Though he struggled, Quessenberry earned kudos from color analyst Kirk Herbstreit for playing through the pain
Veteran offensive lineman David Quessenberry got the call to start in place of the injured Dion Dawkins as the Buffalo Bills defeated the New England Patriots, 24-10, on Thursday Night Football. The win began a three-game stretch of division contests that will be a big piece of determining who ends up at the top of the AFC East come January.
However, on Buffalo’s first offensive series of the game last night, Quessenberry got up slowly, rolling his way to an upright position on just the second play from the line of scrimmage for quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills offense.
A few plays later, the fifth-year lineman — who is in his first year with the Bills — was seen falling while back-pedaling as he was looking for solid footing in order to block New England’s pass rusher. After the Bass field goal, Quessenberry was seen on the sideline getting some additional taping from the Buffalo training staff.
In the short week that the Bills had leading up to their Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions, Quessenberry was on the team’s injury list with an ankle injury. Despite his name on the injury list, Quessenberry had only been limited in one practice, was active last Thursday, and was not on this week’s injury list.
Quessenberry stayed in the game until close to the end of the third quarter, when he finally had to head to the sidelines, being replaced by Bobby Hart, with the Bills initially ruling that Quessenberry was questionable to return. That stretch only lasted for five snaps, however, as Quessenberry returned again to close out the remainder of the game.
Though he was clearly ailing and struggled for stretches to contain Patriots pass rusher Josh Uche, Quessenberry’s gutty effort earned praise from the game’s color analyst, Kirk Herbstreit, who suggested that Quessenberry get a game ball.