The injury-riddled Buffalo Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night in the Divisional Round.
The Bills defense is hoping that their middle linebacker can play on Sunday.
The Buffalo Bills MLB is questionable for the Divisional Round.
Terrel Bernard is officially questionable for Sunday’s game.
Bernard was carted off the field in the Wild Card after twisting his right ankle in the third quarter.
Luckily, Bernard did not suffer a serious injury and is dealing with an ankle sprain, giving him a chance to play.
Head coach Sean McDermott is hopeful that he will play:
“I think there’s hope,” McDermott said. “He’s in meetings this morning. It looked in the way he was carted off that – thankful that it could have been way worse. So we’ll just take it one day here at a time.”
Bernard is having an excellent second season.
Bernard is having an excellent first season as the full-time starting middle linebacker. He has 143 tackles, ten for a loss, nine quarterback hits, 6.5 sacks, three interceptions, and five pass deflections.
Who will be his replacement if he can’t play?
They will have to rely on A.J. Klein if Bernard can’t play. Klein is in his 11th year in the NFL and has 465 tackles, 45 for a loss, 27 quarterback hits, 15.5 sacks, four interceptions, one pick-six, 20 pass deflections, and eight forced fumbles in his career.
Before Buffalo signed Klein to the practice squad and elevated him against Pittsburgh, he and his family were packed and ready to go on vacation.
“We already had stuff booked down in Key West,” Klein said. “I had bought an RV in the offseason and we were loading up our truck, doing some work on our RV and we were looking to go down to Key West and get down in the sunshine a bit.”
“Everything is canceled now. Plans are canceled.”
Klein registered seven solo and four assisted tackles in relief against Pittsburgh.
Bernard isn’t the only linebacker banged up.
Terrel Bernard isn’t the only LB who is dealing with an injury. Tyrel Dodson missed last week’s game with a shoulder injury. The good news for Dodson is that he’s removed from the injury report and will play against Kansas City.
Baylon Spector suffered a back injury in last week’s game and is ruled out.
Their best linebacker, Matt Milano, hasn’t played since Week 5 because he suffered a fractured leg and a significant knee injury in London. Milano is not expected to return to the field anytime soon.
Will Terrel Bernard play?
The Buffalo Bills hope that Bernard can play against the Kansas City Chiefs. He is one of the better defenders on the team. The middle linebacker position is important because they are the ones who get the play calls from the defensive play caller.
They will have to rely on either A.J. Klein or Dorian Williams if he cannot play.
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