The Buffalo Bills are dealing with an onslaught of injuries ahead of their Sunday matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. Wednesday afternoon, the team’s PR account released a list of 15 names that would concern even the most optimistic fan:
Wednesday injury report pic.twitter.com/h3Uup05vwi
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) October 23, 2024
To quote Kevin McCallister’s astute commentary on Buzz’s girlfriend in Home Alone, “Woof.” As someone who prefers to look for the bright side, even during an eclipse, it is a relief to see that both Josh Allen and backup quarterback “Money” Mitch Trubisky are full participants. It appears as though slot receiver Khalil Shakir and running back James Cook have overcome their lingering issues as well, which should make the offense even stronger than it was week, when the Bills thumped the Titans 34-10.
The tight end room remains alarming, as the statuses of their three main contributors resemble some sort of twisted version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” with Quintin Morris, Dalton Kincaid, and Dawson Knox being listed as Full, Limited, and Did Not Participate, respectively. Kincaid is second only to Shakir in receptions this season with 24, but Allen has yet to get the rest of this crew much involved in the passing game, as Knox only has five catches and Morris is still sporting a goose egg, or perhaps a golden goose egg, if we’re sticking with the fairy tale theme of this paragraph.
On the other side of the ball, 2024 has been another season of Game of Thrones, with nearly every Sunday resulting in devastating losses to the cast, but as usual, McDermott’s defense has found a way to overcome. At various points this season, the Bills have sustained injuries to linebackers Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams, safeties Damar Hamlin and Cole Bishop, cornerback Taron Johnson, and defensive linemen DaQuan Jones, Dawuaune Smoot, DeWayne Carter, and Ed Oliver, among others.
Despite giving up the 22nd most yards and 20th most first downs, the Bills still manage to sit at 10th in points against, partially thanks to a seventh-best 12 takeaways, illustrating McD’s trademarked “bend, don’t break” defensive mentality that he has employed over his seven-plus seasons in the City of Good Neighbors.
A Year of Injuries
None of this is to say that the Bills are particularly snakebit, relative to the rest of the NFL, because one would have to see less than the Three Blind Mice to overlook the losses that teams around the league have suffered. Look no further than the Bills upcoming opponent, with the Seahawks also listing 14 players on their injury report, including stud receiver, DK Metcalf, who was hurt last week with a knee injury and is considered “week to week.”
In fact, the average number of players on the injury reports of the 30 teams that are scheduled to play on Thursday and Sunday this week is 10.6, with the toothless Panthers claiming the highest at 21. On top of the sheer volume of these injuries, it is notable how many stars have gone down already in 2024: Christian McCaffrey, Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Nico Collins, Russell Wilson, Isiah Pacheco, Cooper Kupp, Brandon Aiyuk, A.J. Brown, and of course, Matt Milano, who is missing significant time for the second straight year.
It remains to be seen how the rest of the week will shape up, but for now, both the Bills and the Seahawks, as well as many other clubs, could be playing with a skeleton crew of a roster. And on the last full weekend of football before Halloween – spooky!
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