McCoy limited in practiceLeSean McCoy was only allowed to participate in stretch with his teammates at Thursday's practice. On Friday, McCoy's workload has increased with the possibility of expanding.
"LeSean we'll see him do some things today and we'll go from there," said head coach Sean McDermott. "One movement at a time right now. We'll just see how he does through the individual (position) part of practice and go from there."
It's clear that Buffalo's athletic training and medical staffs are taking a very cautious approach with how much they're willing to let McCoy do in the practice setting.
McCoy did say on Thursday that he does want to test his ailing ankle to see if he can still play his game, which involves a lot of cutting with change of direction and speed.
The Bills and McCoy have done their best to strike a balance this week between rehab, recovery and seeing what the ankle can withstand in terms of activity.
"You want to stay off of it as much as possible. I'll kind of test it out," McCoy said. "I just want to be able to cut well enough where I don't have a lot of pain when I'm cutting. I just want to be close or the best as far as 100 percent I can get."
Milano hoping to be game readyMatt Milano is also going to miss Friday's practice with his teammates due to a hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined all week. Despite not getting any reps on the practice field, McDermott is still open to him playing on Sunday, if the hamstring responds in time for him to be ready on Sunday.
"It's going to be a challenge, but there's still hope that he'll be able to make it (to the game)," McDermott said. "He does a good job off the field in terms of his preparation. A smart young man, so we'll just see."
There are also a handful of players who are limited in practice here on Friday. Kelvin Benjamin, Charles Clay, Deonte Thompson and Joe Webb won't be full participants in practice today.
Appreciating the supportThe outpouring of support from Bills fans after their playoff ticket was punched by the Cincinnati Bengals last week was overwhelming enough. That support hasn't waned at all through the course of this week. If anything, it has been building like a tsunami. Coach McDermott has experienced it first-hand this week.
"It's been great to know of the support that's out there from A to Z," said McDermott. "That's been just unbelievable to be a part of. It gives us a lot of energy knowing that we have that type of support in our community and across the world really. Just the different messages we get, the different mail we get.
"I got a letter this week from a first-grade class with pictures that said, 'Let's go Buffalo!' And 'Good luck Sunday.' It's very humbling and also very encouraging at the same time."
McDermott hasn't been out and about much this week with all the preparation for Sunday's game in Jacksonville, but the few times he has stopped in a store or walked to his car in a parking lot, the feedback has been nothing but uplifting.
"The ones I've run into in the short amount of time I've been out have been just awesome," said McDermott of Bills fans he's crossed paths with this week. "It's been a little awkward at times for me because I didn't do this alone. The energy, the support… they love this team.
"That's part of the reason why my family and I made the decision to come here because of the passion of this fan base. And just the generally nice people in this community. You can feel that. In the short amount of time that I have been out in the community that's come to the surface."
