The Buffalo Bills' final injury report for this Sunday's tilt with the Miami Dolphins is out, and once again there are some pretty big names on it.
DE Aaron Schobel: He has been officially ruled out by head coach Dick Jauron and will miss just the second start of his career. The official site's Chris Brown reports that Schobel is making progress, but his foot remains in an immobilizer boot. Rest assured that the Bills won't allow Schobel to hit the field until he's 100 percent - they want him completely healthy for the stretch run. Ryan Denney will start in Schobel's stead, just as he did last week in the win over San Diego.
CB Terrence McGee: Listed as questionable. He's been limited in practice all week, but Jauron admitted - again according to Chris Brown - that he didn't want to give McGee a full work load this week. We heard last week that McGee would be good to go against San Diego; clearly that didn't manifest itself, but the injury was described to us as "very close" earlier this week. I think McGee plays and starts in this one.
CB Ashton Youboty: Listed as questionable. He was active last week against San Diego, but largely for numbers purposes. He didn't play a snap. McGee appears to be much closer to going this week than Youboty, and one of the two is going to play. Again, my money is on McGee, and if he does, Youboty won't play. Leodis McKelvin would take over the nickel role, with some of the team's safeties playing their roles as well.
OG Brad Butler: He's out. He didn't play much against San Diego after spraining his knee; I, for one, didn't even realize he was out in that game for quite a while. It's unclear how long he'll be out; until he returns, Jason Whittle - the Bills' oldest and most tenured player - will get the start.
C Melvin Fowler: Listed as questionable. He's been limited in practice this week, and just like Schobel, I don't think the Bills are in any hurry to get Fowler back into the lineup until he's completely healthy. I agree with Brown on this one - even if Fowler is active, I think his understudy, Duke Preston, will make his second straight start. With Butler out, however, it may be imperative for Fowler to dress in case another guard goes down and they need to move Preston around.
TE Derek Fine: For the first time in his young NFL career, Fine is completely healthy and ready to play. Whether or not he'll be active is another question entirely. My guess is that he won't; the sooner they can get him in on special teams units, however, the better - the team is going to miss John DiGiorgio.