By Jay Skurski
The Buffalo Bills were beat down today against the New England Patriots, and even worse, they were beat up.
The Bills had five starters leave the game because of injuries during their 52-28 loss. Tight end Scott Chandler, receiver Donald Jones, safety Jairus Byrd and offensive linemen Cordy Glenn and Kraig Urbik all came out, with injuries of varying severity.
Both Chandler and Jones came off because of blows to the head, but passed concussion tests and said they were fine after the game. The news wasn’t as good for Urbik and Glenn.
“Cordy’s got an ankle that’s going to be a while, and so does Urbik,” coach Chan Gailey said after the game.
Gailey had little time after the game to address the challenge of replacing two offensive linemen.
“Ah, that’s an excuse,” he said. “We expect guys to walk in and play.”
Urbik said he wasn’t supposed to talk about his injury after the game, but did call it “nothing major.”
Byrd, who forced both New England fumbles before being hurt, suffered a hip pointer that left him in considerable pain after the game. He was seen in the locker room on his way to the training room. Byrd was injured with about three minutes to go in the third quarter. He did not play in the fourth quarter.
Jones and Chandler both took huge hits in the second half. Jones was leveled by Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork on a clean hit in the fourth quarter. Two plays later, Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was intercepted by Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty. During the return, Chandler took a questionable blindside hit from New England linebacker Brandon Spikes.
“I’m fine. I passed all my tests and everything, so I should be good,” Chandler said.
