The Buffalo Bills have done it!! They have secured a playoff win for the first time since 1995 over the Indianapolis Colts 27-24! While it wasn’t a win that was as dominating as it has been in recent weeks, it’s the playoffs, and blowout wins are far from expected as we saw this weekend.
Coming into the game, the Bills were fairly healthy with only Cole Beasley and Stefon Diggs being the big concerns. Both ended up playing with varying degrees of effectiveness. Beasley led the team in receptions and moved the chains despite playing through obvious pain, Diggs led in receiving yards and added a touchdown.
Fortunately, the Bills ended the game with only one significant injury as they look to prepare for next week against the Baltimore Ravens. Check out the recap below.
In-game injuries:
T Dion Dawkins (Undisclosed)
Dawkins left the field briefly, going to the locker room early in the 2nd quarter before returning moments later adjusting his equipment. Looking at the video, there doesn’t appear to be anything to note injury-wise on film and he didn’t miss any offensive snaps during the time he was away.
Unless he shows up on the injury report with a designation, this one’s a mystery.
RB Zack Moss (Left ankle)
Moss went down with a rough-looking left ankle injury at the beginning of the 4th quarter, requiring the cart to leave the field. Upon review, his left foot gets caught between a lot of bodies and the ground with his foot turned out. This was a clear mechanism for a likely high ankle sprain and he was in obvious pain. The cart was required to get him off the field and does not always equal severity, but the inability to get to the locker room himself required the use of the cart.
Initial reports that came out after the game indicate that Moss’s postseason may be over but the possibility to return if there is a deep playoff run. This further supported the possible high ankle sprain observed on video. Even with a full week off, it would have been incredibly difficult to even attempt to play through this injury. There is considerable instability and swelling in the ankle and he would have a very difficult time generating force from the ankle/foot complex.
However, reports came out Monday stating that his season was over but that he avoided a major injury according to his agent. There is the possibility that he may require surgery which is indicated for significant high ankle sprains, but no official determination on the intervention has been made yet.
If Moss avoids surgery, he could take roughly 6-8 weeks to return to full health. If he requires surgery, it could take upwards of 6 months but most likely less than that to fully recover. With either timeline, he would still be fully ready for training camp. Based on the damage, he could realistically participate in most of OTA’s with potentially little to no restrictions.
There is the possibility that he could receive the Tightrope procedure that the Alabama Crimson Tide medical staff has popularized, but that hasn’t been generally accepted as a regular surgery in the NFL as of yet. If he does receive this procedure, there is a chance that he could rehabilitate quicker, but this won’t be known unless it is reported.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for Moss and the Bills, but they do have Devin Singletary as the lead back in the interim. They also have TJ Yeldon, Antonio Williams, and even Taiwan Jones as options, though Jones has exclusively been on special teams. They hypothetically could bring in someone from an eliminated team’s practice squad, but to have 4 days to prepare could be a large task. It’s an unfortunate injury, but something the Bills must deal with.
Other observations:
WR Cole Beasley (Left knee)
Beasley “toughed it out” to play Saturday with 7 receptions for 57 yards but at times came up clearly limping around. Watching him trying to move the chains posed the question of whether it was worth it for him to suit up to play, but he did. He was mainly a possession receiver, catching the ball and then going down relatively soon after the catch. I did count two plays where he tried to get some extra yardage but he didn’t break any long runs like I suspected that he would have difficulty with.
Unless he injured the knee further Saturday, I would expect that he doesn’t practice all week or is significantly limited except for Thursday and then do it all over again Saturday. It was also noted that he was wearing a brace under his pants to provide extra stability to the joint.
It’s the playoffs, he was going to gut it out in order to do whatever it took to win. That was my only argument as to whether he would play or not. It was evident that he probably would have not played had it been a regular-season game.
There didn’t appear to be any other notable injuries from Saturday’s game but there will likely be some surprises on the injury report. Stefon Diggs was highly effective and the oblique injury he was dealing with did not appear to be a factor at all. This will be an incredibly long week as the Bills prepare to host the Ravens in primetime on Saturday for the right to move to the AFC Championship against the winner of the Chiefs-Browns game. I’d assume the Chiefs would be the opponent, but the way the Browns handled the Steelers Sunday, anything can happen.
We will be watching both the Bills and Ravens injury report this week to identify any possible competitive advantages heading into Saturday.
Top Photo Credit: Yardbarker.com
