A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist
This is not the way Sean McDermott hoped training camp and the preseason games would play out.
The eighth-year Bills coach has seen his plan unravel in a flood of injuries, many of them at four key positions: quarterback, safety, wide receiver and linebacker.
Thus, come Saturday afternoon at Highmark Stadium, in the preseason finale against Carolina, you’ll need a program to identify Buffalo’s participants.
You won’t see a first-stringer and at quarterback, starter Ben NiNucci and backup Anthony Brown, who will have a combined 15 days on the Bills roster, will share the duties.
The rest of the positions will be manned by second- and third-team hopefuls who will get a full game to impress the coaching staff before the 90-man roster is cut to the regular-season limit of 53 next Tuesday.
Buffalo’s quarterback situation isn’t as bleak as it seems since starter Josh Allen has played only a quarter in the opener and is fully healthy thanks to McDermott’s decision to bench him due to circumstances the past two games.
The problem is, Allen’s backup, Mitch Trubisky, went out with a knee injury in last week’s win at Pittsburgh and looms to be out the next few weeks. It’s certain, McDermott doesn’t want to live with either DiNucci or Brown as Allen’s caddy until Trubisky returns.
EQUALLY concerning, Buffalo is down three safeties — Damar Hamlin (hamstring), second-round draft choice Cole Bishop (shoulder) and Mike Edwards (hamstring) — any two of them could be starters.
The Bills are also light three linebackers: Matt Milano (out until December with a torn biceps), Baylon Spector (calf) and Nick Morrow (groin).
Finally, three receivers are out: Chase Claypool (waived injured), Curtis Samuel (turf toe) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (neck), the later two likely starters.
IN McDERMOTT’S view, all are making progress but he’s uncertain when the 12 players who are hurt might be able to participate and get enough reps to play in a regular-season game.
That’s why he’ll play all reserves on Saturday.
“This week I was not planning to play (Josh), I was going to give him an extra week,” McDermott admitted. “It’s usually four preseason games and that fourth week you normally pull back on the ones, but (this year) the third week, I was planning on playing the ones for a quarter, maybe a bit more. Now, the important thing (with the injuries) is we have to use practice to continue to get ourselves sharp for the season.”
Of course, Buffalo’s preseason — a 33-6 pasting by Chicago and a 9-3 sleepwalk win over the Steelers — has hardly been an endorsement for the offense.
The Bills’ 15 points have been on five field goals, no touchdowns.
“We’ve been able to move the ball at times but not enough,” McDermott admitted. “Some of that was drives were stalling and we were getting off-schedule because we couldn’t move the chains due to the pre-snap penalties.
“When you’re not scoring points on offense, that is a concern, yeah, but when you dive right into it I think there’s been some times where we moved the chains and have gotten into a rhythm then we shoot ourselves in the foot.”
He added, “Any more in this league you’ve got to drive the length of the field where you potentially have to go eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 plays to score a touchdown … that’s where the (NFL) is of late. So in order to do that, you have to stack one good play after another and that’s what, to this point, we’ve failed to do enough to score the way we want too. It takes all 11 guys to be on their details and be on their discipline to be on their level of play that we’re looking for.”
And it hasn’t happened yet.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
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