The Buffalo Bills close out the regular season with the final home game at Highmark Stadium against the New York Jets in Week 18. Barring a deep playoff run with all the top seeds falling, this is likely the last game in the home that the Bills have called for the last 53 years.
The Bills do not have much to play for as the playoffs have already been locked up and the outcome only affects seeding and Wild Card matchup. This game is an opportunity to close out a significant chapter in the team’s storied history. It would be fantastic to end with a win over the Jets to bookend the opening and closing of the stadium. However, a healthy Bills team heading into the postseason is far more important than a building’s history.
Below is an analysis of each team’s injury report, projected inactives, and my final thoughts and farewell for the final game at Highmark Stadium.
BUFFALO BILLS INJURY REPORT
OUT
LB Terrel Bernard (Right Calf)
Bernard was ruled out on Monday after suffering a right calf strain midway through the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
He was initially questionable to return before being downgraded to out. This is just the latest injury for Bernard in what has been a lost season for him. Hamstring strain in the preseason, Week 6 right ankle sprain, and now this calf injury.
Do not be surprised if we hear about some type of surgery or more significant injuries he had been playing through.
S Jordan Poyer (Left Hamstring)
Poyer missed last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles after he suffered a left hamstring strain late in the win over the Cleveland Browns. While it was expected that he wouldn’t play the following week, the Bills appeared to take the conservative approach this week keeping Poyer out once again to be ready for the playoffs.
DT DaQuan Jones (Left Calf)
Jones missed last week’s game after having a setback in the win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 16. He tweaked his left calf late in the third quarter and was able to finish the game but was then unable to practice all week.
The Bills decided to save him for the playoffs by ruling him out on Friday morning.
QUESTIONABLE
TE Dalton Kincaid (Left Knee)
Kincaid sat out last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles as he continues to manage his left knee injury originally sustained last year in Week 10. He has had several aggravations of the injury since then with the most recent one ahead of Week 14.
The Bills have been managing his workload to make sure he is ready for the playoffs. Following the season, I expect him to have some type of surgery or procedure to correct this lingering PCL sprain.
He is questionable this week heading into the game and with Dawson Knox, Keleki Latu, and Jackson Hawes on the roster, I’d sit Kincaid to make sure his knee is ready to go for the playoffs.
DE Joey Bosa (Left Hamstring)
Bosa has been on the injury report for the last two weeks after being removed ahead of Week 16. This injury originally occurred in Week 13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m sure the hamstring is still lingering though the team is being cautious about his practice snaps to keep him healthy for the postseason.
With the amount of disruption he can cause in the playoffs, you sit him this week to make sure he is as healthy as possible for the Wild Card round and beyond.
However, he’s really close to several incentives including reaching six sacks to get $250k bonus and he’s currently at 64% of defensive snaps on the season, if he appears in 65% of snaps, he gets $1 million. After looking at that, he plays.
DT Jordan Phillips (Right Ankle)
Phillips has missed the last two games after suffering a right ankle sprain against the New England Patriots in the second quarter. At the time, it wasn’t clear what the injury was as he was initially questionable to return and had the ankle taped up and able to walk in the tunnel after the game.
Missing the last two weeks suggests that this is a high-ankle sprain and the team has been taking the opportunity to get him healthy while giving snaps to Phidarian Mathis and others.
He was able to return to practice Wednesday as a limited participant in the walkthrough and again on Thursday. He was full Friday and is officially questionable. He may be one to make active only so that he can help with the defensive line rotation.
DT Deone Walker (Illness)
Walker was downgraded to questionable on Saturday after missing practice Friday. Normally most players who deal with an illness play, but there have been several instances where guys simply cannot play. I believe there are two instances since 2017 for the Bills which means this is one to watch closely when the inactives are released. The flu right now is spreading around the Buffalo area and is hitting a lot of people.
ACTIVE
QB Josh Allen (Right Foot)
Allen did not participate in Wednesday’s walk through and practice on Thursday as he works through his right foot injury originally sustained against the Cleveland Browns in Week 16. The injury has been significant enough that he has undergone x-rays the last two weeks to monitor any potential concerns.
This still appears to be a midfoot sprain with the possibility of a Lisfranc sprain that they are monitoring to make sure that it is not worsening. Normally, the Lisfranc sprains would keep a player out which is why I’m not leaning heavily into this thought. Josh Allen is one-of-a-kind when it comes to playing through injuries but the team at some point would step in and hold him out if he could worsen things.
Sean McDermott noted that Allen is in a better spot than last week during Monday’s press conference.
He will get his start on Sunday to extend his starting streak and then likely sit down to rest for the playoffs. This injury will continue to linger through the playoffs and will be addressed properly in the offseason.
K Matt Prater (Right Quad)
After missing the last two games due to a right quadriceps strain suffered against the New England Patriots, Prater is set to return in the season finale. Considering he practiced in full on Wednesday, this suggested that he was close to returning last week but considering the wet field, the team held off on activating him.
He is still likely not 100 percent but if he can handle kickoffs and extra points, those are relatively easy for Prater to manage.
FB Reggie Gilliam/CB Tre’Davious White/DE AJ Epenesa (Illness)
Gilliam missed practice Wednesday, Epenesa missed practice Thursday, and White appeared to leave early on Thursday. None have a game day designation.
OT Tylan Grable (Personal)
Grable did not practice Thursday due to a personal matter but returned on Friday.
TE Dawson Knox (Knee)
After popping up on the injury report due to a knee injury against the Cleveland Browns, Knox was questionable heading into Week 17. I didn’t think he would play due to the recency of the injury, but he suited up and had a productive game with five catches for 30 yards.
He was limited during the Wednesday walk through but got a full practice in on Friday with no designation.
CB Cam Lewis (Left Hamstring)
Lewis has been working through a left hamstring strain originally suffered ahead of Week 16 that he has been playing through. The injury has not hampered him much as he played every defensive snap and six additional special teams snaps. This may continue to linger through the playoffs but he will play through it as he has no designation.
INJURED RESERVE
DT Ed Oliver (Left Biceps/Left Knee)
News came down on Sunday and then clarification on Wednesday that Ed Oliver had a setback during his rehab process.
The team made it sound like this was with the biceps but clarified on Wednesday that he had injured his right knee and underwent surgery to trim his meniscus on Monday.
Oliver’s Instagram story showed that his right knee was scoped as evident by the steri strips on the front of the knee.
The fact that he tweaked his knee and required a scope means that he was ramping up and getting close to returning but this surgery sets him back in his return. If the team was pushing to return for Wild Card weekend, this surgery all but eliminated that potential. Knee scopes like this take roughly two or three weeks to return to practice as we saw with Alec Anderson this preseason and TJ Sanders earlier this year. Both had the benefit from extra time to return as Anderson had extra guys during training camp to take his reps and Sanders had injured reserve.
There are three zones of healing and dictate what the best intervention can be. The red zone has the most vascularization and heals the best after repair. The red-white zone is a transitional area and can heal but is slower. The white zone has poor vascularization. This is potentially the area where Oliver had the meniscus trimmed.
Oliver needs at least one week of practice in order to be ready to play, but ideally would need two to be ready and be effective. If the plan to return to practice was set after Week 18, then this surgery pushes things back by at least a week. I had anticipated that his window would be opened after Week 18.
A possible return to practice has him two weeks removed from surgery after the Wild Card game and a potential return in the Divisional Round after one week of practice. The team could also elect to hold him out another week for the AFC Championship game for two weeks of practice and he would be 12 weeks removed from surgery.
The earliest I see him returning is the divisional round with everything going well from his knee surgery. If the team was originally pushing for the Wild Card round, the knee slowed things down. He would have been 10 weeks removed which has happened but rare. Divisional round allows the team to have another week for his biceps and allows him to ramp up from the knee. He also is more likely to return if the Bills suffer more injuries at defensive tackle which allow him to return without taking a roster spot from someone already available.
We’ll see how this plays out but if the knee doesn’t respond as well as they hope, this might put everything on ice.
To read more about his biceps injury, click below.
NEW YORK JETS INJURY REPORT
OUT
DE Michael Clemons (Ankle)
Clemons is a new addition to the injury report this week with an ankle designation after playing in 50 percent of snaps last week. There were no reports of him dealing with an injury during the game, so this may be the culmination of a long season finally ending.
Despite the lack of information, the Jets are deciding to sit him for the season finale.
RB Isaiah Davis (Concussion)
Davis left the Week 16 contest against the New England Patriots on a kickoff return where he was able to tackle the returner but suffered a concussion on the play. He was unable to return and unable to practice all week, ruling him out for the season finale on Friday.
TE Mason Taylor (Neck)
Taylor has missed the last three games dealing with a neck injury after suffering the injury in the loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 14. He has not been able to practice over the last three weeks due to the injury and added a fourth week this week. He has once again been ruled out, finishing his rookie season.
Per the team, the doctors did not clear him to suit up for the final game.
TE Jelani Woods (Hamstring)
Woods was a new addition to the injury report this week as he was a limited participant with a hamstring strain. He has played the last three weeks likely due to Mason Taylor not being able to suit up due to his neck injury. He’s gotten three targets with one catch for four yards meaning he is not much of a factor heading into the game.
He was limited on Wednesday before downgrading to not practicing on Thursday indicating he tweaked the hamstring in practice. He was ruled out Friday morning.
OL Xavier Newman-Johnson (Knee)
Newman-Johnson continues to be on the injury report for a knee injury that has kept him on the injury report for Weeks 16 and 17. He has played through the injury the last two weeks but has seen minimal playing time after being inactive for a majority of the season. However, he was unable to practice all week and was ruled out.
CB Quan’tez Stiggers (Right Knee)
Stiggers dealt with two injuries during the game, leaving with 36 seconds left in the first quarter during a routine tackle. He finished the play and then immediately grabbed at his head and was forced to leave. Based on how he hit, this was likely a stinger as he returned midway through the second quarter.
His other injury came with 4:53 left in the third quarter when he went in for a tackle and came up grabbing his right knee, unable to finish the game. The team elected to rule him out Friday morning.
QUESTIONABLE
RB Breece Hall (Right Knee)
Hall exited Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots with 12:50 left in the fourth quarter after a routine run to the left side. He landed out of bounds hard on the right knee, grabbing at it once he rolled over to his butt.
He said, following the game, that his knee was fine. He was on the injury report ahead of Weeks 15 and 16 for a knee issue, but it’s not clear if this was the same knee or what the particular issue was.
He is officially questionable and while it would be smart for him to sit, I believe he goes to try and end the season on a high note.
Update: Hall has been downgraded to out.
G Joe Tippmann (Hip)
Tippmann was a new addition to the injury report as he works through a hip injury. Looking back at snap counts, he was able to play in every offensive snap. He was unable to practice on Wednesday before returning Thursday to get practice reps in on Thursday and Friday. He is questionable but I expect him to play.
CB Brandon Stephens (Neck)
Stephens was a new addition to the injury report on Thursday with a neck designation and limited indicating the injury occurred in practice. He was unable to practice Friday and downgraded to questionable.
QB Tyrod Taylor (Knee)
Taylor popped back up on the injury report with a knee designation on Thursday. He had been on the injury report dating back to Week 15 with a groin designation before adding a knee designation in Week 16. He has not played since Week 14 but with Brady Cook starting, Taylor may be the backup in the event Cook goes down.
ACTIVE
DT Harrison Phillips (Knee)
Phillips has been on the injury report for the last two weeks as he works through a knee injury. There isn’t any information on the exact issue though it’s worth noting that he has had several ACL tears in college and in 2019 in addition to a PCL sprain in 2021.
He was limited Wednesday before being upgraded to full on Thursday and Friday with no designation.
RB Kene Nwangwu (Quadriceps)
Nwangwu is once again dealing with a soft tissue injury, this time to his quadriceps. He missed the Week 2 matchup earlier this year due to a hamstring strain suffered in Week 1. He has seen most of his playing time on special teams with kick returns but saw his first snaps on offense this year last week with 11. He went 6 for 31 yards in relief of Breece Hall who exited with a knee injury.
Fortunately, he has no designation for Sunday.
LB Cam Jones (Heel)
Jones was added to the injury report Friday with a heel designation but had a full practice and no designation.
Buffalo Bills Projected Inactives
LB Terrel Bernard
S Jordan Poyer
DT DaQuan Jones
TE Dalton Kincaid
CB Taron Johnson
WR Joshua Palmer
OT Spencer Brown
Call Ups: LB Keonta Jenkins, DE Shaq Lawson
New York Jets Projected Inactives
OL Xavier Newman
TE Jelani Woods
TE Mason Taylor
DE Michael Clemons
CB Quan’tez Stiggers
RB Isaiah Davis
CB Brandon Stephens
Call Ups: CB Nik Needham, RB Raheem Blackshear
Final Thoughts
If the Bills win, they can get the fifth or sixth seed with help in both instances.
The fifth seed requires a Bills win and Texans/Chargers losses.
The sixth seed requires a Bills win and a loss by the Texans or Chargers. It can also happen with a Jaguars loss and Chargers/Texans wins.
If they lose, they stay at the seventh seed.
I’d love for the Bills to get the highest seed possible to at least have the opportunity to host the AFC Championship game. But at the end of the day, the Bills need to win in the playoffs no matter the location.
Farewell
We’ll see how things play out Sunday, but this game is more about the end of Rich Stadium/The Ralph/New Era/Highmark Stadium. I won’t be there for that final game, but there are still a ton of memories from over the years. I didn’t grow up here which means I wasn’t born into all this. I grew up in Erie, PA and found my way up to Buffalo attending D’Youville College in 2006.
Being in Buffalo got me hooked on Buffalo sports, starting with the Sabres run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007. For some reason, I was a San Francisco 49ers fan growing up. Steve Young was the man. But with the 49ers being absolutely garbage in the mid-2000’s led me to search for a new team. When Dick Jauron took over in 2006 and posted back-to-back 7-9 seasons in 2006 and 2007, I thought the Bills were on the cusp of being great again. Clearly they weren’t.
Thanks, Dick.
The final nail in the coffin for converting to my Bills fandom, at a sporting goods jersey sale, I had a choice to continue following the 49ers by purchasing a Michael Crabtree jersey or a Paul Posluszny jersey, I chose the latter especially since Posluszny was a Penn State guy. I was hooked.
My first experience in the stadium was actually as a game day worker in the Goal Line club as part of fundraising for D’Youville volleyball. I witnessed a Bills comeback over the Oakland Raiders in 2008 that culminated with a 38-yard game winning kick from Ryan Lindell to win 25-24. I worked nearly every home game for the next three seasons and was able to go to several sitting in the stands with my first ticketed game against the New Orleans Saints in 2009, a 27-7 loss.
I recall walking through the worker entrance near the tunnel entrance overhearing security discussing how they had to confiscate a gun, multiple knives, and brass knuckles during the previous game against the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night game in 2008. I was there when Stevie Johnson dropped the game winning touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the event that ultimately birthed Bills Mafia.
I organized Bills games for D’Youville students to use student fees to buy discounted tickets to games so it could be affordable, tickets for $25 bucks! I took a risk ahead of finals week when I should have been studying by going to the 2011 Week 11 game against the Tennessee Titans when it was nearly 60 degrees. My buddy Nick came up from Erie, almost got detailed by Border Patrol at the Peace Bridge taking a wrong turn, and then proceeded to dive for passes in the mud lot, covering himself in mud prior to walking into the game. Mind you, he was relatively sober. The Bills lost that day but man that was fun being in the 300’s watching the Bills play.
I’ve been there when I’ve been too drunk for my own good many times. I’ve been there in nearly every weather event from the heat to the rain, to the wind, cold, and snow. Being able to say I saw NFL legends take the field against the Bills.
Buying season tickets with my wife to make sure we could watch our favorite team in person, back when I had more money, time, and no kids. Watching Bruce and Thurman’s number retirements were something special. Being there for Kyle Williams’ last game with my wife and family. Taking my dad to his first NFL game to watch his favorite team, the Washington Redskins. Watching the Bills clinch the AFC East against the Jets. Taking my kids to Bills practice this year for one last time at The Ralph.
It’s a building, but it’s the place of countless memories. I wish I could be there one last time, but it was fitting that I was able to take my kids on a summer night to take in everything that is Bills football, to say they saw Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills on that field. They don’t know much or care deeply about the Bills right now, but they know Josh Allen and what that Buffalo Bills logo represents. I hope they appreciate it when they’re older.
These are just a portion of my Bills memories over the last almost 20 years. I hope you read one memory and reflect on your own shared experience. I clearly can’t pick just one moment, they’re all special in one way or another.
The Bills have been a constant in my adult life and this building has been there for the entire ride. I’m looking forward to the Bills in a new home, but I’ll miss the game day experience at The Ralph.
Go Bills.
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