Following their 31-7 Wild Card win over the Broncos, the Bills coaching staff met with the media Monday evening to discuss their initial thoughts about their upcoming Divisional Round game against the Ravens.
During the Sunday night broadcast, the NFL announced that Bills-Ravens will be the final game of the Divisional Round at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 19.
Here’s what we learned from Monday’s media availability:
Injury updates
Bills head coach Sean McDermott shared injury updates on three players: RB Ray Davis, OL Alec Anderson and returner Brandon Codrington.
“Ray Davis is in concussion protocol. Alec Anderson has a calf, will be listed as day to day and Brandon Codrington has a hamstring. He is improving,” McDermott said.
McDermott provided a positive update on Davis who left the Wild Card game after a scary collision with a Broncos defender. Davis was brought into the Bills locker room to be evaluated for a concussion and was eventually ruled out.
“I passed him in the hallway today, had a chance to catch up with him, and reached out to him, connected with him last night. From a human standpoint, he seems to be in a decent spot. The medical piece, all I really know right now is he’s in the protocol,” McDermott added.
Anderson briefly left the Wild Card game with the calf injury but returned in the second half.
Codrington missed Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. However, he did practice on a limited basis late last week.
Bills coaching staff began Ravens prep Sunday night
Sean McDermott insinuated after Sunday’s game that once he finished up his press conference that he was going to walk back over to his office to start his prep for the Ravens. During Monday’s media availability, the coach confirmed that he and the rest of the coaching staff did exactly that.
“We did. We weren’t sure what day we were going to get scheduled to play, and it’s a heck of an opponent, heck of a challenge. So there’s a lot to unpack and what they do in all three phases. And just felt like we needed to get started there,” he shared.
McDermott said that while having CB Taron Johnson, LB Terrel Bernard and LB Matt Milano active for the second go-around with the Ravens will be important, it doesn’t take away from how much preparation the Bills will have to do throughout the week.
“This is a unique offense in terms of their production and how explosive they are. It’s a great combination, unlike any I’ve seen with Lamar and Derrick Henry and and then if you had the passing game and the scrambles and all that type of stuff,” McDermott added.
Milano played in 81% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps against the Broncos and showcased why he was an All-Pro player in 2022. The linebacker displayed his quickness in diagnosing plays at the snap, including a play where he prevented Broncos QB Bo Nix from scrambling and forced him out of bounds for a sack.
“When you don’t play football for as long as he’s played it, you gotta knock the rust off,” said DC Bobby Babich. “We’re starting to see some of that and I think he’s starting to feel a lot more comfortable.”
On the other side of the ball, OC Joe Brady shared that his philosophy during the postseason is to find ways to get better, while also honing in on the details that made the offense click during the season.
“You gotta continue to find ways to get better, you can’t just be the same offense as you were the first month in the season at the end,” Brady said. “We got to continue to be creative, and continue to change who we are, but at the same time, running our core concepts.”
Brady said one way that he’s putting that philosophy into action is by not overloading the playbook each week and making sure each player feels prepared and confident in their role.
“It’s players, not plays,” he said. “When it gets to the playoffs, you can have a tendency to feel like you gotta get all these plays, and you gotta out scheme people. Less is more in the playoffs. Let guys go out there and play fast and put the ball in their hands, and good things usually happen.”
