The Buffalo Bills are less than a week away from their 2011 preseason opener against the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, injuries continue to pile up before the team even takes a meaningful snap against another team. Luckily, those injuries all appear to be of the minor variety.

Drayton Florence left Saturday night's practice after rolling his ankle battling for a ball in the end zone. Chan Gailey expects him to miss some practices this week.

"He’ll be out... I don’t know, four days, six days. Every guy is different when it comes to those," Gailey announced following Sunday's practice. Florence is expected to miss Saturday's game against the Bears.

Another starter left Sunday's practice, too, as Demetrius Bell was hurt during individual position drills. Trainers tended to his shoulder, and he left the field soon after. Gailey called it a strained shoulder.

"They said it’d be a couple of days and probably he’ll be back. They don’t think it’s anything long term or bad. It’s just a strain," Gailey said of Bell's injury.

Ed Wang filled in for Bell at left tackle with the first team, while Cordaro Howard was activated off the PUP list and practiced for the first time this season, with the second unit.

Players who sat out Sunday's practice included Donald Jones, Marcus Easley, Shawn Nelson, Justin Rogers, Kellen Heard, Kelvin Sheppard and Florence.  Roscoe Parrish sat out of 7-on-7 work, though no injury has been reported at this time. Nelson is expected to miss a couple more days with what Gailey described as a pulled muscle after getting hurt at the end of a run play during Monday's practice.

There was some good news Sunday, as Shawne Merriman (leg soreness) and Aaron Williams (hand) both returned to the practice field as full participants. The Bills hit the field again Monday at 3:20 at St. John Fisher. The practice is open to the public.