Emmanuel Sanders, Ed Oliver questionable for the Buffalo Bills in Week 17

The Buffalo Bills only have two players with injury designations ahead of their Week 17 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons

The Buffalo Bills return to Highmark Stadium on Sunday once again back in first place in the AFC East. However, if they want to remain there they will need a win against the Atlanta Falcons.

The good news is that this team should have almost their entire roster with no one ruled out on Friday and only two players carrying injury designations into the weekend. On Friday, head coach Sean McDermott was on WGR550 and said wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and defensive tackle Ed Oliver were questionable for Week 17 against the Falcons.

Emmanuel Sanders has been dealing with a knee injury that started back in Week 14 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He would miss the game against the Panthers before returning last week against the New England Patriots. Sanders played almost the entire game and on the field for 82% of the offensive snaps, making two catches for 20 yards on four targets.

However, the injury appears to be lingering as he was limited in practice on Wednesday before not participating in practice on Thursday and Friday. If Sanders is not able to play this week, the Bills should look to Gabriel Davis to once again replace him in the lineup. Davis missed last week’s game after being placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list but was activated earlier this week, along with Cole Beasley.

As for Ed Oliver, he has had three straight limited practices this week due to an ankle injury. If for some reason he is not able to play this week, this would be a tremendous loss for the defense.

The Bills don’t have a clear replacement for Oliver and what he brings. The Bills likely would use a rotation of Harrison Phillips, Efe Obada, and Boogie Basham this week against the Falcons.