The Bills are already without their top quarterback following knee surgery. Buffalo sustained a more serious blow Monday as top cornerback Stephon Gilmore suffered a wrist injury that required surgery Monday. The Bills top cover man is out six to eight weeks.
"We've taken X-rays and it's obviously a wrist and we believe it'll probably be six to eight weeks that he'll be out," said head coach Doug Marrone.
The injury happened in the first half of Buffalo's loss at Washington Saturday. On a 2nd-and-8 play at the Washington 19-yard line, Gilmore was in the process of wrapping up Redskins WR Aldrick Robinson after an 11-yard gain and teammate Da'Norris Searcy came flying in to assist on the tackle.
"He was bailing on a slant (route by the receiver) and then coming up to make the play and I think there was a collision somewhere in the second quarter," said Marrone. "Then he wound up playing more after that and then the pain took over once the adrenaline of playing wore down."
He remained in the game for a couple of plays after making that tackle, but eventually left the field and was taken to the locker room for X-rays.
Losing their top cornerback for the foreseeable future will be a difficult blow for the Bills to absorb. The secondary just got Leodis McKelvin back in the lineup Saturday after missing the better part of the past two weeks with a groin injury.
"Obviously we felt really good about him and he's put a lot of work in to try to be the best player at his position and I give him a lot of credit for that," said Marrone of Gilmore. "He's really had an outstanding camp and really played extremely well for us. It's unfortunate the amount of work that he's put in to be in a situation now where he's not going to be able to participate for a period of time. Whenever you lose a player like that we consider him a very good player, someone has to step up and play that position."
Top candidates to fill Gilmore's position on the boundary include Crezdon Butler and Justin Rogers.
