How banged up Bills defense could look vs. Jets, and what injuries mean for Buffalo’s depth

Even with the Bills’ electric 41-40 walk-off win over the Ravens in Week 1, they weren’t under any false illusions after the fact. The Bills knew they needed to be much better defensively, and that they needed to dig deep throughout the practice week to find answers.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott said the team needed to make it a difficult week for themselves, with the need to have honest, tough conversations. Especially with a potentially difficult rushing opponent in the Jets waiting for them in Week 2, McDermott knows they can’t let their Week 1 problems snowball.

On top of the defensive concerns, the injury bug bit many of their defensive starters.

Where are things trending for the Bills this week, and how do the teams match up? Here’s our Week 2 notebook, including several context clues of what could come on Sunday.

Uh-oh, Ed Oliver mid-week injury

When the Bills initially sent out their practice schedule for the week, the plan was to have three practices leading up to Sunday’s game, like usual. On Thursday morning, the team sent an updated version of the schedule, detailing that Thursday would be a walkthrough rather than a full practice. It’s not an unprecedented move, as the Bills have exchanged a practice for a walkthrough in the past — usually later in the season to give the team some rest from the normal bumps and bruises. However, it has not been a common early-season call, which triggered a bit of curiosity as to the reason behind it. The Bills had been dealing with a lot of injuries throughout the week. Nickel corner Taron Johnson (quad) didn’t practice, defensive end Greg Rousseau (knee), running back James Cook (hamstring) and tight end Dawson Knox (hamstring) were all limited, while Tre’Davous White (hip) just returned to practice for the first time in almost three weeks.

Then on Thursday, during the team’s open locker room, starting defensive tackle Ed Oliver strolled through on a scooter, with a walking boot on his left foot. That, with all the other ailments, may have been one of the catalysts for switching Thursday’s practice to a walkthrough. Oliver was using the scooter to get from point A to point B, though he did park it off to the side and stood on the walking boot long enough to play a game of table tennis. It was a context clue that he wasn’t just off his feet the entire time. Once the game finished, Oliver got back on the scooter and rolled his way out. The team labeled him as an official non-participant for Thursday’s walkthrough due to an ankle injury. For what it’s worth, the severity is still unknown and walking boots are often used as a precautionary measure by teams to immobilize an injury, but it’s a big change in status that can’t be ignored. Either way, it’s a difficult injury even in the short-term to take for the Bills, considering Oliver was their best defensive player by far on Sunday, and the team is already thin at defensive tackle.

What might they do in the interim? Well, if Oliver can’t go, which would be a safe assumption at this point, given when the injury occurred and that they had him stay off of it on Thursday, a rookie would make his first start. Without Oliver, that puts rookie defensive tackle T.J. Sanders — who was Oliver’s direct backup in Week 1 — in line to make his first career NFL start against the Jets on Sunday. The Athletic caught up with Sanders on Thursday about the potential chance.

“Life’s all about opportunities. This one right here, you know, could be a big one for me,” Sanders said. “Go out there and put my best foot forward. Just remember all the training and teaching I’ve been getting throughout the week, even back to training camp, and the lessons I learned from Week 1, just going out there and putting it on display.”

Although all the information is fresh, the coaching staff had a central message for Sanders ahead of a potentially significant uptick in snaps this weekend, following his 16 snaps against the Ravens in his NFL debut.

“Just kind of continuing to get my mind right. Have my mind ready, being intentional about everything I’m doing throughout the week — even walkthrough reps like game reps,” Sanders said. “Just making everything intentional as it can be because they know when I’m like playing fast, flying around, I’m at my best.”

But that also leaves the Bills with only three healthy defensive tackles. The team could play it one of two ways. Either they could elevate veteran Jordan Phillips, a three-technique, for the week and have him pair with Deone Walker, or they could slide Walker over to three-technique and use a practice squad elevation on Zion Logue, a one-technique who is more equipped to stuff the run. Phillips told The Athletic on Thursday that he wasn’t sure what the plan would be for him on Sunday. Before that, he did say that he’s taking things day by day and still working on getting back in game shape.

Considering that, plus the fact that Phillips only began practicing with the team after final cuts on Aug. 26, it might be a case of too much, too soon. Logue could be the better option for this week, especially against a run-heavy opponent like the Jets. They could even limit Logue’s snaps and have Walker split his responsibilities between three and one technique as a rotational player, depending on who he lines up next to, especially down the stretch in a close game. Either way, the Bills potentially have some decisions to make for Sunday.

How is Tre’Davious trending, and how does Dorian Strong factor in?

When the Bills entered training camp with the cornerback group they had, probably the last thing they expected was sixth-round rookie Dorian Strong being the starter in Week 1 against the Ravens. It was a perfect circumstance, though. White and Maxwell Hairston were both injured, while Strong moved past both Ja’Marcus Ingram and Dane Jackson on the depth chart. Strong’s debut was a solid one, too. While he had some regrettable moments, he also wasn’t a liability, which gives them a good option moving forward. Then White practiced on Wednesday.

White appeared to be moving around well during the media availability portion of practice. Whether or not he’s ready for Sunday remains to be seen. However, White being prepared to at least get a limited session to begin the week is a promising sign for him potentially playing in the game. When speaking to the media, White was coy and wouldn’t give much about his chances for Sunday. Though if White can play, given Strong’s showing against the Ravens, it is worth wondering what the Bills would do with their starting lineup against the Jets this weekend.

Although it would be tempting to keep Strong atop the depth chart, that would go against how the Bills have usually operated. As a recent example, the Bills had several opportunities in 2024 to allow rookie Cole Bishop to take Damar Hamlin’s place as a starter in the playoffs, but they stood by Hamlin upon his return from injury. Going back further to Matt Milano’s rookie season in 2017, the Bills had every chance to keep Milano in the starting lineup ahead of then starter Ramon Humber after Humber missed three games with an injury. Milano was the clearly superior player, and it still took another five games with Humber starting before they committed to Milano as the starter in Week 14.

Since the first day of spring workouts, White has operated as the starting cornerback every day up until he suffered a groin injury on Aug. 21. If White is able to play on Sunday without restrictions, I’m fully expecting him to take his place in the starting lineup. Should White struggle, and if Hairston is not ready following his return from injury, the option is always there to go to Strong in the future — but it’s likely too early for that. The good news for the Bills is that they likely have a lot more confidence in their depth options once they saw how Strong handled such a massive game in his NFL debut.

What to make of the Taron Johnson and Greg Rousseau injuries

Along with Oliver and White, Johnson and Rousseau on the injury report is another challenge for a Bills defense in search of a far better output this week against the Jets. The team shut Johnson down completely on Wednesday due to a quad injury. He was not visible on the practice field, or in the locker room after the session. Johnson told The Athletic that he had started to feel the injury on Tuesday morning when he was coming to the facilities to work out — a bit delayed after the game Sunday. He said he didn’t know when it happened, and called the injury a bit “weird,” but was steadfast that he was not going to miss Sunday’s game, which is a promising sign for them.

As for Rousseau, he was walking a bit slower than usual off the field on Thursday following the team’s walkthrough, sporting a sleeve on his right knee.

“I’m alright, I’m solid,” Rousseau told The Athletic. “I should be good by Sunday.”

Rousseau said that he went knee-to-knee with someone during the Ravens game, though he believes it’s just a temporary issue and not one that will linger during the season. As long as both don’t have any setbacks, it appears they are trending toward playing on Sunday.

Week 2 Bills projected practice squad elevations: DT Zion Logue

Week 2 Bills projected inactives vs. Jets: WR Curtis Samuel, OL Chase Lundt, DE Landon Jackson, DT Ed Oliver, CB Ja’Marcus Ingram, S Jordan Hancock

(**Subject to change following Friday’s practice)

Prediction: Bills 33, Jets 26

From how it looked Sunday against the Steelers, it doesn’t seem like these are the same old pushover Jets. Especially if the Bills have to play without Oliver, this game has the makings of a potentially high-scoring affair for the Bills, as it was in Week 1. The Jets are an excellent rushing team, and unlike what they’ve put on the field for years, the 2025 offensive line looks like one of the better units in the league, given how they played against a talented Steelers defensive line.

That, along with a multi-faceted rushing attack that challenges the edges and between the tackles because of mobile quarterback Justin Fields and running back Breece Hall, the Bills will need to prove they can stick with their keys much better than they did last weekend against the Ravens. If there’s one area that the Bills can force more stops and get off the field, though, it’s through the air. Fields is nowhere near as talented a passer as Jackson, and the Jets’ receivers, aside from Garrett Wilson, are a downgrade to Baltimore’s group, meaning forcing third-and-medium to long will be critical.

On offense, the Bills will have to contend with a good interior defensive line and the blitzing Jets, though the Bills’ offensive line is more than equipped for the challenge. As the Jets are likely to play more man-to-man coverage under head coach Aaron Glenn, this could have the makings of a big game for receivers who specialize in separation like Joshua Palmer and Khalil Shakir, with some deep ball 50-50 throws to Keon Coleman to keep the Jets honest.

Although they may give up another high point total, I think the Bills’ defense will put up some resistance to the Jets’ offense. When paired with some exploitable matchups for Josh Allen and the passing attack, they should be able to put up enough points to win, despite the defensive concerns.

(Top photo of Ed Oliver: Bryan Bennett / Getty Images)

Click here to read article