Dane Jackson nursing knee injury as Bills vs. Bengals week begins

The Buffalo Bills won a close game with the Miami Dolphins during Super Wild Card Weekend and have advanced to the divisional round, where they’ll host the three-seed Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

As the Bills began preparing for their next game, head coach Sean McDermott met with members of the media, and his injury list was the shortest yet. He mentioned only cornerback Dane Jackson by name.

“Dane is day to day with a knee,” McDermott told reporters on Monday. “We’ll see where it goes this week.”

McDermott went on to say that, after Sunday’s game, Bills head athletic trainer Nate Breske told him that Jackson could have re-entered the game if needed, which sounds like a good prognosis for the third-year corner.

However, rookie cornerback Kaiir Elam entered the game and was more than holding his own, as he recorded an interception and two passes defended — including the pass that would end Miami’s final effort on a 4th & 5 to tie (or win) the game with just seconds left on the clock.

When asked about the other rookie cornerback on Buffalo’s roster, Christian Benford, McDermott was non-committal. Benford returned to the roster after a stint on Injured Reserve with an oblique injury but has been a game day inactive ever since.

“He continues to get himself ready to go, and he’s an option for us if Dane can’t go,” he said.

The Bills head coach reiterated that safety Micah Hyde, whose practice window was opened last week as he tries to make a return from surgery he had on a herniated disc roughly four months ago, would not be available for Sunday’s playoff game.

“I don’t know about Jamison,” McDermott said about wide receiver Jamison Crowder, who also returned from IR last week.

McDermott made no mention of fullback Reggie Gilliam, who left the game with an elbow injury, or wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie (hamstring) and Jordan Phillips (shoulder), who were both inactive during the Bills’ 34-31 win over the Dolphins.

Buffalo will begin practice for the Bengals game on Wednesday, and we’ll get a better look at this week’s injuries at that point.