Three Buffalo Bills DBs did not attend Wednesday’s performance Taylor Rapp, Taron Johnson and Dane Jackson all suffered head or neck injuries NFL:
New York Jets at Buffalo Bills Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports The Buffalo Bills had three players at practice Wednesday to prepare for the team’s Week 12 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Cornerbacks Taron Johnson and Dane Jackson and safety Taylor Rapp both suffered head or neck injuries.
Dane Jackson and Taron Johnson (who primarily plays the nickel position) are both in the concussion protocol.
The fact that they are not on the “restricted” list for today’s practice means they are not very far along the league’s five-step process to return to action.
While that doesn’t mean Johnson and/or Jackson will definitely miss Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles —
keep in mind that quarterback Terrel Bernard didn’t clear the log for Friday’s practice last week, but was still ready for playing time — it does mean some game time left..
long journey and plenty of room for worry. Johnson’s injury looked pretty bad when he collided with safety Taylor Rapp late in the second quarter of Buffalo’s 32-6 win over the New York Jets last Sunday.
Johnson was on the field for a long time, but was later able to jog to the locker room for further evaluation.
Jackson left the game minutes earlier than Johnson after athletic trainers had to help him off the field because he looked confused and unsteady.
As for Rapp, he was placed on the shield and taken off the field in an ambulance after making contact with Jets running back Breece Hall Johnson. But like Johnson, the latest news was much better than initial appearances.
Although an ambulance was on the field, it never left Highmark Stadium with Rapp, but was treated in the locker room and sent home.
In addition to the three defensive backs not practicing, safety Micah Hyde is still dealing with symptoms of a contusion he suffered in the Week 9 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, which limited his passing game.
However, Hyde was limited twice last week before being full by the end of the week and returning last week (he did not play in Week 10).
Cam Lewis, the Buffalo Swiss Army Knife defensive end who is on the Bills’ depth chart at both safety and cornerback, is still dealing with a shoulder injury he apparently suffered against the Cincinnati Bengals.
However, Lewis left the game with a calf injury before going on the injury report last week with a shoulder injury. Like Hyde, he started that way last week — in limited — and was available for Sunday’s contest with the Jets.
So still nothing to worry about here. If any (or all) of the above players are unable to play on Sunday, Buffalo has two other safeties on the active roster: Jordan Poyer and Damar Hamlin.
The only cornerbacks on their active roster
are Christian Benford, Rasul Douglas and
Siran Neal. The Bills have five cornerbacks
on the practice squad.
Josh Norman has already been promoted
three times this season and would have to
be added to the 53-man roster (which means
someone would have to be waived) if they
wanted to include him in Sunday’s game.
Ja’Marcus Ingram has started twice and
could be called upon again if needed. On
the other hand, Buffalo has exactly zero
safeties on the practice squad, so there
was a lot of hope that Hyde and/or Lewis
would be available.
There’s still a lot to learn about the state
of the Buffalo Bills’ Week 12 roster, but
we’ll have to wait another day for that
news.
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