Head coach Sean McDermott, defensive coordinator Leslie Fraizer and offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey spoke with the media Monday evening following the Bills' 27-17 win over the Packers in Week 8.
The coaches shared details on key injury updates and things they learned from the team's performance.
Injury updates on Tre White, Jordan Poyer and more
With the 21-day activation window deadline for CB Tre'Davious White approaching this week, Sean McDermott shared that the team does plan to move White to the active roster, though his status for Sunday's game against the Jets is still unclear.
"We intend to activate Tre. He'll remain day to day and not really going to get into speculating on whether he's going to play this week or not," McDermott said.
As for safety Jordan Poyer, he left Sunday night's game in the fourth quarter with an elbow injury and did not return. He was scheduled to get an MRI on Monday to assess the severity of the injury.
"We're still evaluating his situation," he said.
The head coach also shared that LB Matt Milano has an oblique injury and that OL Spencer Brown, who did not play Sunday (ankle), is "improving".
STORY NOTE: On Tuesday afternoon, the Bills officially announced that they have activated White. He remains day-to-day.
D-Line rotations spark big plays but allows season-high in rush yards
Frazier is well-known for his heavy use of rotations during the game along the defensive line. Those mixing and matching of combinations were altered during the early part of the season as key players up front dealt with injuries.
DTs Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle and Ed Oliver had all missed time during various parts of the first six weeks of the year. Sunday night, all three were healthy and active, and it showed up on the field.
"We really needed that rotation, for sure. It helped us, being able to have Jordan (Phillips) back, to be able to have Ed (Phillips) back and obviously Tim (Settle) had an impact on the game as well," Frazier said.
With the Packers one of the few teams that had been able to run the ball effectively against the Bills this season — they ran for 208 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry on Sunday — a fresh rotation of players was needed to create game-changing plays.
After Josh Allen threw an interception near midfield at the beginning of the fourth quarter, a window opened up for a Packers comeback as they trailed the Bills 27-10 at that point. But on the first play of the Packers' ensuing possession, Tim Settle tipped Aaron Rodgers' pass at the line of scrimmage and it found the hands of LB Matt Milano to give the ball right back to the Bills.
"Tim had a terrific game for us, had an impact play on that batted ball where Matt Milnao ended up getting the interception. He's really stout at the point of attack in the run game for us. He's really good in the rotation," Frazier said.
As for the yardage allowed on the ground — the most allowed by the Bills this season — Frazier said he plans to make that a priority in this week's game planning.
"It really caused some conversations for us in our meetings today," Frazier said. "Some things that we'll have to get corrected because other teams are going to try to copy that run game for sure."
James Cook getting 'comfortable' after slow start
The Bills offense has leaned heavily on starting RB Devin Singletary through seven games but rookie James Cook is starting to see a more inclusive role. He's seen at least 10 snaps in each of the last three games and has 115 total yards and a touchdown during that span.
Against the Packers, Cook saw his second-largest percentage of the Bills' offensive snaps (25%) since the Week 2 blowout against Tennessee. The shifty back out of Georgia made the most of his snaps, garnering 35 rushing yards on 5 carries and had a catch in the fourth quarter that went for 41 yards.
On that play, Cook was lined up in the slot and ran a crossing route to the left side. As Josh Allen was forced out of the pocket, Cook got open right at the first down marker where Allen hit him in stride and then the rookie used his speed to make a defender miss to get inside the Green Bay 10-yard line.
"The more reps you get, the more you see, then the more it's just those instincts kick in," Dorsey said. "I thought he ran extremely hard and I really kind of see him getting comfortable in what he's doing."
Dorsey explained his reasoning for getting Cook more involved as or late, noting that he's felt Cook has been best suited for the particular flow of the game during the times he's played.
"James has done a great job whenever their numbers have been called, and whatever we ask them to do so. That was the kind of the nature of the flow of the game," he shared.
Bills are off to a 6-1 start to the season - the team's best record since 1993.