For the first time since Week 6 at Tennessee nearly two months ago, the Buffalo Bills are expected to be at full strength along their offensive line vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. This, following a series of roster moves on Saturday that included the activation of left guard Jon Feliciano from the injured reserve list.
Feliciano had missed the previous five games with a calf strain. When he last played, Oct. 31 vs. the Miami Dolphins, he was plugged in at right guard to fill in for Daryl Williams, who moved out to right tackle to replace the injured Spencer Brown.
Since benching former starting right guard Cody Ford after Week 3, the Bills' new line consisted of center Mitch Morse, guards Feliciano and Williams and tackles Dion Dawkins and Brown. Williams had been moved inside from right tackle to replace Ford, with the rookie Brown taking over at tackle.
For what it's worth, in the three subsequent games that group played together, the Bills scored 40, 38 and 31 points in going 2-1 and rising to the top of the AFC East standings.
With Feliciano or Brown (COVID-19) or both battling health issues, they have been held to 15 points or less in three of their last five games.
The Bills released guard Jamil Douglas to make room for Feliciano on the 53-man roster.
They also elevated practice-squad defensive tackles Eli Ankou and Brandin Bryant after ruling injured starter Star Lotulelei (toe) out for this contest.
Linebacker Joe Giles-Harris also was elevated from the practice squad, which suggests that they'll be without linebacker A.J. Klein for a second straight week. Klein was a surprise addition to the Reserve/COVID-19 list just before last Monday night's game against the the New England Patriots.
His absence was felt when the Bills were forced to respond to New England's power running game, which often featured an extra offensive lineman, by going with three linebackers for a majority of the snaps. The Bills don't normally feature a third linebacker, which would be Klein when healthy, preferring to stay in a nickel package with an extra defensive back (nickel corner Taron Johnson) as often as possible.
Tyrel Dodson played 27 snaps as result and is expected to be the third linebacker again against the Bucs.
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