The Bills have already been without the services of one of their nose tackles for four of their five games this season. Now they could be down two for Sunday's game against the Giants unless one of them heals quickly from injury.
Already without rotational nose tackle Torell Troup for four of the first five weeks, head coach Chan Gailey isn't sure if his defense will have Pro Bowl nose tackle Kyle Williams for their Week 6 road game at the Meadowlands.
"Kyle we're going to have to see as the week goes on exactly how much he can do," said Gailey. "It's not a long term thing by any stretch of the imagination, but we'll have to see toward the end of the week where he is."
Williams left Sunday's game in the third quarter with an undisclosed left leg injury and did not return. The most disruptive interior defensive lineman on the roster, his loss would be noticeable in Buffalo's defensive front.
The sixth-year defensive lineman is as tough as they come and has played hurt in the past, missing just two games in 2009 with a sprained MCL. With Buffalo's bye week coming up in Week 7 however, the Bills could consider sitting Williams this week to give him two full weeks to heal up.
"That's a thought, but I'm not sure that's the direction we'll go right now, but that's a thought," Gailey said.
Troup meanwhile has been battling persistent tightness in his lower back, an issue that's plagued him from his college days. The only game in which he appeared this season was Buffalo's Week 4 loss at Cincinnati. His back problems flared up last week in practice and again he was unavailable this past Sunday.
Comparing Troup's health to that of Williams might be what ultimately determines who plays and who sits for the Bills at nose tackle against the Giants.
"He's not 100 percent either," said Gailey of Troup. "We're trying to figure out which one of those is going to be the most ready this week."
Buffalo also has Kellen Heard, who has stepped in as the rotational nose tackle in the four games that Troup has been inactive. The Bills also have the option of sliding rookie Marcell Dareus inside to nose tackle knowing they have more healthy defensive ends than defensive tackles at this point.
