Two Bills starters day-to-day as Dolphins week begins

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott met with members of the media on Monday afternoon to update the team’s injury situation before beginning work for their much-anticipated rematch with the Miami Dolphins this Saturday night. in what is now a win-and-in game as the Buffalo Bills look to secure a playoff spot for the fourth consecutive year

The good news is that right guard Ryan Bates, who left Sunday’s wet, messy game against the New York Jets in the third quarter, isn’t going to miss much time. Bates is said to have suffered a low ankle sprain, a much better outcome than the high ankle sprains that have kept a number of Bills out of the lineup throughout much of this season. Bates is expected to rehab on the short week — Buffalo plays Saturday on what is predicted to be a cold and snowy night — and we could see his return sooner rather than later, as McDermott said that he is day to day.

The head coach also announced another injury that wasn’t known during the game.

“Ed has a chest (injury), and he’s day to day,” McDermott said, referring to Ed Oliver and indicating that the defensive line took another hit in the injury category.

Reggie Gilliam and Jordan Phillips were the only two Bills that were inactive on Sunday due to injury, and we can only hope that the duo continues to improve this week. The Buffalo pass rush continued to dominate the line of scrimmage, and harassed quarterback Mike White despite the absence of Von Miller, who is out for the remainder of the season with an ACL tear. While the line did just fine, having Phillips back will help them just that much more.

Gilliam missing was a bigger issue, as the Bills do not have a second fullback on either their active or practice squad rosters. While some of the offensive struggles that occurred on Sunday could be chalked up to the constant rain that fell during the game, missing a key blocker was surely also a part of Buffalo putting up less than 300 yards of total offense, and only 130 of those through the air, for the first time this season. Getting Gilliam healthy is a big need for the Bills as they look to secure a playoff spot this week, and then move on to attempting to clinch their third straight AFC East championship.

Left tackle Dion Dawkins played 100 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in his return from his own injury of the high-ankle variety. While he had several holding penalties assessed to himself, possibly as he tried to navigate through any instability that may be lingering, he should continue to improve this week and will hopefully be off the team’s injury list moving forward, as McDermott did not mention him in today’s press conference.