Orchard Park, N.Y. — Coming off a 44-point explosion in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, the Buffalo Bills may have to change things up in the passing game again on a short week.
Bills coach Sean McDermott revealed on Monday that receivers Curtis Samuel and Mecole Hardman didn’t practice after sustaining injuries during Sunday’s game.
Samuel injured his elbow and his neck, while Hardman left the game with a calf injury. Hardman made his season debut and was Buffalo’s punt returner just one day after the club released Brandon Codrington, who had been inactive the past few weeks after losing the job. Hardman played only four offensive snaps, but one was a deep throw from quarterback Josh Allen that the former Chiefs playmaker just missed.
The bigger injury concern for the offense is Samuel, who played 50% of snaps against the Buccaneers. He caught just two passes for 19 yards, but his key block in the third quarter on a Ty Johnson screen pass sprung the running back for a 52-yard touchdown.
The Bills have a short week to prepare for the Houston Texans on Thursday Night Football. Second-year receiver Keon Coleman was benched last week for tardiness to a team meeting last Friday. If Samuel and Hardman aren’t able to play on Thursday, Coleman could get another opportunity to play.
“We’ll see how it goes,” McDermott said on Monday. “Take it one day at a time. We addressed the situation yesterday. We’re now moving forward, and we’ll take it one day at a time from there.”
The Bills held a walk-through practice on Monday and tight end Dalton Kincaid (hamstring) and defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis (shoulder) also didn’t practice. Buffalo had a long list of limited players, including safety Jordan Poyer, defensive tackle DaQuan Jones, linebacker Terrel Bernard, cornerback Christian Benford, cornerback Taron Johnson, defensive end Joey Bosa, linebacker Dorian Williams, receiver Joshua Palmer, and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.
Palmer returned last week from an ankle injury that forced him to miss three games.
Samuel’s injury is another in a long list since he joined the Bills as a free agent in 2024. He missed most of training camp and the preseason with a hamstring injury.
Coleman’s benching came one week after the second-round pick caught a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins in a lopsided road loss for the Bills. In Coleman’s place against the Buccaneers, former undrafted free agent Tyrell Shavers had a breakout performance. Shavers caught four passes for 90 yards and a touchdown.
McDermott praised Shavers for his work ethic and his willingness to do anything to help the team. McDermott was asked whether it’s maddening that Shavers has figured out how to make an impact while Coleman is still trying to figure it all out.
“There are different paths or journeys,” he said. “Do we want it to have happened before now? Yes. (Keon) would tell you the same thing. So the important piece is that he learns from this, as I said yesterday, and he grows from this. You grow from it, we can move forward. And you don’t grow from, it’s hard to move forward.”
McDermott said the next step for Coleman is to build trust with his teammates.
“That trust builds through repetition and consistency,” McDermott said. “So that’s the direction that we need him to go and we believe he will go.”
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