Bills’ Sean McDermott confirms suspicions surrounding Maxwell Hairston with definitive update ahead of matchup vs. Jaguars
Sean McDermott didn’t mince his words when asked about Maxwell Hairston and his injury.
The hits keep on coming for the Buffalo Bills, injury-wise. Two big pieces went down with injury during the win over the New York Jets: kicker Matt Prater and cornerback Maxwell Hairston.
Prater had reaggravated his quad injury during the win, putting the team without a kicker and forcing the offense to go for two-point conversions for the remainder of the game. He had been working his way back to the field after missing the previous two games with injury.
For Hairston, he could be seen in clear pain almost immediately, giving the Bills Mafia a big reason to be nervous. Shortly after the game ended, he was seen leaving in a walking boot, once again stoking fears of his potential unavailability in the playoffs.
Well, the news came. Head coach Sean McDermott provided an update on Hairston’s injury and what it means for the upcoming playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Max Hairston, unlikely to play this week. We’ll see where that goes as we move forward,” McDermott said.
McDermott’s decision has the Bills Mafia divided
Fans were concerned seeing Hairston on the field so late in the contest, something that popped up during McDermott’s presser. While the team was down cornerbacks, there was an option to play someone outside of their normal position to help protect the starters. An idea that McDermott was asked whether or not he was thinking about.
“No, it was. It was. We were going through, we were losing players on the defensive side as it was,” McDermott said. “And so, we had already gone from I think nickel down to three linebacker defense. There was only so many guys we could use at that point. You go to wide receiver, putting him over there, we’ve done that before. Again, trying to protect everybody, it’s a tough deal.”
Protecting the players is of the utmost importance, and something that clearly seemed to be weighing on the head coach. He looked uncomfortable during the presser.
“You want to be able to protect everyone in a game like yesterday, unfortunately, you’re not able to, right?” McDermott asked. “With our situation and the way it was, we have normally have four corners on the roster. About a month and a half ago, we were down to three. Looking at the practice squad because of the (options) we needed to have, we went to a linebacker position first [ . . . ] With that, we thought we needed an extra linebacker going into the game.”
Buffalo was put in a difficult position
For those asking, what about Dane Jackson?
It wasn’t as easy as calling up the veteran cornerback for the contest. He was out of practice squad elevations and would have needed to be added to the 53-man roster, meaning another player would have had to be cut to make room for Jackson to be on the field Sunday.
“Unfortunately, we were a little landlocked, and I would have loved to have been able to rotate somebody, but that’s where we’re at right now,” McDermott said.
An update on Matt Prater after Week 18
McDermott opened his presser with an overall update on the injured players, including an inside look at the process behind Prater’s injury and what it means for the team moving forward. Needless to say, Buffalo isn’t wasting any time preparing for Jacksonville.
“TB, Terrel Bernard, DaQuan Jones, Jordan Poyer, all those guys are improving, we’ll see how they do this week,” McDermott said. “Matt Prater suffered a little bit of an injury yesterday, as you guys saw it unfold during the game. He’s more day-to-day, which is a good sign, but we’re still going to more than likely bring some kickers in tomorrow for a workout, kind of work with two plans. One where he’s able to go come Sunday and one where perhaps he’s not able to go.”
At the end of the day, the Bills are once again navigating through adversity at the worst possible time. Depth and durability are already being tested heading into the postseason. How Buffalo responds could go a long way in determining just how deep this playoff run can go.
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