The Bills won’t have wide receiver Cole Beasley available for Sunday’s game against the Patriots because he tested positive for COVID-19 and NFL protocols call for him to miss 10 days because he is unvaccinated.
Beasley could have conceivably tested back into the lineup if he’d been vaccinated, but neither head coach Sean McDermott nor quarterback Josh Allen dwelled on that possibility when asked about it on Wednesday. McDermott said, via Katherine Fitzgerald of the Buffalo News, that he wants any player on the reserve list — five active roster Bills in total — back healthy as soon as possible but that he’s “focused on the Patriots, and the guys in the building” this week.
Allen said he would have proceeded as if Beasley would miss the game regardless of his vaccination status and that he’s joining McDermott in keeping his thoughts on the Patriots.
“All that [COVID] stuff, for me it’s minutia,” Allen said, via Matt Parrino of NewYorkUpstate.com. “For me, I try to pay as little attention to it as possible,” he said. “Every game from here on out is like a playoff game, the type of atmosphere that’s going to be there. I mean, the energy is going to be extremely high, we know that the crowd’s gonna be really loud. We know that so we got to prepare as best as we can and again, be prepared as possible before we step foot in that stadium on Sunday and not let it affect us and really just do our jobs.”
The Bills will have two games left after facing the Patriots, but a loss this weekend may have them relying on others to open the door to the postseason. That should make focusing on the task at hand an easier sell than lamenting who won’t be able to help the effort this Sunday.