The 2024 NFL regular season ended with the 23-16 loss to the New England Patriots to drop to 13-4 on the season. This game was entirely meaningless other than several players hitting contract incentives and the potential for the Patriots to secure the number one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Many incentives were hit but with the win, the Patriots drop to number four overall and will also be looking for a new coach after firing Jerod Mayo.
Sunday’s game was largely unimpressive but that was the goal. Play the game, get the outcome, and move to the playoffs. During the game, there were no reported or observed injuries.
However, during Monday’s press conference, Sean McDermott revealed that kick returner Brandon Codrington suffered a hamstring injury. Additional details are below.
In-Game Injuries
CB Brandon Codrington (Left Hamstring)
Codrington looked to get injured on his final play of the game on a kick return when he took an awkward step and overloaded the left side when the defender came over top to tackle him. He looked to favor it slightly coming off with it likely tightening up on him after the game.
According to historical data with the Bills, there is a strong likelihood that he misses the game as most Bills players who suffer a hamstring strain miss the following game.
However, looking at players who played through the injury, the majority of them were special teams players such as Taiwan Jones, Jaquan Johnson, Quintin Morris, and Reggie Gilliam. As they are limited in snaps throughout the game, he may get away from needing to only get out there here and there. We will have to see how the week goes in terms of his availability to practice.
Final Thoughts
There aren’t really any other observations to glean from the game other than we saw the return of Curtis Samuel who played but didn’t really look any different or produce anymore than he has in other games. This is a great thing to not have to be writing about any multiple injury concerns heading into the playoffs. Sal Capaccio highlighted the players who were active but did not play a snap.
This also appears to be the healthiest the Bills have been heading into the postseason since 2021 according to my records. Other years had multiple guys on IR or dealing with ill-timed injuries, all sorts of unfortunate stuff.
The only new development is that the Bills know their opponent and time they are playing in the first round of the playoffs. The Bills will host the Denver Broncos at 1 pm on Sunday in the Wild Card Round.
Both teams are fairly healthy coming into the game even after the Broncos had to play and win to get into the playoffs. The Broncos aren’t missing a lot of guys this season with only the most notable names being LB Alex Singleton (ACL) on injured reserve and RB Tyler Badie (Back) missing every contest since Week 4.
The only notable injuries they had coming out of Sunday’s win were WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey who suffered an ankle injury late in the first quarter but quickly returned. Otherwise, they looked pretty healthy heading into the game with no lingering injuries other than Badie.
We should know more in the coming days once the first injury reports come out Wednesday. This is the second meeting all time in the playoffs with the Bills winning the first matchup in the 1991 AFC championship game with Carlton Bailey’s pick six. Make sure to check back throughout the week for the latest injury updates and news.
Top Photo Credit: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle
