Buffalo Bills rule Taylor Rapp and Dane Jackson out ahead of Week 12 vs. Eagles
While Rapp and Jackson are a no-go, Taron Johnson has cleared concussion protocol
On Friday, the Buffalo Bills announced that safety Taylor Rapp and cornerback Dane Jackson would not play on Sunday when the Bills take on the Philadelphia Eagles. While Jackson is not a surprise, the hope had been that Rapp who was limited on Thursday would make the cut. But after being downgraded on Friday, head coach Sean McDermott ruled him out as well.
While the Bills will be without Rapp, who has proven himself a useful preseason pick-up for Buffalo, and Jackson, the good news is that they will have nickel cornerback Taron Johnson. Johnson entered this week in concussion protocol after he and Rapp both collided with running back Breece Hall in last week’s 32-6 win over the New York Jets. Despite the look of the initial hit and subsequent injuries, here he is just five days later returning to play — something the 27-year-old Johnson has done four times now in his career.
With Johnson being cleared to play on Sunday, that means Buffalo will have their “starting” five defensive backs on the field: safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde (who is still dealing with the results of a stinger from Week 9, but who played all of last week and is a go again this week), cornerback Christian Benford (who has recovered quickly from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for half of Week 9 and all of Week 10 but isn’t even showing up on the weekly reports anymore), cornerback Rasul Douglas (who was acquired at the trade deadline on October 30), and Johnson.
The problem for Buffalo will be depth in their defensive secondary. With Rapp and Jackson out, that just leaves them with defensive back Cam Lewis, who is dealing with a shoulder injury he also suffered in that Week 9 game that took out both Hyde and Benford, and safety Damar Hamlin, who has only been active for three games and has had a mere handful of defensive snaps this season. It’s likely that we see Buffalo elevate a cornerback (they have no safeties) from the practice squad, and it’s likely that it’s Ja’Marcus Ingram — who has already been elevated twice this season. They could also sign Josh Norman to the 53-man roster, but that would mean they’d have to release someone and it’s not likely, given their lack of depth as it is, that they are ready to do that yet.
As for Sunday’s home team — the Eagles — they will be playing without starting tight end Dallas Goedert who has been averaging 10.79 yards per catch this season with 38 catches for 410 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, they will be without defensive tackle Milton Williams, who was unable to clear concussion protocol, while wide receiver Quez Watkins is listed as questionable to return from a hamstring injury. Currently Watkins is on the Eagles’ Injured Reserve list, but they do have room to move him back to the active roster before Sunday’s kickoff should they choose, as on Friday, they announced that they were waiving defensive end Derek Barnett.
On the other hand, wide receivers A.J. Brown and Julio Jones and running back De’Andre Swift all managed to be full participants by the final practice of the week and enter the weekend with no game day designations.
As always, teams have until 90 minutes before game time to announce their inactives for the week, so it will be 2:55pm EST Sunday before we know officially who else will be sitting out the game, and who — if anyone — will be elevated from either team’s practice squads this week .
About The Author
Leave a Reply