The Buffalo Bills were dealing with a lot of injuries during their 20-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, both before and during the game. As a result, some new faces saw a lot more playing time than they might have expected to see a week ago.
Offense (70 total plays)
G Richie Incognito - 70
G Vlad Ducasse - 70
T Dion Dawkins - 70
T Jordan Mills - 70
C Eric Wood - 70
QB Tyrod Taylor - 70
WR Zay Jones - 66
TE Nick O’Leary - 59
RB LeSean McCoy - 54
WR Kaelin Clay - 41
WR Brandon Tate - 34
WR Andre Holmes - 31
TE Logan Thomas - 20
RB Mike Tolbert - 16
FB Patrick DiMarco - 16
TE Charles Clay - 13
- John Miller fell from the ranks of Bills who have taken every snap this season after being replaced in the lineup by Ducasse, who had been a healthy scratch for the first four games. The rest of that group (Incognito, Mills, Wood, and Taylor) kept their streaks intact.
- O’Leary had been playing about half of the team’s snaps so far this season, but Clay’s injury boosted him to 84% of the snaps against the Bengals. If Clay does miss an extended period of time, look for him to stay in that range.
- With Jordan Matthews out, the bulk of the receiver snaps went to Jones. Tate, Holmes, and Kaelin Clay were all at about half of the team’s snaps, with Clay leading the way at 59%.
- DiMarco continues to be utilized in about a quarter of the Bills’ snaps this year. That’s behind the rate that Jerome Felton was utilized last year, when he played in about 31% of the team’s snaps for the season despite not being on the roster for the first game.
Defense (66 total plays)
CB Shareece Wright - 66
CB Tre’Davious White - 66
S Jordan Poyer - 66
S Micah Hyde - 66
LB Preston Brown - 66
LB Lorenzo Alexander - 61
DT Kyle Williams - 51
DE Jerry Hughes - 51
DE Shaq Lawson - 47
LB Matt Milano - 41
DT Adolphus Washington - 33
CB Greg Mabin - 28
DT Marcell Dareus - 22
DE Ryan Davis - 17
CB Leonard Johnson - 15
DT Cedric Thornton - 15
DE Eddie Yarbrough - 15
- Poyer and Brown remain among the ranks of those who have played every snap, while you can count the total number of plays that White and Hyde have missed combined on one hand.
- With E.J. Gaines out for the game, Wright picked up all of his snaps. That’s been the pattern for the entire season so far, as the two have yet to share the field.
- Milano played about two-thirds of the defensive snaps, which is a good amount for his first game but well off Ramon Humber’s pace of about 90%. Alexander picked up a lot of the slack, playing over 60 snaps for the second straight week (in addition to 15 special teams snaps) after not going above 41 in the first two.
- Johnson left the game early with a hamstring injury, with Mabin picking up the slack. He played almost half of the team’s snaps despite just rejoining the active roster this week.
- Despite notching his first sack of the season, Dareus continues to be an afterthought in the defensive rotation with only a third of the snaps against the Bengals. Washington outplayed him, and Thornton wasn’t far behind. Even with the financial situation, it’s not hard to see the Bills moving on from 99 after the season.
Special Teams Notes
- Milano’s presence on teams was scaled back with his new role in the defense. Tanner Vallejo picked up the slack with 21 snaps, ties with Joe Banyard and Deon lacey for tops on the team.
- Safety Shamarko Thomas recorded his first action with the Bills, playing 18 snaps on teams. Trae Elston also saw the field in his return to the team, playing 14 snaps on Sunday.
- Cordy Glenn was active on Sunday, but he was relegated to four special teams snaps and no plays with the offense.