The Buffalo Bills are set to enter a highly-anticipated matchup against the Houston Texans in Week 5 without a number of their key players.
Bills’ head coach Sean McDermott told reporters on Friday that the team’s leading receiver Khalil Shakir will be out for the Texans game while safety Taylor Rapp and defensive tackles Ed Oliver and Austin Johnson will also join him on the sidelines.
Shakir, who has a team-leading 18 catches, 230 receiving yards, and two receiving touchdowns, has been dealing with an ankle injury. It will be tough for the Bills to replace Shakir’s production, but McDermott hopes that veteran Curtis Samuel can step in and make quarterback Josh Allen’s life easier.
“Thankful we have Curtis, and a couple other guys that we move around and everything,” McDermott told reporters via ESPN. “[Shakir’s] a very important player to us, very good player and a guy that Josh has a lot of confidence in and rapport built up with, so, we’ll miss him, no doubt, but again, another opportunity for somebody to step up.”
Rapp is using concussion protocol, and Johnson is dealing with an oblique injury. They both got hurt in Week 4 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Oliver, on the other hand, went down with a hamstring injury during practice. It is unclear how long he’ll be out.
The Bills are currently 3-1 and sit in first place in the AFC East. The Texans also started the season 3-1 and are leading the AFC South.
