Week 1 for the Bills brought a couple of new injuries in addition to a loss to New England. Cornerback Ron Brooks sustained a broken foot, and wide receiver and kick returner Marquise Goodwin suffered a fractured hand that required surgery. Both players are out indefinitely.
"At the present time he is having surgery," said head coach Doug Marrone of Goodwin. "So he'll be out, but I'll have more information on when he's coming back. We feel he'll be out for a time, but not a situation where he'll be out for the season as of right now until they go in there. He has a fracture in his hand."
Brooks will also require surgery for his broken foot.
"He's going to be out for some time, but he's going to have foot surgery (Tuesday) and then we'll know the exact amount of time," said Marrone. "But it's still not a season-ending injury, but he will be out for some time."
For Brooks it's the second straight season a broken foot has taken him out of the lineup. As a rookie, Brooks suffered a similar injury shortly before the start of the 2012 regular season. He missed the first seven games last year after he was placed on injured reserve as the club's designated to return player.
Marrone said he wants to hear back from the doctors before making such a decision on Brooks or Goodwin.
"I want to wait until we hear what the doctors say," said Marrone. "So I don't want to be locked down for that. Going into this thing I don't see it as long term I-R. I see them being out for a while and then coming back. Whether we want to use that short term I-R thing, I think that'll be a discussion we have later this afternoon."
Buffalo's head coach intends to meet with his coordinators to decide what course of action they ultimately take with Brooks and Goodwin.
Brooks only appeared in 10 plays on defense, but stayed in the game through the middle of the fourth quarter. He was replaced primarily by Nickell Robey in the lineup.
The injury leaves Buffalo with just four healthy cornerbacks with Stephon Gilmore still sidelined with a fractured wrist. One of those four is Brandon Burton, who was just signed last week. Buffalo also has rookie CB Johnny Adams on the practice squad, but he too was a recent signee.
Whether the club chooses to make a roster move to address the cornerback position remains to be seen, but Marrone's philosophy is to promote from within.
"We have (Brandon) Burton on our roster now we have to bring him along," said Marrone. "I believe if you have players on your practice squad you bring them up and then you go out and find players for your practice squad. Unless you don't have those players in the building then you go out and look for them. When you lose players for an amount of time you have to have a little vision to see who the teams are that are coming up to see if you're going to need more players at that position and make that decision."
Goodwin, who had a solid preseason, takes some valuable speed off the field for Buffalo on kick returns and on offense. T.J. Graham replaced Goodwin on kick returns Sunday.
The Bills still have five healthy receivers on the roster.
