The Buffalo Bills are dealing with a glut of injuries in the wide receiver room.
According to a former Bill who will be on the opposite sideline Saturday, that shouldn't be a major problem, considering Buffalo's utilization of the position.
"They got a lot of guys banged up, but they don't really throw it to the receivers anyway," Denver Broncos wideout Elijah Moore said, per The Denver Gazette's Chris Tomasson.
Moore notably appeared in nine games for the Bills earlier this season, logging nine catches for 112 yards without a touchdown before being released on Nov. 26. He caught on with the Broncos, who elevated him from the practice squad ahead of Denver's Divisional Round matchup against Buffalo.
Sour grapes from Moore or not, Buffalo does indeed find ways to do damage in plenty of other ways outside peppering wideouts with targets -- whether that's letting reigning MVP Josh Allen rumble, getting the ball to a diverse stable of running backs or exposing defenses through tight ends.
While short-yardage maestro Khalil Shakir has nearly double the reception total of any other Bills player with 72, he's one of only two wide receivers among Buffalo's top six reception-getters. The other WR in that collection is Keon Coleman, who has 38 catches and has been a healthy scratch for multiple games this season. Tight ends Dalton Kincaid (39 receptions) and Dawson Knox (36) and running backs James Cook (33) and Ty Johnson (24) round out the rest of the group.
Given the Bills' injury luck of late, they'll likely need to continue to use alternate sources of production against Denver's defense, which ranks third in points allowed.
Wide receiver Josh Palmer, seventh on the team in receptions this season with 22, went on injured reserve before Buffalo's wild-card win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, a game in which Gabe Davis and Tyrell Shavers both suffered torn ACLs. That leaves the Bills with Shakir, Coleman, Brandin Cooks (signed Nov. 25), Curtis Samuel (activated off IR on Friday) and Mecole Hardman (elevated from the practice squad) at wideout.
We'll see shortly just how often Allen looks the way of his wide receivers against Denver -- and whether or not the Bills wideouts will have any rebuttal to Moore's observation in the form of some big-time contributions.
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