The Buffalo Bills appeared to get a big boost on Sunday when linebacker Terrel Bernard suited up for the game against the Carolina Panthers after being listed as questionable.
But then the star linebacker remained on the sidelines the entire game, sparking speculation about why he may have been benched after getting healthy enough to return. Head coach Sean McDermott shed light on the benching this week, revealing that it was his decision to keep Bernard out of the game — and stressing it had nothing to do with his play.
Bills Took Cautious Approach With Terrel Bernard
Bernard had hurt his ankle in the team’s Week 6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and was still listed as questionable despite having the team’s bye week as extra time to recover. The Bills were already missing linebacker Matt Milano, leading to some uncertainty before the game as to who would play.
“The linebacking room, overall, had some, can they play? Can they not play?” McDermott said, via SI.com. “That was kind of the deal if we had to get him in there. We got some guys nursing some injuries.”
Instead of playing Bernard while he was healthy enough to take the field but still less than 100%, McDermott said he decided to keep him out of the game.
“Just kind of where we were and trying to get him freshened up,” McDermott said. “It wasn’t at all [related to his play]. It was more medically where he was versus anything to do with him not performing or anything like that.”
McDermott added that it was strictly his call to keep Bernard out of the game.
“This was my decision, my decision only, and just felt like we needed to get him freshened up a little bit,” the Bills head coach said.
With Bernard on the bench, the Bills rolled with the trio of Shaq Thompson, Dorian Williams and Joe Andreessen getting time at linebacker. The team had one of its best defensive performances, sacking quarterback Andy Dalton seven times and forcing three turnovers en route to a 40-9 blowout.
Bills Took Another Injury Hit
While McDermott took a cautious approach, the team wasn’t able to avoid another injury to a key player. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver went down shortly after halftime after a collision on the field, with the team quickly ruling him out of the game.
McDermott revealed this week that Oliver suffered a torn bicep and will miss an indefinite amount of time. While the team didn’t put a specific timeline to his return, the recovery is expected to take months and he could miss the entire season.
The Bills announced on Oct. 28 that they officially placed Oliver on injured reserve. They signed veteran defensive tackle Jordan Phillips to the active roster to help fill the void and also brought in more reinforcement on defense by signing safety Jordan Poyer to the active roster as well.
“Tough loss,” McDermott said of Oliver’s injury. “Ed’s a really good player. He’s missed some time this year. That’s been unfortunate. And then (we were) just getting him backâ¦We’ll miss having him.”
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