The Buffalo Bills have already been hit hard by injuries early in this NFL season and may have suffered another major blow on Thursday Night Football.
Linebacker Terrel Bernard went down with a pectoral injury early in the first half of the team’s 31-10 win over the Miami Dolphins. As reporter Josh Reed of WIVB noted, the third-year linebacker went to the sidelines but later had to leave for the locker room.
“Terrel Bernard is going up the tunnel to the locker room. That would be a brutal loss for this defense,” Reed shared in a post on X.
The Bills initially announced that Bernard was questionable to return, but ruled him out just after halftime. While the team did not give any further details, one insider believes it could be a long-term injury for the team’s defensive captain.
Bills Linebacker Could Miss Significant Time
Bernard could potentially face a significant injury. David Chao, a former NFL doctor turned injury analyst, wrote for Sports Injury Central that Bernard may have suffered a torn pectoral muscle that could keep him out for months.
Chao said that if a pectoral tear is confirmed, Bernard “will need surgery with a possible late season/playoffs return.”
Bernard is coming off a season where he had a team-high 143 tackles with 6.5 sacks and three interceptions.
The Bills were able to clamp down on defense after Bernard’s exit on Thursday. The defense intercepted Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa three times, including two by cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram with the second returned for a touchdown.
Bills Hit Hard By Injuries
The Bills have already lost another top linebacker to a pectoral tear, with All-Pro Matt Milano going down in training camp and being placed on injured reserve. The team has said that Milano could potentially return near the end of the regular season.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said he felt bad for Milano, who also missed much of the last season after suffering a fractured leg, but was confident he would be able to bounce back.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, right,” McDermott said. “Matt’s a strong young man. I know he’s going to handle this. Certainly tough, especially coming off of the year he came off of already.
“The good thing is he’s got a good family behind him that are going to support him, teammates that are going to support him as well as the coaching staff and our entire football organization. He’s resilient. We’ve got to be resilient. We’ve got to move forward and be focused on solutions.”
Bernard was expected to take on a more significant role after Milano’s injury and was named a team captain prior to the start of the season.
The Bills also lost nickel cornerback Taron Johnson in the season-opening win over the Arizona Cardinals. Though Johnson was ruled out of Thursday’s game against the Dolphins, the team opted against putting him on injured reserve which would have kept him out a minimum of four weeks.
The team will now have a long break to recover, not playing again for 11 days when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football.
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