What a freaking ugly game. But somehow the Buffalo Bills secured a 24-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers to move to 3-0. It is truly a week-to-week league and Sunday proved that.
The Bills were favored by a touchdown and while they covered, it was far closer than anyone had expected. The Chargers came in as a desperate team and played well and benefited from a ton of Bills penalties to hold the lead most of the game. But thankfully, the Bills woke up and took control in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
The Bills suffered a variety of different injuries and had several notable injury updates including one that was a completely new procedure. Read inside for the latest updates.
In Game Injuries
LB Dorian Williams (Head)
Williams was the first injury of the day when Williams went in for a concussion check during the Chargers first offensive drive of the day in the first quarter. It potentially happened on one of these two plays. You can see the first one he takes a hit and comes up shaking his head. On the second one, he takes another shot and at some point, someone may have radioed down for him to have a further evaluation.
Fortunately, he got checked out and was quickly cleared to return to the game. It’s also noteworthy that he had his right hand either heavily taped or casted during the game that did not largely affect his ability to play.
DT Deone Walker (Undisclosed)
Walker was forced to leave the game briefly late in the second quarter and was assessed in the blue medical tent. Fortunately, he was able to exit rather quickly and was seen testing things out on the sidelines.
I couldn’t find any reliable video that showed what happened either. The sideline or All-22 view will likely show us more as to what was injured. I did have someone say he was grabbing at his leg but I cannot find this on the broadcast view.
Fortunately, this appeared to be a minor issue and he was able to return the following series.
S CJ Gardner-Johnson (Back/Thigh)
CJGJ took a hard shot to his back/thighs with 5:56 in the third quarter and was very slow to get up.
He got the entire backside whipped into a Chargers offensive player as you can see in the clip above.
Thankfully he was able to return later in the game and secure a touchdown saving interception. I did see him on the sidelines holding a hot pack to his right thigh trying to keep things warm and prevent the area from tightening up. I’m not sure if the hot pack was related to the previous injury.
CB Christian Benford (Right Toe)
Benford left with 2:40 left in the third quarter and did not return after he suffered a right toe injury.
Looking at his last play, he backpedals and runs forward, coming up lame on his right foot before exiting the frame and then team medical staff tend to him.
It’s more likely that his injury occurred on the play prior when it looks like his foot got crunched under several bodies.
It’s hard to say from this angle how his toe was injured but I’m not ready to declare this a turf toe injury until I get other angles on this play or more information.
Following the game, he was seen in a walking boot which is often precautionary but he was without crutches and appeared to be walking fairly well through the foot.
We need more information including angles on the play before discussing timelines or specific injuries.
Other Observations
QB Josh Allen (Left Knee)
I wasn’t even going to acknowledge this, but I had enough people talking about it that I should address it. Josh did take a nice shot to his knee with 9:46 left in the fourth quarter.
From this angle, it looks as though the Chargers defender hits him from the outside and behind as he falls. Thankfully, his foot is off the ground and the toe turns inward in alignment with the knee as he falls. The other Chargers defender does come in and hit the inside portion of the knee. He does shake out the knee and gets right back to work moving pretty well the rest of the game.
He is limping in the video as he walks more as well. He deff hurt the knee but is it truly injured? That’s hard to say right now. I think if he sprained the MCL or did something else, he would have at least needed some time to work through it before jumping back into the next play. Right now, it looks like he’s more hurt than injured until we get more information.
WR Keon Coleman (Right Ankle)
Coleman was on the sidelines getting his ankles taped up during the same time that Deone Walker was out getting assessed.
He had a rather quiet day securing just one reception for 37 yards on two targets. This came after I thought he would not play due to the limited practice he got during the week with the ankle injury potentially more severe than was perceived.
LB Terrel Bernard (Undisclosed)
Bernard never had anything announced by the team why he went into the medical tent but was off to the side in between series testing something out. He did come into the game with a knee injury that he was a full participant before getting a vet rest day on Friday.
We will see if he shows up on the injury report again this week.
G Alec Anderson (Right Shoulder)
I had noticed that Anderson is wearing a shoulder harness on his right shoulder during today’s game. This was also noticed during Thursday’s practice as well but he has not been on the injury report for this but did have a rough game.
He didn’t have this during the Lions game which means this is a more recent issue and may have contributed to his struggles.
RB Ty Johnson (Right Hamstring Accessory Tendon Removal)
I have been a physical therapist for 13 years and have never heard of an accessory tendon, much less an accessory tendon removal. I also spoke with 2 athletic trainers, an AT/PT with NFL experience, a radiologist, and an orthopedic surgeon about this and only the ortho had heard of this in the past year.
From my research, this is what I found shortly after learning this from my tweet.
I spoke with an AT, a radiologist, and orthopedic doctor, only the ortho had heard of this in the past year.
All have worked in high level athletics as well.
Basically it’s several extra connections for the hamstrings near the tibia.
An issue with this can compress on nerve or blood vessels and cause pain.
Can also lead to recurrent strains or proximal tendonitis. Can present like a lump or hematoma.
Apparently the easiest thing to do is cut it out.
Learn something new every day.
Here is also a picture of the area where one of these accessory tendons are in the leg. I had to use ChatGPT to find this picture because Google was of no help. That’s how rare this is.
This information helps clarify why he was out so long and shows that we don’t always have the full scope of information why timelines are the way they are.
I’m still going to find more information on this, but when everyone I ask hasn’t heard of this, it means I learn something new and this is a fairly rare thing.
Final Thoughts
A win is a win but it was one of the more uglier wins in recent memory. I’m glad the team fought through this to earn the win, but they need to clean a lot up before heading into Week 4 against the New England Patriots.
As we get more information on all the injuries, make sure to check back often to stay up to date on everything that is Bills injury related news.
Top Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes
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