Bills vs. Patriots: Mid-week injury trends

It’s that time of the week where we look at both the Buffalo Bills and their opponents — the New England Patriots this week — and try to predict how injuries will impact game day rosters.

While the news has been worrisome over the past two and half weeks for members of Bills Mafia, things are looking better this week. No, no one’s coming off of Injured Reserve (IR) and there aren’t any “hey he’s ahead of schedule” guys, concerning any of the long-term injuries that took a fourth of Buffalo’s starting defense. But it seems as though quarterback Josh Allen is going to be just fine — and what better news could we give than that?

Here’s a look at the full injury report after two days of practice:

Bills injuries trending up

• QB Josh Allen (right shoulder)
• T Spencer Brown (knee)
• DE A.J. Expenses (quad)
• CB Dane Jackson (foot)
• TE Dalton Kincaid (concussion)
• TE Dawson Knox (wrist)
• DE Greg Rousseau (foot)

Josh Allen hurt his shoulder. Josh Allen didn’t come out of the game (okay, yes for a concussion check and those two plays were enough from Kyle Allen without the game put away). Allen threw his right shoulder into a defensive player who wanted to fight right tackle Spencer Brown. After the game, Allen had x-rays. Afterward, Allen said he was fine — and Allen was right. We can all let out the collective breath we’ve been holding since Sunday. QB17 will be on the field Sunday in Foxborough.

The other big news in this group is that cornerback Dane Jackson and defensive end Greg Rousseau were full participants on Thursday after both had been working through foot injuries. Last season Jackson had all the starts. This season he ended up behind second-year cornerback Christian Benford on the Bills’ depth chart. Then cornerback Tre’Davious White was lost for the season, meaning that Jackson was the next man up. After getting injured in London two weeks ago, Jackson was out of action last week and second-year cornerback Kaiir Elam was definitely not the answer. With Jackson back to a full participant today, it looks like he should be available Sunday and Elam can go back to being a depth player.

Bills injuries holding steady

• CB Kaiir Elam (ankle)
• DB Cam Lewis (shoulder)
• DT Ed Oliver (foot)

Elam, as mentioned above, has struggled this year. In fact, he wasn’t even active the first three weeks of the season. At some point last week, Elam re-aggravated an ankle injury that gave him trouble during summer. With being limited for two days, and not having an injury designation during Sunday’s win over the New York Giants, it would make sense to think that Elam will be active Sunday. But with his struggles on the field, it may be a matter of if head coach Sean McDermott thinks someone else is a better fit.

Of those “better fit” possibilities is defensive back Cam Lewis. Lewis tends to get most of his snaps on special teams, and he’s listed as a nickel back behind Taron Johnson. However, he has played cornerback in the past. Lewis’ injury was listed as a stinger last Sunday, so his limited practice is a good sign that nothing too serious occurred. We could see him play this week, at least in a limited capacity, considering the depleted-due-to-IR state of Buffalo’s defense.

Ed Oliver hasn’t practiced yet this week, but I have him listed here because both Oliver and McDermott were quoted as saying they’re both hopeful the defensive tackle is able to practice on Friday. If so, he would likely be a go for Sunday.

Bills injuries trending down

• RB Damien Harris (neck/concussion)
• TE Quintin Morris (ankle)

There’s not a lot to say here. The good news is that Harris was released from the hospital and what could have been a very devastating injury hasn’t left him paralyzed. There’s no way he plays this week.

Morris was obviously hobbled by the end of last Sunday night’s game, and with tight end Dalton Kincaid out of concussion protocol and tight end Dawson Knox participating fully in practices despite a wrist injury, I would guess that he’s not in uniform this week.

Now, to take a look at what the Patriots are dealing with this week.

(We’ll update as soon as information about the Patriots’ injury front is available.)