Due to the NFL schedule getting moved around, there are two Monday Night Football games in Week 6. All four teams are in the playoff hunt and a few injuries could be major factors in these matchups.
Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills, (Mon.) 5:00 PM
Chiefs
| Player | Position | Injury | Thu | Fri | Sat | Game Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Anthony Hitchens
|
LB | Illness | DNP | FP | FP | (-) |
|
Kelechi Osemele
|
G | Knees | DNP | DNP | DNP | Out |
|
Sammy Watkins
|
WR | Hamstring | DNP | DNP | DNP | Out |
Injured Reserve: DE Mike Danna, hamstring; CB L’Jarius Sneed, clavicle.
- WR Sammy Watkins is out tonight and with him go 29 targets and 2 TDs. Watkins has spent 41% of his snaps in the slot. We will see much more Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson. Where Watkins will be missed is inside the 10, where the Chiefs use him a bunch. He is second on the team behind Kelce with five targets inside the 10. Hardman and Robinson combined have two targets inside the 10.
- By far the biggest concern for KC tonight is on the OL with guard Kelechi Osemele out and starting RT Mitchell Schwartz Questionable. Osemele ranks 10th best among guards in pressure rate allowed at 2.2%. He has allowed 0 sacks, 0 QB hits, and only 4 hurries all season. He is also graded as the 28th best guard in run blocking among 79 guards this season. 8-year veteran Mike Remmers will take over for Osemele. Remmers has plenty of experience at both tackle and guard. He has been in on 103 pass blocking snaps this season and has only allowed 3 pressures and 0 sacks. He has allowed a 6.6% pressure rate throughout his career but only 5% in seasons where he played predominantly at Guard. It has only been 40 run block snaps but Remmers has graded out as the fifth-worst run blocker among all guards this season. Throughout his career Remmers has been a better pass blocker than run blocker.
- If Schwartz can play, then Remmers will stick at guard but if Schwartz is also out then Remmers most likely shifts over to RT and Nick Allegretti becomes the new LG. Schwartz has been a stalwart along the OL and has graded out as the second and fourth-best overall RT in the NFL by PFF the last two seasons. He currently sits 12th among RTs this season by PFF. His pass blocking has been excellent but not as dominant as last season when he did not allow a sack all season. This year he has allowed 2 sacks and has a solid 3.4% pressure rate after posting a tremendous 2.5% last season. Allegretti was a seventh-round pick last season and has played a grand total of 12 snaps in two seasons. Needless to say, a healthy Schwartz is critical.
Bills
| Player | Position | Injury | Thu | Fri | Sat | Game Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dawson Knox
|
TE | Calf | DNP | DNP | DNP | Out |
|
Matt Milano
|
LB | Pec | LP | FP | LP | Questionable |
|
John Brown
|
WR | Knee | FP | FP | LP | Questionable |
|
Quinton Spain
|
G | Foot | FP | LP | DNP | Questionable |
|
Tre’Davious White
|
CB | Back | LP | FP | FP | Questionable |
Injured Reserve: LB Del’Shawn Phillips, quadriceps; G Jon Feliciano, pectoral; CB Levi Wallace, ankle.
- There are a handful of potentially key players who are questionable. Nobody outside of TE Dawson Knox has been declared out as of yet. Among the questionable players who were either limited in practice on Saturday or didn’t practice, WR John Brown, LB Matt Milano, and G Quinton Spain are the most notable. All three missed last Tuesday’s game against Tennessee.
- WR Gabriel Davis stepped in nicely for Brown, catching 5 passes for 58 yards with a TD that was called back. Milano is by far Buffalo’s best coverage LB and against a team that likes to throw to its RBs like KC, his absence would be felt. The Titans very rarely throw to RBs so they didn’t take much advantage last week. Tyrel Dodson would start again if Milano is declared Out. Dodson has allowed 12 of 14 targets to be caught while in coverage for 91 yards this season.
Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys, (Mon.) 8:15 PM
Cardinals
| Player | Position | Injury | Thu | Fri | Sat | Game Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Kylie Fitts
|
OLB | Hamstring | DNP | DNP | (-) | |
|
Dennis Gardeck
|
OLB | Foot | DNP | LP | (-) | |
|
Rashard Lawrence
|
DT | Calf | DNP | DNP | (-) | |
|
J.R. Sweezy
|
OL | Elbow | DNP | DNP | (-) | |
|
Devon Kennard
|
OLB | Calf | LP | LP | (-) |
Injured Reserve: LB Chandler Jones, biceps; DB Jalen Thompson, ankle; DB Robert Alford, pectoral; TE Maxx Williams, ankle.
- RG J.R. Sweezy is on IR and obviously out tonight. He has struggled this season, allowing 9 pressures and producing a poor 45.9 pass blocking grade. That grade ranks 70th out of 79 guards. In place of Sweezy will be third-year man Justin Murray. Murray has allowed a 4.6% pressure rate on over 600 pass block snaps in his short career. He allowed 4 sacks and 25 total pressures last season but none so far on 30 snaps this year.
- LT D.J. Humphries is questionable and would be a bigger hit to that OL. He is 39th among 79 tackles in pressure rate allowed at 5%. He grades out as the 18th best tackle in run blocking this season. He is by far the best run blocker on the Cards OL this season. Outside of a poor outlier 2019, he has generated a top 17 run blocking grade in each of his seasons since entering the NFL in 2016. Based on the depth chart, 2019 seventh-round pick Joshua Miles would potentially start. Miles has never taken an NFL snap.
- The biggest injury issues for the Cards tonight comes in the way of their pass rush. Star DE Chandler Jones is out. Jones was second in the NFL in sacks last year and had more than double than No. 2 man on Arizona last year in pressures. He currently sits at No. 2 on Arizona with 10 pressures this year and when you include that Devon Kennard has missed the last two games, is questionable, and is No. 3 on the team with 9 pressures, that pass rush takes a major hit. OLB Kylie Fitts is out and OLB Dennis Gardeck is questionable. They have only played a combined 67 snaps this year but adding those injuries to Kennard and Jones and the depth takes a major hit.
Cowboys
No injured starters appeared on the Cowboys’ Saturday practice report.
Injured Reserve: T Tyron Smith, neck; C Joe Looney, knee; CB Chidobe Awuzie, hamstring; T Cam Erving, knee; T La’el Collins, hip; TE Blake Jarwin, knee; LB Sean Lee, pelvis; LB Leighton Vander Esch, clavicle.
- Outside of the obviously major injury to QB Dak Prescott, the Cowboys come into tonight very healthy with no key players who played last week expected to miss this game.
- And the good news is that LB Leighton Vander Esch has a real shot to play tonight. He would be a huge boost in a game where fast LBs are needed to handle Kyler Murray as a runner as well as the Cards quick passing game.
