No Coleman, no Milano, no Kincaid for Buffalo. No Pacheco or Omenihu for Kansas City
The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs have finished their official practices for Week 11, and now we know some of whom won’t be playing on Sunday. Both teams have more than one offensive weapon who won’t be ready to go in time for the clash between the AFC’s top two teams.
Here’s a look at their final injury reports and what that means for each offense.
Friday injury report pic.twitter.com/NlaFonqn7u
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) November 15, 2024
The Bills will be without wide receiver Keon Coleman and linebacker Matt Milano (who is technically still on Injured Reserve), but we’ve known that since Monday. What we didn’t know for certain — although it had become quite evident by Thursday — is that they will also play without tight end Dalton Kincaid.
Kincaid injured his knee in the Bills’ Week 10 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Kincaid fell on his knee while trying to stretch out for an overthrown pass in the first quarter. He was then in and out of the offense over the next couple of quarters before ultimately being pulled out of the game.
Kincaid hasn’t practiced this week and with a bye up next, he will get plenty of time to rest. With Kincaid out, it’s Dawson Knox who will get the majority of tight end snaps on Sunday, with Quintin Morris being available as well. This isn’t a bad thing — Knox has 12 catches for 203 yards and two touchdowns in the five games he’s played against the Chiefs.
The bigger concern for the Bills is the questionable tag beside wide receiver Amari Cooper and right tackle Spencer Brown’s names. Cooper has been working with a wrist injury for the third straight week. While he has been listed as questionable for all three of them, he wasn’t able to play in Weeks 9 and 10. Hopefully, this week will be different — practice was. This week Cooper was seen catching passes from both the Jugs machine and from quarter back Josh Allen.
After two days of not practicing, Brown was limited on Friday. Videos of the Bills’ right tackle jogging are around, but there’s no sign of how he was able to do in team drills or in side-to-side movements. While earlier this week the fourth-year tackle said he was optimistic about playing on Sunday, Friday he said he wasn’t sure what his status will be come game time.
If Brown can’t play, it will be Ryan Van Demark who is next man up as Tylan Grable is still on IR. Van Demark, who is in his second season, has played 24 snaps for the Bills’ offense this season.
RT Spencer Brown (ankle) said that he did not have a feeling yet on if he will play on Sunday. He said they'll see how his ankle responds from today's work.
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) November 15, 2024
Charles Omenihu (IR) and Isiah Pacheco (IR) are out for this Sunday's game against the Bills.
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 15, 2024
Kansas City will be playing without running back Isiah Pacheco or defensive end Charles Omenihu, but that’s not a surprise. While not quite as direct as McDermott in the Milano situation, Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid said early in the week that he did not anticipate either Pacheco or Omenihu being activated from IR in time for Sunday’s game. Like Milano, however, they are within their 21-day practice window so, until today, there was always that chance.
Patrick Mahomes will have JuJu Smith-Schuster to throw to this week, however. Smith-Schuster hasn’t played in three weeks as he’s been recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 7. In fact, Smith-Schuster has only played in five games this season snagging just nine passes for 147 yards and a single touchdown.
Kicker Harrison Butker was also placed on IR this week, meaning he’s out for Sunday.
While the Chiefs roster is fairly set, it will be when the two teams announce their inactives on Sunday at 2:55 p.m. EST before we will know for sure what Buffalo’s starting offense will look like.
