kind of a rehab week for the players that are banged up, the message I’m getting from our training room is ‘hey we’ll let you know kind of how this week goes and then what that looks like for next week’ so you know the challenge is not really knowing as we start to game plan a little bit towards the end of this week who’s available, but certainly understand that the trainers need some more time with these guys and you know again it’s kind of like ‘hey who who are they going to hand us on Monday? Are we to get one player? Two players? More? Less what we have? So we just got to kind of take it one day at a time here, big picture coming out of the game without any serious injuries.”

They still have some challenges ahead in the remaining six contests on the regular season schedule, including road games against the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions right after the 49ers matchup.

But with a healthy roster, the Bills could make a push into the postseason and potentially lock up the No. 1 seed, allowing them to get even healthier headed into the playoffs.

Bills’ Damar Hamlin emotional after MNF return: ‘It was special’

Bills’ Damar Hamlin emotional after MNF return: ‘It was special’

The Buffalo Bills had their big win of the season on the national stage during NFL Week 3, in a 47-10 home win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football.

On a night of firsts for a handful of Bills, safety Damar Hamlin took the field for his first Monday Night Football start since the January 2023 contest in which he suffered cardiac arrest.

In his return to MNF, Hamlin had a strong performance with five tackles and two pass deflections.

He also got his first career interception.

While it carried significance for the 2021 sixth-round NFL Draft pick from PITT as a career achievement, it was the experience of walking down the tunnel and out to the field that resonated with him.

“Man, it was special,” Hamlin said to the media. “We all know my last start on Monday Night Football and how that game went, so to be able to come all the way back from that and have a special moment like that, it’s all God right there. I’ve been giving him the praise like crazy lately, because it wasn’t easy, but I’m super thankful to my teammates for just the support and the love. That was encouraging.”

Hamlin has recorded 19 tackles through three games this year as he’s manned Buffalo’s defensive backfield alongside Taylor Rapp. He credits his play—and the fact that he’s playing football at all—to his teammates, as playing for them is what fuels his fire.

“It makes all of the emotions way easier when you just go out there and you think about, ‘I just want to make plays for my teammates,'” Hamlin said. “It makes it all simple again.”

The Jags’ offense had a 1st-and-10 at their own 41-yard line when Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence overthrew rookie receiver Brian Thomas Jr. And Hamlin was there to take away the pass, giving QB Josh Allen and the Bills offense the ball back, which he would then throw to Khalil Shakir for a touchdown and a 27-3 lead.

The young safety’s teammates erupted with excitement when he got the pick and celebrated with and around him.

“Damar, with his first interception, the crowd went crazy, everybody ran out on the field, man, it was inspiring,” said OLB Von Miller, who took the press podium seated alongside Hamlin after the win.

His head coach was moved as well by the on-field moment.

“Damar, what a night for Damar, right?” Sean McDermott said during his press conference. “At home on Monday Night Football, getting his first interception, I believe, of his NFL career. The journey that he’s been on and how he’s persevered.”

Hamlin’s last Monday Night Football start was against the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2022 season, his second year in the NFL. He suffered a cardiac arrest during the first quarter of the Week 17 clash, in a broadcast on-field moment in which the NFL world stood still.

The Bills’ medical staff worked quickly to save his life, and he went on to make a full recovery after stabilizing in the hospital. He’s since won a starting safety position battle in Buffalo’s new-look secondary, leading to a very significant moment back on the MNF stage.

Bills WR Keon Coleman on first-career TD: ‘It’s electric’

Bills WR Keon Coleman on first-career TD: ‘It’s electric’

Buffalo got a win on Monday Night Football in front of their home crowd this week in explosive fashion.

The Bills racked up a 47-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in a contest that frequently featured highlights and a number of firsts for players, including rookie Keon Coleman’s first touchdown reception.

The No. 33 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft took the field while the Buffalo offense was eight plays in on its third drive of the game to start the second quarter. It would mark his only catch of the night, but he made it count.

Bills QB Josh Allen found Coleman downfield for a 24-yard catch that the first-year receiver then shook off a defender to take the ball into the end zone, scoring the first touchdown of his career.

“Great play-call by [OC] Joe [Brady],” Coleman said to the media postgame about the play. “Me and [receivers coach] Adam [Henry] watched film on that, came to fruition. Deep crosser, got outside leverage, man, and just beat him to the spot.”

Through three games in OC Joe Brady’s “everybody eats” offense, Coleman has five receptions for 75 yards and the score and has been fourth on the team in receiving yards and fifth in receptions.

After the game, he shared that the first touchdown in front of the home crowd and on a national stage met his expectations completely.

“It lived up to the expectations 100%,” Coleman shared. “Just feeling the crowd, it’s electric. Getting you your first catch of the game for it to go for a touchdown I mean Monday Night Football, I don’t think you can get something else better.”

In terms of playing time, he has seen a position-high 73% of the team’s offensive snaps in Week 1 and 91% of their snaps in Week 2, making him the most utilized receiver during that period. Yet during Monday Night Football in Week 3, he only played 20 snaps (31%.)

Part of the reason was a first-quarter benching due to an unexcused non-gameday tardiness.

“I’ll mention Keon’s situation, I sat Keon for the first quarter of the game,” McDermott said during the opening of his press conference after the win. “It will be a learning opportunity for him. Really, it was an issue that dealt with being on time. He knows he’s accountable to his teammates. We addressed it. We support him, and we move forward. I thought he played a good game tonight, had that, I think it was one catch for a touchdown there, so that was good to see.”

However, his head coach was confident in how the rookie was handling the situation, both on and off the field.

“I’m just very impressed with the way Keon handled it and then to go back out there in the second quarter, I think it was the second quarter when he caught the touchdown pass. I know how important his teammates are to him, and again, this will be a learning opportunity for him.”

The Bills offense has been rolling in three straight victories to start the season, and the team’s defense has returned to form under McDermott as well to help get those wins.

Next, Buffalo will face one of the first tests of their 2024 campaign, in consecutive road games against the Ravens, Texans, and Jets.

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Dalton Kincaid named ‘X-Factor’ for Bills offense in 2024

Dalton Kincaid named ‘X-Factor’ for #Bills offense in 2024:

The 2024 NFL season is officially underway, and it will be an important one for the Buffalo Bills.

It will take a full, team effort in all three phases to continue to compete without any dropoff, despite many roster changes at key positions with new and younger talent on board.

Even still, an impact player can have a special impact on their respective unit, and ESPN has named who those players may be for each team with their NFL X factors for 2024 season: Key players for all 32 teams list.

The outlet picked receiving tight end Dalton Kincaid for Buffalo.

Here’s what ESPN’s Ben Solak had to say about Kincaid as an X Factor:

Buffalo Bills: TE Dalton Kincaid

Two-hundred and forty-one targets: That’s how many vacated opportunities are left behind as both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis left Buffalo this offseason. The Bills have opted for a committee approach at wide receiver, which I like, but to whom does Josh Allen turn on third-and-6 among his many options? For whom does offensive coordinator Joe Brady design the “gotta have it” play?

That player might be Kincaid, whom the Bills drafted with the intention of becoming an offense that can run through an elite pass-catching tight end. He was an efficient, high-volume target last season — his 73 catches were third highest for a rookie tight end since 1970 — but that cushy underneath gig worked only when Diggs and Davis were pushing the defense downfield. If the Buffalo offense is to work with this new look, Kincaid must be used downfield more frequently — or develop a George Kittle-like profile after the catch.

The former is far more likely, and the good news is this: Kincaid catches everything. 77.7 reception rate is amazing, even for the easy targets he was offered. As his trust with Allen grows, expect him to start leading the Bills in targets in more games than he doesn’t, and watch for Brady to scheme around Kincaid’s versatility in alignment and routes to open up other players as well. He’s the skeleton key of this passing attack.

Kincaid, the Bills’ first-round pick in 2023, shined in his first year with Buffalo, setting records as a rookie and making a consistent impact for the offense.

The Bills will certainly hope he can build on such a strong rookie campaign and help take on some of that vacated workload left behind by the departures of Diggs and Davis.

They will need him to continue to play the versatile and go-to target role he took on more and more last season, including the Diggs plays and looks he gradually took on as the 2023 campaign progressed.

At age 24, Kincaid has already seen a successful sample size share on offense in Buffalo in only his first season with the Bills. With his elite hands and positional versatility, he figures to see more opportunities to improve on that impressive rookie campaign with the Diggs/Davis workload needing to be distributed among reliable targets.

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ESPN’s Ryan Clark breaks down Bills new defensive look vs. Bucs (video)

ESPN’s Ryan Clark breaks down #Bills new defensive look vs. #Bucs (video):

The Buffalo Bills defense have lost some key pieces in the last couple of weeks, with injuries to Tre’Davious White, Da’Quan Jones, and Matt Milano resulting in various second- and third-string players seeing their snap counts vary at their expected and alternate positions.

The tinkering on the defensive front happens throughout an NFL season, as injuries are always possible. To lose multiple key pieces across all levels of the defense is unlikely, but sometimes it happens.

Sean McDermott, who took over defensive coordinator duties this offseason, had looked at different ways to line up and include his extremely talented defenders on the field and players that can make big plays to disrupt the offensive timing for throws and tackle running backs behind the line of scrimmage.

In Week 8, the Buffalo defense lined up in a unique formation with three safeties on occasion. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky pointed out how the Bills lined up in this formation against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and how the formation allows for Buffalo’s talented safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde to both be on the field while having a third safety, Taylor Rapp, drop into the linebacker role during passing downs.

And the former NFL quarterback asked guest Ryan Clark for this thoughts on the new personnel during ESPN’s NFL Live program. Clark played 12 years as a safety in the NFL across various defensive schemes and formations, and definitely knows a thing or two about winning. The NFL veteran started as safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers for five years, including during the 2008 season when he won Super Bowl XLIII.

Clark also highlighted to Orlovsky that the defensive scheme seemed to be a game plan for the Buccaneers specifically, given their inability to run the football and reliance on quarterback Baker Mayfield to beat opponents through the air.

You can watch the full clip of Clark and Orlovsky analyzing the Bills’ defense here following a segment on the Bills’ offense by Orlovsky: