Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott has announced that three players will be inactive for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns: kicker Matt Prater (quad), defensive tackle Jordan Phillips (ankle), and offensive tackle Chase Lundt (knee).
The biggest loss of these three is Prater, who has been a consistent leg for the Bills this season after Tyler Bass went down with a season-ending injury. With Prater out, Buffalo signed veteran kicker Michael Badgley, who is slated to play against Cleveland this weekend. Badgley kicked for Indianapolis this season, but was cut a couple of weeks ago. He was 10-for-11 on field goal attempts and 18-for-21 on extra point attempts with the Colts.
The loss of Jordan Phillips won’t tank the Bills defensive line, but it does hurt their depth heading into an important stretch of games to finish the regular season. Phillips hasn’t played on more than 50 percent of the Bills defensive snaps in any of his 10 games this season, but he does have a sack and a forced fumble.
Lundt has only played three snaps on the O-line this season.
Other Bills on Injury Report Heading Into Week 16
Outside of Prater, Phillips, and Lundt, Buffalo has nine other players listed on the injury report heading into this weekend’s game against Cleveland.
Christian Benford, Terrel Bernard, Mecole Hardman, Taron Johnson, DaQuan Jones, Mitch Wishnowsky, and Cam Lewis have all been limited participants through the first two practices of the week, though none seem to be in danger of missing Sunday’s game as of Friday, Dec. 19.
Dalton Kincaid and Dion Dawkins both missed Wednesday and Thursday’s practices. Kincaid missed a month with a knee injury, but has played the last two weeks against Cincinnati and New England. He is practicing Friday, a good sign for his status for Sunday’s game.
Dawkins missed Wednesday and Thursday with an illness. There have been no updates as of Friday on what the illness is or if it will inhibit his ability to play this weekend.
Bills Still in Contention For AFC East Heading Into Week 16
Buffalo avoided elimination from it’s pursuit of the AFC East title with a win over the New England Patriots in week 15, but the path will still be dictated by the Patriots performance through the final three weeks of the season. New England is 11-3, while Buffalo is 10-4; if the Pats beat Baltimore, New York, and Miami to finish the season, they’ll win the division for the first time since 2019.
If the Bills and Pats finish the season with the same record, the AFC East tiebreaker jumps past head-to-head as the two split their season series, and goes to divisional record. The Patriots can finish the season 5-1 in the division with wins over the Jets and Dolphins, while the best Buffalo can do is finish 4-2 if they defeat the Jets in week 18.
So, Buffalo is hoping for the Pats to slip up in at least one of those games.
If the Bills can’t secure they AFC East, they’re still in a great spot to clinch a wild card spot. Indianapolis would have to win out and Buffalo would have to lose two-of-three to even make it close.
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