ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It seems like ancient history but prior to the season starting, the Bills were set with the task of what to do within their tight end position. Rumors were flying around everywhere that the former Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz could be making his way to Buffalo but that quickly evaporated.
While the rumors still circled into the season, Dawson Knox has shut all that talk completely down and has emerged as an unknown star within this Bills offense.
Working with a hand and eye coordinator over the off season, Knox isn’t known for dropping passes but catching them. Knox is tied for the most touchdowns for a tight end in the NFL with five but now he’ll have to take a back seat with a fractured hand.
So enter backup Tommy Sweeney. He has four receptions for four yards and one touchdown on the season. The Bills are already limited at the tight end position so this will be a test for Buffalo moving forward. No word or inkling that the Bills will pick up a tight end before the trade deadline.
Head coach Sean McDermott confirmed to the media Wednesday morning that he still has no idea on the timeline for Knox’s return, but he not play this weekend against the Miami Dolphins.
Meanwhile with no Knox, Buffalo will look to get back on track after their Monday Night Football loss to the Tennessee Titans with a win this weekend against Miami.
If history repeats itself, then the Bills are in a good position. Last season after falling to the Arizona Cardinals on a Hail Mary play, the Bills won every game after that within the regular season, eight to be exact. So the question is, can that fire they found deep inside once again be reignited? The guys seem to think so.
"This is a position that feels very similar to to the bye week last season," said Josh Allen. "Losing the way we did, everyone wanted to count us out again but we don’t really care about that. We are a resilient group. We’re going to find ways to score in the red zone, play better as a team and play complementary football."
"It’s just crazy how we lost last year at the end of the game and it’s just we kind of lost kind of similar this year too," said Stefon Diggs. "Not in the same way, but just towards the end of the game. Just knowing what kind of team we have, knowing the things that we can do better and looking at the past six weeks seeing what areas we can be better. I feel like we haven’t played our best football. We played good football but as a unit we need to keep pushing forward."
This Bills will host the Dolphins this Sunday at 1 p.m.