Chris Hairston, meet J.J. Watt.
When the Buffalo Bills take on the Houston Texans on Sunday, they'll be doing so without starting right tackle Erik Pears, who missed a second straight day of practice on Friday and has been listed as doubtful with a hip injury that forced him to see a specialist on Thursday. That means that Hairston, the team's second-year reserve swing tackle that has made three straight starts at left tackle, will flip over to the right side and spend most of his Sunday blocking Watt, a leading candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Bills head coach Chan Gailey did not rule out Pears being able to play completely, instead indicating that the team will wait to see if treatment he received Thursday will take in time for him to be mobile enough to play on Sunday. Clearly, the team isn't particularly optimistic about that happening.
Veteran cornerback Terrence McGee is in the same boat as Pears: he's listed as doubtful, and the team will work him out on Sunday morning to see if he's able to play. McGee did practice on a limited basis all week, but he's still not anywhere near 100 percent as he tries to play through a slow rehabilitation following off-season knee surgery.
If McGee can't play, Aaron Williams will join Stephon Gilmore in the starting lineup and play much more than he has been, in all likelihood; Justin Rogers and Leodis McKelvin will also see an uptick in reps with McGee out of the lineup. And if things continue to spiral out of control between that unsteady trio of young corners, the team has another rookie, Ron Brooks, set to return to the lineup - though he may not be ready for action on defense just yet.
Here's the full injury report, which was clearly influenced by the $20,000 fine the NFL hit the Bills with for not fully disclosing Mario Williams' wrist injury earlier in the season:
Player | Pos. | Injury | Status |
C.J. Spiller | RB | shoulder | probable |
Donald Jones | WR | back | probable |
T.J. Graham | WR | ankle | probable |
Brad Smith | WR | chest | probable |
Chris Hairston | OT | knee | probable |
Andy Levitre | OG | knee | probable |
Kraig Urbik | OG | ankle | probable |
Eric Wood | C | knee | probable |
Mario Williams | DE | wrist | probable |
Chris Kelsay | DE | ankle | probable |
Marcell Dareus | DT | shoulder | probable |
Spencer Johnson | DT | ankle | probable |
Chris White | LB | back | probable |
Justin Rogers | CB | thigh | probable |
Ron Brooks | CB | foot | probable |
Cordy Glenn | OT | ankle | questionable |
Kyle Williams | DT | ankle | questionable |
Erik Pears | OT | hip | doubtful |
Terrence McGee | CB | knee | doubtful |
Mark Anderson | DE | knee | out |