Josh Allen took a beating in the win in Jacksonville last week, but he's fine -- will be starting at Denver this week. The team's wide receiver corps wasn't quite so fortunate.
Josh Palmer (ankle) was placed on IR before the game, and Gabe Davis and Tyrell Shavers both tore their ACLs during the contest. That's three of the team's top 5 wideouts (both receptions and yards) during the season. If Buffalo wants to run any 4-WR sets this week (they won't), it might involve somebody on the practice squad who hasn't caught a pass for the team all season.
At present they've got veteran returner Mecole Hardman (also on IR just a few weeks ago) and undrafted rookie Stephen Gosnell on the practice squad. They also added former Patriot and Raider Kristian Wilkerson (6 career receptions) today. More promisingly, they designated Curtis Samuel to return from IR, though it's not clear whether he'd be available this week or only if Buffalo advances (he's been out with an elbow injury since Week 6).
The top 3 are clear: Khalil Shakir (12 catches at Jacksonville), Brandin Cooks (with the Saints in November) and Keon Coleman (a healthy scratch as recently as a month ago, until the injuries mounted). Those guys and the tight ends will be the main targets at Denver this week.
I remember not thinking much of it when Cooks signed with Buffalo a little while back. He's 32 and wasn't an impact player for the Saints -- didn't reach 30 yards in any of his 10 games.
But the last three weeks he's appeared in two games for Buffalo, and made huge catches in two of them. Against Philadelphia he had a 50-yard catch and another of 36 yards to set up what could have been a winning touchdown (but Buffalo's 2-point conversion failed). At Jacksonville he had a 36-yard reception to set up the game-winning touchdown.
That's 7 catches for 159 yards for Cooks his last two games, which is 22.7 yards per catch. Coleman, for that matter, has caught 3 passes for 85 yards in his three contests in that timeframe (he played in Week 18), which is 28.3 yards per catch. There are 12 receivers (including tight ends) in that admittedly small timeframe who averaged over 20 yards per catch, and the Bills will have two of them playing at Denver on Saturday.
| WRS OVER 20 YARDS PER CATCH, SINCE WEEK 17 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | No | Rec | Avg | TD |
| Alec Pierce, Ind. | 12 | 4 | 132 | 33.0 | 2 |
| Cedric Tillman, Cle. | 3 | 2 | 65 | 32.5 | 0 |
| Keon Coleman, Buf. | 5 | 3 | 85 | 28.3 | 0 |
| Jayden Higgins, Hou. | 9 | 4 | 111 | 27.8 | 2 |
| Theo Wease, Mia. | 6 | 4 | 107 | 26.8 | 1 |
| Efton Chism, N.E. | 3 | 3 | 75 | 25.0 | 1 |
| Devontez Walker, Bal. | 2 | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 1 |
| Brandin Cooks, Buf. | 11 | 7 | 159 | 22.7 | 0 |
| Juwan Johnson, N.O. | 9 | 7 | 156 | 22.3 | 0 |
| Deebo Samuel, Was. | 9 | 4 | 88 | 22.0 | 0 |
| Zay Flowers, Bal. | 11 | 8 | 168 | 21.0 | 3 |
| Brevyn Spann-Ford, Dal. | 5 | 3 | 61 | 20.3 | 0 |
Buffalo is awfully banged-up at wide receiver, but Cooks or Coleman making a big catch or two to help the cause is certainly possible this week.
--Andy Richardson