Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who plays as a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, was down with a neck injury in Saturday’s 9-3 preseason victory against the Steelers.
Valdes-Scantling sustained an injury through a tackle by three Steelers defenders after a catch on a third-down pass from Ben DiNucci, who plays as a quarterback, close to the end of the first half of the game.
“We’ve got a number of [injuries] again, and I don’t have any updates. I wish I did,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said after the game. “Everyone’s being evaluated, and we’ll know more here in the next couple of days.”
Valdes-Scantling, who signed a one-year deal with the Bills in May, was evaluated by athletic trainers on the field with teammates surrounding him as he was slowly brought into a sitting position and then slowly walked off the field and eventually to the medical tent. Just before halftime, he was taken off the field in the passenger seat of a cart. It was his only catch and target of the game.
The Bills’ wide receiver room was reshaped over the offseason, and finding the right players to build out the final spots in the room remains a work in progress with just one preseason game remaining.
Bills suffered a lot of injuries on Saturday night, including that of Valdes-Scantling.
Damar Hamlin did not play either after he missed a significant portion of the team’s joint practice because of an injury that he sustained. He claimed that the coaching crew was being safe, including in a banged-up safety room.
Among the players that were ruled out of the game were Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky (knee), defensive tackle Austin Johnson (calf), tight end Quintin Morris (shoulder), and rookie defensive end Javon Solomon (calf), which added to the many injuries that the Bills are suffering from, including linebacker Matt Milano tearing his biceps in the training that was held on Tuesday.
That injury caused coach McDermott to rest starting middle linebacker Terrel Bernard. An undrafted free agent from Buffalo, Joe Andreessen, was used as a starter in place of middle linebacker Terrel and had a strong performance that included 12 tackles.
“That one was already determined before,” McDermott said. “To be honest with you, when we lost Matt, we’re just where we are at that position right now, so I didn’t want to expose TB out there.”
Trubisky was used as a substitute in place of quarterback Josh Allen, who is healthy but absent and did not play Saturday with the rest of the first-team offense. McDermott claimed that the decision was based on the really good week of training that Allen had.
Trubisky did not play further in the game after already playing five drives, completing 9-of-13 passes for 86 yards and one interception, leaving quarterback DiNucci, whom the team purchased on Tuesday, to feature in the rest of the game. DiNucci had just five passing attempts, with the team finding victory on the ground.
“As far as Mitch goes, wanted to get a good look at Mitch and then he got the knee there, so we’ll see where that leaves us,” McDermott said. “But good to see Ben as well get in there, like Joe Andreessen], and didn’t flinch, led the offense. I thought really, the offense did a phenomenal job establishing the line of scrimmage in the second half with intention and purpose and pad level, finishing runs.”
