Buffalo Bills' Jordan Poyer Reveals Key to Consistency in Week 6 After Injuries

Buffalo Bills veteran safety Jordan Poyer spoke on Friday about what it will take to keep the defense afloat after injuries to stars at every level.

From an insult to complementary football in Week 1 to persistent issues with the run game when it counts, the Buffalo Bills have taken some lumps in this year’s attempt to bring home a Lombardi Trophy. Nothing will cut those Super Bowl aspirations down like the stretch of injuries this team has sustained, specifically on defense.

In Week 4’s win over the Miami Dolphins, victory tasted bittersweet. They proved Miami was beatable, put themselves atop the AFC East, and showed the conference they were capable of blowing out any team, not just the mediocre fodder of the Washington Commanders and Las Vegas Raiders. Yet, cornerback Tre’Davious White tore his Achilles, ending his season.

Week 5, though, may have been worse than a hypothetical loss to those Dolphins. The Jacksonville Jaguars won, 25-20, but escaped relatively healthy. The Bills did not.

 Linebacker Matt Milano and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones—both playing as well as anyone else at their positions—suffered potentially season-ending injuries.

Simply put, there’s no replacing those guys. But there are games to play on the coming Sundays and somebody is going to have to take those snaps. They’ve lost not only dominant upside but high-level instincts that can mitigate other’s mistakes. The ceiling and the floor are both lower in Buffalo than it seemed a week ago.

Poyer prepares for a tackle against New York Jets running back Breece Hall / Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Safety Jordan Poyer spoke about how the defense must work to mitigate those losses.

“I think just the awareness, understanding who you’re playing with,” Poyer said. “Understand there might be a little more sense of communication, sense of urgency, depending on who you’re playing with.”

The Bills’ continuity on defense was a strength heading into the year. With younger players like cornerback Kaiir Elam forced into bigger roles, there’s bound to be more mistakes both pre- and post-snap. Chemistry and cohesion don’t form overnight.

“Maybe you’ve got to over-communicate a little bit more,” Poyer continued. “I think a lot of it comes down to understanding what our job description is and being able to communicate that across the board, especially at a home game on Sunday Night Football.”

The Week 6 contest with the New York Giants promises to be loud, but that may not be as helpful as it once was. How substitutes at linebacker and corner perform will be telling about the state of this defense for the coming weeks, even against an offense that is without its starting quarterback and seemingly any semblance of a competent offensive line.

“Communication is always big in our defense and with those guys out it’s going to be even more,” Poyer concluded.

Whether it be making up for the mistakes of others or doing one’s best to limit them with pre-snap communication, Poyer too will have to step up. So will safety Micah Hyde and a pass rush that has been the cog to this defense so far. Anything less could rear its head come January.