COVID-19 Hits Just Keep Coming for Bills
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Add two more key players to the list of Bills who won't be available for Sunday's rematch with the New England Patriots.
Wide receiver Gabriel Davis and guard Cody Ford were added to the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday, joining wide receiver Cole Beasley, tackle Dion Dawkins, defensive end A.J. Epenesa and guard Jon Feliciano.
Dawkins came off the list on Saturday, after not having practiced all week, so how much he'll be able to contribute against New England remains questionable. No one formula will apply for players who have missed time while out with COVID-19 infections, according to coach Sean McDermott.
"It will be invidually decided on, who it is and how much time they really need, how long they've been out," he said. "You know, the health and safety of the players and/or coach, for that matter, at this point is the most important piece.
"And so I use our medical team, [trainer] Nate Breske and our training staff for that. And then once we get through kind of that filter, if you will, then it's, `Hey, what do we need on the field for us, and are they ready to perform?' "
All three offensive linemen on the list have been starters this season. Ford was benched after Week 3 but has made four starts since, including last week's 31-14 win over Carolina, as a fill-in for various injured or ill starters.
Feliciano also is eligible to come off the list before Sunday's game, having missed last week's game. He has been vaccinated.
But because Davis is unvaccinated, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, he'll not only miss this weekend's game but next week's at home against Atlanta as well because NFL protocols mandate unvaccinated players who test positive stay away for a minimum of 10 days.
Just being able to put up some resistance against the Patriots will prove awfully difficult for an offense that was dominated in the first meeting, which New England won, 14-10.
Knowing they were going to be without Beasley, the Bills had been planning an expanded role for Davis, who last week provided team highs of five catches, 85 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions.
"Yeah, he's been hot," McDermott admitted." And and so yeah, we lose a guy that that's on a roll."
As a result, the Bills likely now will have to rely more on little-used receivers Isaiah McKenzie and Jake Kumerow to go with Stefon Diggs, rookie Marquez Stevenson and possibly Emmanuel Sanders, who was limited in practice Friday after being full the day before with a knee injury.
The Bills also will have serious decisions to make about their offensive line.
Their healthy starters are center Mitch Morse, right tackle Spencer Brown, right guard Daryl Williams and perhaps Dawkins at left tackle. Brown flipped to the other side to replace Dawkins last week, with Williams flexing back out to his original position at right tackle. Ford and Ike Boettger, who is expected to start again this week, handled the guard spots.
With Ford out, the Bills could plug Ryan Bates in or perhaps move Williams back inside and use Tommy Doyle or promote practice-squad tackle Bobby Hart, who recently was activated from the COVID reserve list.
Definitely not the best way to go into their most important game. But they have no other choice.
"That's the world we're living in," McDermott said. "And I think you've just got to stay mentally strong through it, really, and not get too down. Because every day someone else goes down, and that's the reality of our situation. So stay positive, control the pieces we can control and we know we're going to play on Sunday and try and get ourselves ready to go here."
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
