Bills' Sean McDermott responds to criticism over Maxwell Hairston late-game injury

Seems easy to criticize Sean McDermott for the decision that led to Maxwell Hairston's injury. But after further review, the Buffalo Bills' head coach's hands were tied last Sunday in the meaningless regular-season finale.

The rookie first-rounder suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter of a game the Bills were leading 35-0 over the hapless New York Jets. Some of Bills Mafia are furious that McDermott was on the field during a Week 18 blowout that star quarterback Josh Allen didn't even suit up for. But starting cornerback Tre'Davious White played the entire game, too. In fact, he never left the field, playing all 48 defensive snaps.

MORE: Why Bills kept former All-Pro CB on field for every snap in blowout win over Jets

So why expose starting players to injury in a blowout win with a Wild Card looming? According to McDermott, it was a simple numbers crunch.

"We normally have four corners on the roster, but about a month and a half ago, we went down to three,” he explained this week. "Trying to protect everybody. It’s a tough deal there.”

The loss of veteran cornerback Ja'Marcus Ingram was the first domino. He was signed by the Houston Texans off the practice squad. The Darius Slay kerfuffle made matters worse, as he never reported to the team after being claimed. Dane Jackson was the next man up as a backup cornerback, but McDermott went with an extra linebacker against the Jets and left him on the practice squad.

The clincher was then Cam Lewis getting injured during the game. At that point it was either risk White and Hairston, or play a linebacker at cornerback.

“Unfortunately, we’re a little landlocked there," McDermott said. "Would have loved to have been able to rotate somebody, but that’s that’s where we’re at right now.”

MORE: What Bills' flimsy playoff road history says about Super Bowl LX chances

The obvious hindsight is that having a linebacker stumble around on the outside against the Jets would be better than facing the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card game Sunday without Hairston.

Maxwell Hairston | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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