Buffalo Bills football is finally back! The Bills host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football in Week 1. This is a rematch of the thrilling Divisional Round playoff matchup from last season which saw the Bills win 27-25.
Both teams come in hungry to start the season off win a win and know that this game will impact playoff seeding several months from now. Each team also comes in missing several key contributors which means a future meeting could have a drastically different outcome.
Read below for the full details for each team along with projected inactives.
BUFFALO BILLS INJURY REPORT
DOUBTFUL
CB Tre’Davious White (Groin)
White’s mystery injury from August 21 was finally revealed to be a groin injury on Wednesday. The Bills had initially classified this as a lower leg injury which was misleading as this led many to believe this was an injury below the knee.
As one can imagine, the groin musculature is crucial to a cornerbacks play with the need to accelerate, crossing over and flipping the hips as they move from running backwards to forwards. The ability to jump and cut quickly to react to a play is crucial. White does not have any history of groin strains in his medical history, but this is not an injury they want to rush guys back from either.
Benford and White have been out the same amount of time but have different outcomes so far with Benford practicing all week but White hasn’t. The only reason I can believe that White is not practicing yet is because of a core muscle injury. This is something that can be played through and doesn’t immediately require surgery. This would be a deep ache in the groin area that affects explosive movements such as running, cutting, and jumping. It’s entirely possible White stopped and twisted on August 21 leading to the injury.
Plenty of players have played through the injury including Jerry Hughes, Mitch Morse, Cole Beasley, Ed Oliver, and several others. White may be sick of surgery and wants to try to rehab before undergoing surgery and missing at least several weeks. He was not able to practice all week and despite the doubtful designation, I don’t expect him to play Sunday.
No player who has not practiced has not played in a game since Sean McDermott took over. We need more information to better understand what a true return to play timeframe for White will be.
ACTIVE
WR Keon Coleman (Groin)
Coleman was a new addition to the injury report on Wednesday with a groin injury as a limited participant. He was able to participate during the media availability on Thursday but was still limited.
He did not appear to be laboring during the available video from practice. On Friday, it was revealed that he has been dealing with some soreness dating back to training camp from the increased reps.
Coleman later clarified that he was fine and expects to play Sunday. This will be something to monitor throughout the game but this may be a more hurt, than injured situation.
CB Christian Benford (Groin)
After saying he needed rest and missing practice on August 21 along with missing last week’s open practice, Benford was revealed to be working through a groin injury.
He was limited at practice on Wednesday and Thursday but appeared to be moving well both days as evident by the clips above. On Friday, the team expressed optimism for Benford.
He appears ready to go for Sunday but this will be an issue to watch if he exits at any point during the game.
WR Khalil Shakir (Right High-Ankle Sprain)
Shakir continued to ramp up following his right high-ankle sprain from August 1. He has been out at practice with both ankles taped up as he works through his warm up drills noted below. He isn’t going 100 percent but is able to stress the ankle going to the right which is the important step to ensure he can play Sunday.
He is not 100 percent healed but the extended time off helped him immensely in getting back close to pre-injury levels. If the Bills can avoid him really having to stress the ankle with routes running to his right early or getting his ankle rolled up on, then he can allow for continued healing. I suspect he will be targeted early and often to help get the offense starting fast.
WR Elijah Moore (Personal)
Moore missed Thursday’s practice due to a personal matter but returned on Friday.
INJURED RESERVE
K Tyler Bass (L Hip/Groin)
Bass was placed on injured reserve on Friday and will miss the next four games as K Matt Prater will kick Sunday.
Bass will continue to work through his pelvic soreness, now classified as a left hip and groin issue on injured reserve. Now that there are specific body parts mentioned, I wonder if this is a way to differentiate the injury or if multiple areas are affected. His left leg is his plant leg and the groin could be the right groin as he kicks through. Both areas would still be pulling on the pubic bones causing the soreness and inflammation. I still believe he is dealing with osteitis pubis but this could also be a core muscle injury.
Here is a brief description of what osteitis pubis is.
This is a condition where there is inflammation between your left and right pubic bones, which is known as the pubic symphysis, from overuse, causing microtrauma.
This is common in individuals using their hips, pelvis, and groin, which would be exactly what Bass has been doing. This is seen often in pregnancy but also in soccer, hockey, basketball, etc. Given his positional demands, kicking is a high stressor to this area. If this is what Bass is dealing with, he would be experiencing groin or lower abdominal pain or aching throb, pain in the inner thigh, tightness within the pelvis, swelling, or genital pain.
He kicked fairly well during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason game but missed a 26 yard field goal at the end. I looked at his video from the AFC Championship game and his preseason game, there did not appear to be any difference in his kicking motion or how he presented after the kick. He notably did not run during kickoffs but that may have been more due to it being preseason rather than needing to get involved in tackling.
My biggest concern with Bass would be his accuracy further out if he plays. The extra points and kicks within 40 yards should be alright, but 40+ may be dicey. Kickoffs will also suffer having to get a running start to kick the ball and then perform open-field tackling.
As an insurance policy of sorts, the Bills signed K Matt Prater to the practice squad, elevating S Sam Franklin Jr to the active roster and moving DT DeWayne Carter to IR. However, Prater will be the Week 1 starter for at least the next three games.
To read more about Prater, click below.
DT DeWayne Carter (Left Achilles Tear)
Carter was not moved to injured reserve until after the final injury report came out on Friday. He underwent surgery sometime late last week and will spend the season on injured reserve rehabbing. To read more about his injury, click below.
BALTIMORE RAVENS INJURY REPORT
OUT
TE Isaiah Likely (Left Foot Fracture)
Likely has been out since July 30 after rolling his left ankle and fracturing a small bone in his foot, requiring surgery on August 1. He has been unable to practice but has been rehabbing the entire time. According to this video, this is his left foot injured as he’s on the arm bike and has the left foot elevated.
He avoided injured reserve to begin the season but the Ravens have been non-committal to him playing Week 1. NFL Insiders report that Likely won’t be ready. He was unable to practice all week and has been ruled out.
FB Patrick Ricard (Calf)
Ricard has been out since August 14 due to an undisclosed soft tissue injury clarified as a calf injury on September 3 due to the injury report. On Friday, he was ruled out after not practicing all week.
Considering he is such a vital cog in the offense, not having the full ability to plow ahead and block to open holes may limit some of the things the Ravens can do offensively. Practice squad FB Lucas Scott should get the elevation.
ACTIVE
CB Jaire Alexander (Right Knee)
Alexander suffered a right knee injury, specifically a PCL sprain in Week 8, initially missing one game before returning in Week 11 to play in 10 defensive snaps. He later exited and had arthroscopic knee surgery on December 31 to clean out the knee but did not reconstruct the ligament according to reports.
He didn’t practice since August 9 as he worked through the knee issues to be ready for the season before returning on September 3. Alexander has only played in 14 games since 2023, he’s coming off knee surgery, he hasn’t practiced in three weeks, and a new system doesn’t bode well for him.
Considering he’s the slot corner, this could be a huge day for Khalil Shakir who is dealing with his own injury, a right high-ankle sprain. If I’m OC Joe Brady, I’m focusing on the game plan to feed Shakir early and often until Alexander shows he can stop Shakir. This will be a big area for Josh Allen to exploit.
G Daniel Faalele (Illness)
Faalele was limited Wednesday with an illness before returning to full practice on Thursday and Friday.
Buffalo Bills Projected Inactives
CB Tre’Davious White
DE Landon Jackson
LB Shaq Thompson
CB Jordan Hancock
C Sedrick Van Pran-Granger
OT Chase Lundt
Call ups: DT Jordan Phillips, K Matt Prater
Baltimore Ravens Projected Inactives
TE Isaiah Likely
FB Patrick Ricard
LB Jay Higgins
DE David Ojabo
RB Rasheen Ali
WR LaJohntay Wester
Call ups: FB Lucas Scott
Final Thoughts
This should be an exciting game regardless of outcome and will have significant ramifications later this season. Whether it comes down to turnovers or the better executed game plan, this should be a one score game.
With both teams missing key pieces, Sunday’s final score may not be reflective of what a rematch could look like in January. These are two of the AFC’s best and should not disappoint.
Hopefully both teams stay healthy and dominate their respective divisions this season until the playoffs.
Top Photo Credit: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
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