Edmunds, Rousseau, White ruled out for Bills-Browns

Sean McDermott said that players dealing with illness are all trending in the right direction for Sunday

With no practice today due to the snowstorm that buried Buffalo overnight, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott had a Zoom meeting with members of the media to discuss preparations for the team’s upcoming game with the Cleveland Browns.

He got right down to business, stating that linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, defensive end Greg Rousseau, and cornerback Tre’Davious White have all been ruled out for Sunday’s game, which has been moved to Detroit in light of the treacherous conditions around Orchard Park, NY.

“He’s not ready to play,” McDermott responded statically when asked what prompted the decision to rule White out this early. Since being added to the 53-man roster, White hasn’t been on the team’s weekly injury lists and hasn’t been ruled out until game days. You can read more about the timeline of White’s injury and recovery here.

There’s no surprise that Rousseau is out, as he continues to rehab an ankle injury that he injured in Week 9 as the Bills fell to the New York Jets. Edmunds not being active also doesn’t come as a surprise, as the linebacker has been battling heel and groin injuries for the past couple of weeks, and wasn’t able to finish last week’s game with the Minnesota Vikings.

Whether newly acquired linebacker A.J. Klein, who is no stranger to the Bills, will be able to step up and fill in right away remains to be seen, per McDermott.

“We’ll see—him being in the system for multiple years before, his transition should be quick,” McDermott said, referencing the 2020 and 2021 seasons that the linebacker played in Buffalo before the team parted ways with him this past offseason. “We will see if his number is called this weekend.”

Keep in mind, however, that trade deadline acquisition Dean Marlowe, another player who had experience (2018-20) playing with the Bills organization, has only logged one defensive snap for the Bills in his two games since returning.

The good news this morning was that McDermott said the players who missed practice due to an illness earlier this week are all trending in the right direction, indicating that they should be available on Sunday. That list includes fullback Reggie Gilliam, wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie, defensive tackles Jordan Phillips and Tim Settle, linebacker Matt Milano, and safety Cam Lewis.

McDermott also said that, while the media hasn’t seen Josh Allen throw a football since Sunday, the plan for the quarterback was the same as it had been the week before.

“The plan is similar to last week. Today would have been similar to last Friday, where he was limited,” McDermott said. It’s important to note, though, that leading up to the Week 10 game, Allen was a DNP for the first two days of practice, and this week he was limited on Wednesday and Thursday—which could point towards him being in a better spot physically than he was at this time last week.

McDermott gave no update on cornerback Kaiir Elam, who had worked himself up from DNP last week to limited and then a full participant by yesterday’s practice, as he recovers from an ankle injury. The same is true for safety Jordan Poyer, who practiced (limited) this week for the first time since re-injuring his elbow in Week 8.

When the final injury report, which included game statuses, was posted later in the day, Poyer and Elam were both listed as questionable for Sunday.

The only real surprise was fullback Reggie Gillaim, who was listed as questionable. Gilliam had been one of the first players listed as dealing with the illness that has spread through the Bills locker room. After not practicing on Wednesday, however, the fullback had been back to full participation on Thursday. Now he appears as questionable for Sunday; maybe he is struggling to shake the bug and has had a setback.

The Browns have a whole other issue going on on their side of Lake Erie: head injuries. The kind that mysteriously happen in the middle of the week and make players be designated as questionable or out for game day.

That’s what’s happened with defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey, who practiced Wednesday and then showed up as a DNP for the last two days with a “head” injury. Winfrey has now been ruled out for Sunday, while cornerback Greg Newsome, who wasn’t on the Browns’ injury list on Wednesday or Thursday before today’s DNP after a collision in practice landed him in concussion protocol. After the original list with designations was published with him being questionable, the Browns came back and ruled the cornerback out for Sunday.

Aditionally, safety D’Anthony Bell was not able to make it through the league’s concussion protocol and has missed practice every day this week. Bell has been ruled out for Sunday, as has center Michael Dunn, who hasn’t been able to practice this week due to a back injury.

Browns fans will get excited when they see that tight end David Njoku has been listed as questionable for Sunday. Njoku suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 7, and was estimated to be out somewhere between two and five weeks. He has been inactive for Cleveland’s last two games, and even had the benefit of a bye week in the middle of those. Sunday would make four weeks since the injury, and it looks as if Njoku will be a game-time decision.