Observations: Bills guard Jon Feliciano listed as week to week with strained calf

Coach Sean McDermott revealed Monday that guard Jon Feliciano suffered a strained calf during Sunday’s 26-11 victory over the Miami Dolphins at Highmark Stadium. Feliciano is being classified as week to week, which means he all but assured of missing at least the upcoming game at Jacksonville in Week 9.

The Bills played against the Dolphins without rookie right tackle Spencer Brown, who is dealing with a back injury. In response, Daryl Williams shifted from right guard to right tackle, while Feliciano moved from left guard to right guard and Ike Boettger came off the bench to play left guard.

“We didn't get off to a good-enough start and eventually we found a rhythm,” McDermott said. “I would say that's the same with our offensive line. I do appreciate the way that they pass blocked, and then as we kind of got going as an offense, they got going as well. Sometimes those work hand in hand. You always want to establish a line of scrimmage earlier in the game than what we did, and I think that's an area we can all improve on.”

It remains to be seen whether Brown will be able to return to the lineup against the Jaguars. If he can, Williams likely would move back inside and Boettger would simply start in place of Feliciano.

“I think he's moving in the right direction,” McDermott said of Brown. “I don't know yet on exactly what, say, Wednesday will look like. I just got to take it one more day here and get a better feel as of tomorrow.”

If Brown isn’t able to play, Williams would like stay outside, and the Bills might turn to Cody Ford, who played four snaps after Feliciano got hurt Sunday. Ford, a 2019 second-round draft pick, has recently been going the wrong way on the depth chart, but injuries could necessitate his return to the lineup.

“He’s done a great job,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. “True pro. One of the guys (who) works really hard to improve. Goes in there and makes the most of his opportunity. But he’s a pro. We’ve got a lot of them on our football team, and again, he’s going to try to do whatever he can do to put himself in a position to help us. And right now, it was on the look team the last couple of weeks. And we’ll see as it goes, but he’s done a really good job in his role.”

Here are four more takeaways from the video conference calls with McDermott, Daboll and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier:

1. Referee Shawn Smith’s all-Black officiating crew was a rarity for the NFL. It wasn’t until Nov. 23, 2020, when the Rams played the Buccaneers that the NFL played a game in which all seven on-field officials were Black. It happened again Sunday in Buffalo, with Smith leading a crew that included umpire Barry Anderson, back judge Greg Yette, side judge Keith Washington, down judge Patrick Turner, line judge Carl Johnson and field judge Dyrol Prioleau.

“Yeah, that was great to see and and good to work with those guys yesterday throughout the game,” McDermott said. “Thought they did a good job.”

Of course, that’s not to say McDermott didn’t have disagreements with some of the calls, including when quarterback Josh Allen appeared to have drawn the Dolphins offside on a fourth-down play, but didn’t get a flag.

“I got an explanation and I'll just leave it at that,” McDermott said. “Whether it was satisfactory or not. I got an explanation, which is all I can ask for in that situation.”

2. News of Derrick Henry’s injury was tough for Daboll to hear. Yes, the Bills have developed a spirited rivalry with the Titans recently, heightened by Tennessee’s narrow Week 6 win on "Monday Night Football," but that doesn’t mean anyone in the organization took any joy in hearing about the star running back’s potentially season-ending injury.

“I think the health of a player is paramount to the success of a team. You're going to have attrition throughout the year, and again, that's why you try to build depth in your roster so that those guys are ready to go,” Daboll said. “Obviously, thoughts and prayers to Derrick. He's a heck of a player. You have great appreciation for these guys. You see them every day at practice, you see them walking out of the airplane or walking in after a game. It's a physical game. Guys move really fast, hit really hard. Some of those are just freak injuries. Others, you know, are contact injuries. You feel for all these guys because of what they put into it. They're competitive and they want to help the team out in any way they can. Our job is just to get the next guy ready, but there's still empathy towards those players that happens to. You never want to see that happen.”

3. The Bills played the entire game in their nickel defense. That meant just two linebackers, Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, were on the field with five defensive backs – Tre’Davious White, Levi Wallace, Taron Johnson and safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer – for every defensive snap.

“The game has evolved so much. It’s become, like we all know, a passing league now,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. “More teams are one-dimensional from the start. There was a time where you had to make them one-dimensional, you had to take away the run game and force them to throw. But now, there are some teams you go into it knowing you have to defend the pass and they might get a run here or there just to try and keep you honest.”

4. Tight end Dawson Knox is making good progress in his recovery from a broken hand. McDermott said Knox is being listed as day to day. “He’s also improving,” the coach said. “So we’ll just see what the rest of the week looks like.”