Will Injured Bills Stars Practice Before Jets Matchup?
The Buffalo Bills will look to end their two-game skid in 2024 against the New York Jets on Monday night. After beginning the year 3-0, the Bills have struggled the past two weeks, as injuries have continued to stack up on both sides of the ball.
Buffalo has been without All-Pro slot cornerback Taron Johnson since Week 1 with a forearm injury, but there’s optimism that he could return on Monday night after he returned to practice last week. The team especially missed top receiver Khalil Shakir in Week 5, as Josh Allen finished with just 131 passing yards, and didn’t have a single receiver with over two catches. Shakir suffered an ankle injury in Week 4 and didn’t practice the following week.
At the start of the week, coach Sean McDermott spoke about the statuses of both players heading into Week 6.
“Taron, we’ll see how he does this week. I think he’s improving a little bit,” said McDermott. “We’ll have to see how the week goes. We’ll take it one day at a time. Khalil, similar. I think he’s improving. We’ll just have to see how this week looks.” McDermott was clearly cautious with both players with the first practice of the week still days away.
Regardless of how cautious the team is, both players would make a difference in a Monday night game that could have huge implications for both teams’ seasons. While the Jets will be entering the matchup with a new coach after firing Robert Saleh, a win would give them an early advantage in the division.
The Jets’ decision to fire Robert Saleh five games into his fourth season “blindsided” the well-liked but embattled HC, and the call did not involve Saleh’s football ops partner.
Jets ownership went around GM Joe Douglas when making this call, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt report. The sixth-year New York GM was not involved in the decision to fire Saleh, and Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager reports Douglas was not in the meeting in which the coach was informed the team was ending his tenure. This certainly casts some doubt about Douglas’ long-term future with the Jets.
Woody Johnson is contradicting this part of the Saleh fallout, indicating Tuesday he did consult with Douglas on the firing. The owner, however, said (via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo) the decision to let Saleh go — the first in-season Jets HC firing since 1975 — was his alone. Johnson has now fired Saleh, Rex Ryan, Eric Mangini and Al Groh. Buying the Jets in 2000,
Johnson traded Herm Edwards‘ rights to the Chiefs in 2006 and was serving as the United States’ ambassador to the United Kingdom when Todd Bowles was fired (under brother and acting owner Christopher Johnson). Christopher joined Woody in the firing meeting with Saleh on Tuesday.
