Week 9 kicked off last night between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars, and it will wrap up on Monday night when the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings face off against each other up in Minnesota. Both teams come in at 6-1, with the Vikings dropping their first game last week against the Lions, and the Bills blowing out the Ravens.
Even though the Vikings' offense hasn't been great this season, and will now roll with Carson Wentz under center with Kyler Murray dealing with a "sore hamstring" per Adam Schefter, Minnesota's defense has been the main story for them because of how dominant they are.
They have the second overall ranked defense, giving up just 271 total yards per game. In addition, they are tied for first in takeaways (12), and rank second in sacks (25) only behind the Pittsburgh Steelers. For as great as Buffalo's offense is, they are in for a major challenge and now they have to worry about another potential factor that could hurt them leading up to this game.
Josh Allen's protection upfront may not be at full 100%
The Bills got back into practice on Thursday and their injury report was pretty lengthy. However, a concerning thing about the report was seeing 3 starting offensive linemen on it with two of them not practicing.
Per the Buffalo Bills' PR team, Dion Dawkins (rib) and Alec Anderson (ankle) did not practice. In addition, Spencer Brown (back) was limited which is a good sign, but it shows us that his back injury is still very present and who knows if he will be at a full 100% if he is good to go in Week 9.
So, you got both of Buffalo's tackles banged up, as well as a great interior blocker that is surpassing expectations as a starter heading into a very tough matchup against a Brian Flores-led defense...the Bills could be in major trouble in the trenches.
Bills' OL has to bring their A-game (no matter who is starting)
With this first injury report this week, it doesn't look good for the Bills in the trenches. Even if all 3 of Dawkins, Anderson, and Brown do end up playing, will they be as healthy as possible? I'm not too sure...
The Vikings bring a ton of blitzing and they are very successful with it most of the time. If Buffalo's offensive line allows the Vikings to bring the heavy pressure and chase Allen around, it's going to be an extremely long night for the offense.
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