The Buffalo Bills endured their most disheartening loss of the season Sunday when they found themselves being thoroughly spanked by a Miami Dolphins team that came in with just two wins and ranking 26th in the NFL in points scored. The 30-13 loss was not a performance worthy of a team that entered the season as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
The Bills now stand at 6-3, 1 1/2 games behind the resurgent New England Patriots in the AFC East, and with the Patriots owning the tiebreaker, the Bills are effectively 2 1/2 games back with eight games left to play. While the Bills still occupy a playoff spot, their prospects are starting to look precarious, in the sixth seed only one game ahead of the 5-4 Jacksonville Jaguars.
As the Bills head into a difficult Week 11 matchup against the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their outlook does not get much better, due mainly to Buffalo’s growing list of injuries. The Bills defense continues to be shot through, with only three healthy defensive ends left standing after Sunday’s debacle at Hard Rock Stadium, and both starting cornerbacks out for that game.
Kincaid Exits in 3rd Quarter
Perhaps most concerning, however, was an injury to the offense this time. Third-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, the Bills’ first-round draft pick, 23rd overall, out of Utah in 2023, was forced to exit the game on the Bills’ initial drive of the second half.
Kincaid was clearly grabbing at his right hamstring as he hopped one-legged from the field. Before Kincaid headed to the locker room and was ruled out of the game, one media observer noted that he was in “obvious pain as he sits on the bench. Heâs talking to trainers and pointing to his right hamstring.â
Medical Pros Weigh In on Kincaid
The Bills had not yet issued any official update on Kincaid’s condition as of early Monday afternoon, but medical professionals who commented on the injury were not optimistic, at least when it came to Kincaid’s chances to play next week at home against the Bucs.
“From what I can find, this is Kincaidâs first hamstring strain of his NFL career. Looking at how the Bills manage hamstring strains, most players miss the following game which means Kincaid would be out for Week 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Thatâs assuming this is a mild hamstring,” wrote Dr. Kyle Trimble on his website Banged Up Bills.
“There are plenty of instances where players have missed two and three games but have also required injured reserve. Without knowing more information, it wouldnât surprise me to see that he missed at least two games seeing how he hobbled off on Sunday,” Trimble concluded.
A former NFL team doctor who is now a media injury analyst, Dr. David J. Chao, also noted that “There’s no such thing as a one-week hamstring. Even if he plays, he’s not 100 percent,” emphasizing that Kincaid would be unlikely to play on Sunday, in the 1 p.m. Eastern Time game.
Kincaid Was Having Best Season
Another sports injury specialist who is also an online and media commentator, Dr. Jesse Morse, concurred.
“Dalton Kincaid suffered a hamstring strain,” Morse noted. “These traditionally have a tendency to take at least a week or two, just depending on severity, unless he got super lucky.”
The loss is a blow to the suddenly struggling Bills. Even after his outing Sunday was cut short, Kincaid remained Bufallo’s second-most productive receiver, with 448 yards on 29 catches with four touchdowns.
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