The Buffalo Bills will be shorthanded when they take on the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football, with several key names missing from the final injury report.
Buffalo’s biggest absences are on both sides of the ball. Defensive lineman Ed Oliver is out after taking a knee hit in Week 4 and failing to practice all week, while wide receiver Joshua Palmer also won’t play after a shoulder injury suffered in practice mid-week.
The Bills did get a few roster moves in place to cover the holes. They elevated defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis and wide receiver Trent Sherfield from the practice squad. Mathis had been expected to be on the roster before his suspension changed those plans, and Sherfield’s elevation fits with Buffalo’s thinning receiver room.
There was also some movement at cornerback, with the team signing Anthony Kendall to the roster from the practice squad after Dee Alford was questionable through the week.
Buffalo’s final inactives, per the Bills PR team, are WR DJ Moore, WR Joshua Palmer, CB Dee Alford, OL Ar'maj Reed-Adams, OL Jude Bowry, DL Ed Oliver, and DL Landon Jackson.
That means Moore, Alford, and Jackson all ended up missing Week 5 after entering the day questionable. Jackson’s knee issue was described as minor, and he had ramped up in practice as the week went on, but he’ll still sit.
The injury-related absences set up more work for the Bills’ remaining pass-catchers. Josh Allen will be leaning on Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Skyler Bell, Trent Sherfield, and Greg Dortch in the passing game, with Bell making his first appearance and T.J. Sanders finally back on the field.
Ar'maj Reed-Adams and Jude Bowry were no surprise on the inactive list, since both have been inactive in every game this season.
Buffalo now heads into primetime trying to rebound after last week’s letdown against the New England Patriots, with a tough Rams team waiting and a shootout atmosphere expected.
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Joe Brady said there is still plenty to sort through about what happened after the game, and Buffalo is waiting for the details to continue coming in. For now, the Bills are moving on to the Raiders, trying to keep their focus on the next opponent while the league reviews a scene that overshadowed the ending in Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]
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Raiders Face A Bigger Test Than Their Record Has Answered
Josh Allen and the Bills head into Week 6 with the kind of momentum that makes every matchup feel like a measuring stick, and the Raiders are the next team asked to see how real the start can be. Buffalo has already shown it can win in different ways this season, with Allen again carrying the offense and covering for the rough patches that tend to show up over the course of a game. Las Vegas arrives with a winning record of its own, which at least gives this one the outline of a legitimate test instead of a routine AFC checkpoint.
The intrigue is whether the Raiders can keep Buffalo from turning the afternoon into a familiar Allen-led grind, because the Bills have been living with a few self-inflicted issues even while the results keep coming. Las Vegas has enough on paper to make the game interesting on both sides of the ball, but the bigger question for Buffalo is whether its offense can keep separating when the margins tighten and the game starts asking for answers rather than projections. [Read more 🡒]