The Bills just got GREAT news...

Last Sunday, Josh Palmer ran a deep route against the Ravens, pulled up, grabbing his hamstring, and walked straight into the locker room. The Bills won that game 36-10, so it kind of got lost in the shuffle of all of it. But then, on Saturday, today, head coach Joe Brady ruled him out for Monday night's matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. He's the only Bills receiver that is officially out, but he is certainly not the only Bills receiver that is hurting coming into this matchup. Both DJ Moore and Keon Coleman are both carrying shoulder injuries into this game. The Bills are 6-1 and are scoring 33.3 points a game, the kind of offense nobody wants to see coming, not even the Vikings' defense. But the Vikings do only give up 13.3 points a game, which is the fewest in the NFL. So with Palmer gone and two of the starters banged up, does Josh Allen still have enough to throw on the best scoring defense in all of football? So let's start with the good news first, because there is more of that than the injury report initially makes it look like. Palmer is the only receiver that has been officially ruled out with that hamstring injury that he sustained against the Ravens last Sunday. DJ Moore, he's been practicing all week in limited capacity with that shoulder injury, and he was still seen in a red non-contact jersey at Saturday's practice. On Thursday, Brady said that Moore would be out there at practice this week, and indeed he was, but... Even with that jersey on, the expectation is that DJ Moore will be ready to go against the Vikings Monday night. Moore has already missed two games with a shoulder injury this season, one at the Rams and one at the Raiders, but it is certainly a huge boost for this offense to have him out there with the team. Now, Keon Coleman, he is in a very similar spot with a shoulder injury. He was limited in practice on Friday, and he is expected to suit up in this contest as well. And real quick, if you are new here, we are less than 200 subscribers away from hitting 3,000 on the channel. So if you are a Bills fan and you want to stay up to date, go ahead and hit subscribe so that you don't miss a thing related to the Buffalo Bills. Now, going back to that wide receiver room, because Khalil Shakir did pop up on the injury report on Friday due to a personal reason, but he is indeed expected to play on Monday night. Now, what about Don Kincaid? He's not a wide receiver, but a very important pass catcher in this Bills offense. He is expected to play as well. He hasn't missed a game all year, and it matters a lot more than people think. He was dealing with a chest issue before the Ravens game, and he was questionable that morning, and he still went out there and led the team in receiving yards. And then there's Tyrell Shavers, who is questionable for a completely different reason. He tore his ACL all the way back in that wildcard win over Jacksonville in January, and the Bills have finally opened his practice window on October 28th. He started this season on the pup list and has not played a game so far this year, so it would be huge for the Bills to get him back as well. Add it all up, and that is four of the Bills' top five pass catchers that are expected to play on Monday. But what about Josh Palmer? What are the Bills missing without him out there? Palmer's season line looks small at a first glance. Four catches for 117 yards in five games. But that works out to 29 yards a catch, which is more than double of what Khalil Shakir is doing at 13 yards a catch. 67 of the passes thrown his way this season have gone for 20 yards or more down the field. His average target travels 25 yards in the air, Which is basically a completely different job than everybody else has in that receiver room Now, he's not the guy moving the chains, but he is a deep shot that Allen takes when a safety creeps up every so often. In week one in Houston, his only catch of the day was a 33-yard touchdown that changed the entire momentum of the game. The next week against Detroit, his only catch was a 43-yard touchdown. Now, those were Allen's lowest two passing games of the season, 204 yards against the Chargers in the air, 210 yards in the air against the Rams, and he's thrown at least 248 yards in every other game. And also, the Chargers game was the only one this season where Allen didn't throw a touchdown pass. Instead, he threw two interceptions. Now. Correlation isn't exactly causation with Josh Palmer. The wins, they kept coming, but it is worth noting that the passing game got smaller in both of those games. Now, this week, the problem is the next man up for that deep role. Because second on the team in yards a catch is DJ Moore at 16 yards per catch. And Moore is the one in a red non-contact jersey, so they might not want him taking those deep shots. DJ Moore and that shoulder injury is what I would be watching the closest on Monday night. Against the Ravens, he had 82 receiving yards and a touchdown, and his longest catch that day went for 49 yards, the exact kind of play that Palmer is usually out there for. On the season, he has 260 yards on 16 catches, and the two games that he missed against the Raiders and the Rams are a big reason those numbers don't look quite right. If that shoulder limits him at all still on Monday, the deep part of this offense gets very thin very fast. The volume, though, it is in good hands. Khalil Shakir has been targeted 38 times this season, the most on the team. He's had at least three catches in all but one of his games so far this year, and he hasn't missed a single game, and he only showed up on this week's injury report due to personal reasons. Dalton Kincaid, he leads the whole team in receiving yards. with 401, and he's a tight end. He opened the year with 130 yards in Houston. He was a little bit quiet there in the middle, but he broke back out against Baltimore with 86 more yards. He's caught 27 of the 35 passes thrown to him, so when Allen goes his way, it usually results in a completion. Allen trusts him over the middle and against this Vikings front that might end up being the entire game plan. Plus, you've got running back Ty Johnson. 15 catches of his own this season, which is only one fewer than DJ Moore. So the backs are also part of this passing game as well. Keon Coleman is the other name that you need to know for Monday as he has been out there all seven games, but he has been appearing on the injury report somewhat often. He leads the Bills with three receiving touchdowns and he scored them in three straight games before the bye week. His best game of the year came against the Patriots in week four with 116 receiving yards in that three-point loss. He's also caught 20 of the 27 balls thrown his way, which shockingly is the best rate of any Bills wide receiver. So a shoulder that limited him on Friday could be a real worry for the Bills in this offense, but I think that Keon will be just fine. Plus, if Shavers does get activated, we can treat him like a bonus as well because you can't really expect too much from the guy that's coming back from a torn ACL. And all of this lands on the worst possible week because of who is lining up on the other side of the ball. Brian Flores runs that Vikings defense, and it lives on getting after the quarterback. Their pressure rate is 46%, so Allen will have someone in his face almost on half of his dropbacks. They sack the quarterback on 11% of dropbacks, too, which is why the offensive line matters as much as the receivers this week. Andrew Van Ginkle for the Vikings has six and a half sacks this season, and Dallas Turner also has six. Back in September, they held the Bears to three points in a 9-3 win. And that's where injuries stop being about only the wide receivers. Deion Dawkins and Alec Anderson are both questionable on the offensive line, and Spencer Brown also appeared on the injury report this week too. Josh Allen has only been sacked 13 times in seven games, but four of those came in one game against the Chargers, which coincidentally was the first game that Josh Palmer missed. Those deep shots, they need time, and against that front, Allen might not get that much of it. When he does throw it up, Byron Murphy already has three interceptions and six passes defended for him, so that is another name to look out for. So the answer Monday can't be just deep bomb after deep bomb over and over and over again. It's quick throws to Shakir and Kincaid. We could see some backs coming out of the backfield, maybe a shot to DJ Moore when the protection holds up. Allen has thrown 11 touchdown passes in seven games this season. And only two of them have gone to Josh Palmer, so he's been spreading the ball around quite a lot. Plus, it helps that Minnesota has injury problems of its own with its quarterback, specifically Kyler Murray, managing a hamstring injury of his own, meaning that Carson Wentz will be getting the start. It's worth noting Justin Jefferson hasn't had a 100-yard game yet this season. So if this Bills defense really wants to prove himself, This is the time to do it. Keep the score low so Allen doesn't have to put on the cape, go be Superman, and go win it all with a deep ball or two. Kickoff is at 8.15 Eastern on Monday night, and here is where I land with this game. I think that the Bills are going to win, but I wouldn't expect a 30-point performance like we've seen so many more times this year. I think that Dalton Kincaid is going to lead the team in catches on Monday with a lot of quick dump-offs against the pressure for Josh Allen. DJ Moore's shoulder is something that we are still going to have to keep an eye on as he took more big hits against the Ravens last Sunday. Try to keep him protected as much as possible. They've got to put up points against the best scoring defense in football. But they were able to do it against the Rams without DJ Moore. So if anyone can do it, it is the Bills. One thing to watch, though, is whether or not Deion Dawkins plays. But after that, there is not much time to heal because it is a Monday night game. And after that, the Bills are at the New York Jets just six days later. That is a 1 o'clock Sunday kickoff on the road, so it's a short week on top of a trip across the state and into New Jersey. So if a setback to Moore or Coleman or any other Bills receiver on Monday night could impact that game as well. So let me ask you guys, who do you think is going to lead the team in receiving yards on Monday night? Do you think it's Dalton Kincaid? Do you think it's Khalil Shakir? Do you think it's DJ Moore, Keon Coleman, or somebody else entirely? Let me know down in the comments. Palmer's hamstring has no timetable to return, but the second that there is an update on him, we'll have it right here on Bills Digest, so stick around for that. Thanks for watching, and of course, as always, Go Bills!