Getty Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs at Gillette Stadium on October 22, 2023.
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs won’t let a bad back keep him from taking the field on Monday night.
After being unexpectedly placed on the injury report on Friday, Diggs told reporters on Saturday that he would be in the lineup for the team’s game against the Denver Broncos on November 13th.
“WR Stefon Diggs said ‘100%’ when asked if he expects to play Monday,” ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg reported on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He said being restricted in practice yesterday and sitting out today was proactive rather than reactive.”
Diggs also offered some new insight into the injury that wasn’t disclosed before the team announced he would be limited to practice Friday. While the Bills have their top receiver on the field, they could be forced to play without a number of key members of their defense.
Stefon Diggs declares injury
As Getzenberg reported, Diggs suffered the injury in the team’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 5 and said he was limited in practice as a precaution.
“Diggs described it as a little maintenance and said the back injury was from the game against the Bengals,” Getzenberg wrote, adding: “Diggs said he was stretching at practice [on Saturday]but not much else.”
The Bills have already played without a top scorer after tight end Dawson Knox was placed on injured reserve. Rookie Dalton Kincaid has taken on a larger role and has the second-most receptions in the league among tight ends since Week 7 with 23.
“I think he’s been able to win his matches and we’ve been able to get him involved and he’s had more opportunities as the primary tight end over the last few weeks,” Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey said, via the team’s official website. “He took advantage of that and did a great job for us. We expect him to continue to develop and become what we expect of him. That’s an absolute tight end because he’s done some good things on the block side as well, so he’s more than just another receiver out there.”
Bills that harm defense
The Bills were also shorthanded on defense, losing linebacker Matt Milano, cornerback Tre’Davious White and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to season-ending injuries. The Bills were once again hit with injury issues this week, with safety Micah Hyde and cornerback Christian Benfore out and linebacker Terrel Bernard listed as questionable on the final injury report.
Despite the injury setbacks and inconsistent play in recent weeks, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said he believes they can turn things around.
“(I’m) confident,” McDermott said. “Trust in our team. Trust in our trainers. Trust in our players. Trust in our employees. That doesn’t mean we don’t have jobs. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a gap to close. So we need to continue to focus on those areas and play better overall as a team as far as complementing and reset some things that we need to reset.”
Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter who covers the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions for Heavy. He previously wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and was associate editor of the sports journals Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He lives in Rochester, New York and loves all things soccer. More about Nathan Dougherty