When it rains it pours for Buffalo's offensive line. Bills interim head coach declared guard Seth McKinney out for the season after suffering a knee injury in Sunday's game against Jacksonville, and he'll be joined by rookie guard Eric Wood after he sustained a broken leg in the game that required surgery.
"Eric Wood had surgery in Jacksonville (Sunday) night and the surgery went very well," said Fewell. "Seth McKinney suffered a season-ending knee injury."
Buffalo was already without starting left tackle Demetrius Bell, who is still nursing a knee injury suffered at Tennessee in Week 10.
Fewell had not yet spoken to Wood as he and the offensive lineman have traded phone messages as of early Monday afternoon. Wood also was not yet booked on a flight back to Buffalo, but is expected to be back in town no later than early Tuesday.
Right away it was obvious that Wood was in severe pain as his lower left leg was sideswiped by Jaguars defensive lineman Montavious Stanley, who was lunging to tackle Ryan Fitzpatrick when he tried to scramble up field between the two players. Wood broke both his tibia and fibula.
"That young man was in pain," said Fewell. "When I walked out on the field he was in severe pain and it was not a pretty sight to see. You never want to see that as a football coach. That's part of our game, but as a human being you never want to see something like that happen another person."
Wood was helped to the cart that would take him from the field by teammates Terrell Owens and Fred Jackson, and was patted on the back by several other players before heading to the locker room.
"I thought that when the trainers asked for help to get him up off the turf, you saw receivers and linemen rush to get him up off the turf," said Fewell. "That just tells you the closeness of the football team."
Veteran Seth McKinney was injured early in the game, but returned only to suffer a knee injury that will have him headed to injured reserve as well. They'll presumably join starting right tackle Brad Butler on injured reserve Tuesday.
With only five healthy offensive linemen on the roster and another still injured in Bell, Buffalo will have no choice but to add to their thinned ranks up front as teams typically dress seven on game day.
"That's a process that we go through when you have a season-ending injury like that," said Fewell. "We'll definitely bring some people in and we'll make some moves and we'll announce those moves as those moves occur."
Buffalo has two offensive linemen on their practice squad, but both are rookies. Nick Hennessey has been with the team since signing as an undrafted rookie in May. Andre Ramsey was signed to the practice squad back in Week 3.
Both Hennessey and Ramsey are primarily offensive tackles and the Bills need guards with McKinney and Wood going down.
Among the veteran free agent guards out there are Elton Brown, Dan Buenning, Pete Kendall, Matt Lehr and Kendall Simmons.
If Bell is still unable to play this week the likely lineup from left to right for the Bills on Sunday would be Jonathan Scott, Andy Levitre, Geoff Hangartner, Kirk Chambers and Jamon Meredith.
There's little question that all the lineup shuffling has compromised consistent execution on offense, but quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is putting his full faith in whoever the Bills have up front for him.
"As a quarterback you can't think about it at all because there's so much else to think about like the coverage the defense is giving you, your receivers and the timing with them throwing routes," he said. "There's a lot of stuff, but I've got more than enough confidence in the guys in front of me whatever five we put out there to get the job done. And that makes my job easier to let them handle their business and let me handle mine."
