By CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist
There’s plenty at stake tonight at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium when the Buccaneers host Buffalo in the NFL’s preseason finale (CBS-TV, Bills Radio Network, 7:30). It’s the last chance for marginal players on both squads to prove they belong on the 53-man regular-season roster before Tuesday afternoon’s cutdown from the current 90 players.
A SECOND chance comes the next day when teams can name a 16-player practice squad.
But for Bills coach Sean McDermott, there’s a lot on his mind.
Start with the fact his team is 0-2, hasn’t played very well in either loss — first at home to the Giants — and looked awful in a 38-0 embarrassment at Chicago last Sunday night, the franchise’s most one-sided loss ever in an exhibition game.
McDermott has already announced that quarterback Josh Allen won’t play tonight as he hasn’t in the first two games and that most of the other first-stringers will sit as well.
“WE’RE GOING to work together and get our reps up to the point where we need to have them this time of year, and then we’ll make final decisions from there,” he said of playing his other starters. ” It’ll be on a case-by-case basis. I’m anticipating not playing all the ones, but we’ll see where that goes at this point.”
As for Allen, he added, “I feel like he’s shown to this point that he’s in a good spot, He’s always going to want to play. That’s what competitive people want to do. But I also have a responsibility as well to protect him and in doing so, protect our team.”
But injuries affected other positions.
Veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White limped off the field Thursday during practice with a lower-body injury and his statuas is uncertain. Prtoected as Week 1 starter opposite Christian Benford, White’s status is uncertain. And that’s complicated by the fact first-round draft choice Maxwell Hairston has been sidelined by a knee injury that has kept him out for a month and foiled his bid to open the season as a starter.
White, the Bills first round pick in 2017, played most recently with the Rams and Ravens but his career has been derailed by an ACL injury in 2021 and a torn Achilles in 2023 while with Buffalo.
The Bills brought him back on a one-year contract mostly to be a back-up.
If White and Hairston are unavailable for the opener, the second cornerback spot will fall to Ja’Marcus Ingram, former Bill Dane Jackson or rookie draft choice Dorian Strong, hardly an intimidating trio.
BUT THERE are other injuries.
Among those not participating in Saturday’s practice were Hairston, center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (calf), wide receiver Khalil Shakir (ankle), linebacker Keonta Jenkins (ankle), safety Jordan Hancock (shoulder), offensive tackle Tylan Grable (concussion), offensive tackle Travis Clayton (concussion), wide receiver Grant DuBose (collarbone) and wide receiver Stephen Gosnell (calf). Linebacker Shaq Thompson (hamstring), center Connor McGovern (hamstring) and safety Cam Lewis (calf) were limited during Saturday’s practice.
Indeed, if DuBose and Gosnell are unavailable tonight, McDermott might be forced to use wideouts he had intended to sit (Tyrell Shavers, Laviska Shenault Jr., Kristian Wilkerson and K.J. Hamler).
Finally, there’s the mess at safety.
Taylor Rapp is a healthy starter but, on the other side, Cole Bishop, last year’s second rounder, has been hampered by a quad injury and was awful against the Bears, as was Lewis partly because of his calf problems. Damar Hamlin, whose touching story captivated the NFL two years ago, has struggled on the field and is a liability as a starter. The best hope to play his way into a starting role, has been Hancock, this year’s fifth-round draft choice, but he’s nursing his own injury.
In short, McDermott has a lot to look at tonight.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
