Injury updates from Buffalo Bills HC Sean McDermott

The Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets on Sunday in convincing fashion. But on their way to getting back in the win column, they had several more players succumb to injuries — including one being taken from the field via ambulance.

Safety Taylor Rapp collided with nickel corner back Taron Johnson and a few moments later reached for his neck before his knees buckled and athletic trainers rushed to his aid. After being loaded onto a backboard, Rapp was seen moving both his hands as the backboard was lifted into a waiting ambulance. Another terrible scene for a Bills team that has seen too many players driven away in the past two seasons (Dane Jackson, Damar Hamlin, Damien Harris).

However, this is where things took a different, turn for Rapp. Instead of being taken to Erie County Medical Center, Rapp was only taken as far as the team’s medical room where he, presumably, had tests run. After the game, head coach Sean McDermott told members of the media that Rapp had gone home. Today, McDermott said that Rapp’s tests all came back negative and that the safety has a chance to play in Sunday’s Week 12 game with the Philadelphia Eagles. Definitely not the report we were expecting when we saw the 25-year-old Rapp taken off the field in an ambulance.

As for Taron Johnson, the other player involved in the play that landed Rapp on a stretcher just before halftime: After looking like he wasn’t going to be able to stand on his own, members of the Bills medical team checked him out on the field. Eventually Johnson was able to walk off the field and even jogged on his way to the team’s locker room. However, despite his eagerness to get his medical scans, Johnson was unable to return and is now in the NFL’s concussion protocol — as is Dane Jackson, who looked dazed after a play midway through the second quarter and left the game a few minutes before Rapp and Johnson.

McDermott also said that safety Micah Hyde and defensive back Cam Lewis (he is on the depth chart as a backup for both Johnson and Hyde) are day-to-day as the Bills begin preparations for their game in Philadelphia. Both have been on the injury list for two weeks — Hyde with a stinger and Lewis with a shoulder injury — but entered Week 11’s game weekend with out any injury designations. They were able to play 81% and 60% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps, respectively. While McDermott didn’t say, it’s presumable that the pair are just managing their previous injuries and making sure that nothing has gotten worse after a full game.

The only other injury news coming out of today’s meeting with members of the media is that while tight end Dawson Knox is eligible to return from Injured Reserve (IR) this week, it’s unlikely that he will. We may see Knox at practice, however — and if so, he will be on the team’s official injury reports this week as the league now requires teams to list players on the IR who are practicing with the team. If Knox isn’t activated this week, that would give him another two full weeks before the Bills play again, as they have a Week 13 bye.

We won’t get another look at what’s happening with players on the team’s injury list until Wednesday when the Bills release their first official report of Week 12.