Despite a string of injuries, including two on their starting offensive line, and an uncharacteristic passing performance of just 153 yards by reigning NFL MVP quarterback Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills rolled to a comfortable 26-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. The win kept the Bills at least in the picture for what would be their sixth straight AFC East title, though a Monday Night Football win by the New England Patriots kept Buffalo 2 1/2 games off the pace with five to play.
The Bills did it on Sunday without the services of third-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, the Bills’ 2023 first-round draft pick out of Utah, who sat out his third straight game with a hamstring injury â after missing an earlier game with an oblique strain.
After the Bills issued their first injury report of the week on Wednesday, as they prepare for next Sunday’s crucial showdown against the Cincinnati Bengals, it unexpectedly appeared that Kincaid had come down with a third injury of the season.
Unexplained Knee Injury Surfaces
Kincaid was reported to have taken part in practice Wednesday but with limited participation only. The injury report listed him with both the known hamstring injury that he suffered Nov. 9 against the Miami Dolphins as well as something new â a knee injury of some kind.
The team did not explain how Kincaid contracted the knee injury despite not playing in either of the previous two games.
“Kincaid was not listed with a knee injury last week,” wrote SB Nation Bills correspondent Alex Brasky. “Somehow, while not playing Sunday, Kincaid developed another injury to an area which could be a reoccurrence of an ailment he dealt with a season ago.”
The new ailment is especially concerning for the Bills because Kincaid has been the Bills’ top receiver in terms of receptions with 29 and touchdowns with four (tied with wide receiver Keon Coleman) despite appearing in only eight of the Bills’ 12 games. Kincaid is also second in yards per reception (15.4) and receiving success rate (66.7 percent).
Tight End Suffered Unusual Knee Injury Last Year
Last season, Kincaid missed three games with a knee injury that was reported as a PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) injury, which refers to the ligament that “connects the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and runs along the back of your leg,” according to information from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. “It supports knee movement and prevents the tibia from sliding too far backward behind the femur.”
The PCL sprain affected Kincaid’s left knee. But in July he revealed that he also suffered a bizarre injury known as a Morel-Lavallée lesion in his right knee. The injury occurs when a violent force â such as a car accident â tears the skin away from the underlying tissue that “holds your muscles together, which allows them to contract and stretch,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Morel-Lavallée lesion injuries can be extremely serious, and even in some extreme instances life-threatening, because the space between the ripped-away skin and underlying tissue can fill with fluid and become dangerously infected.
Until the Bills release more information on Kincaid’s mysterious new knee injury, there is no way to know if he has simply re-aggravated one of the earlier injuries â or if the receiver playing the third season of his $13.4 million, four-year rookie contract has somehow injured his knee in a whole new way.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Bills Injury Report Turns Heads With Surprising Update on Top Receiver appeared first on Heavy Sports.