–The moment the Eagles put running back Jay Ajayi on injured reserve Tuesday, the rumor mill started grinding that Philadelphia would look to inquire about LeSean McCoy’s availability. Though no one will actually admit whether contact was made, it’s believed that the Eagles did call Buffalo about a potential trade, which would send McCoy back to the team he began his career with, the team he reluctantly left after it traded him to Buffalo in 2015.
“Just to get out in front of this LeSean thing a little bit here as best I can, LeSean is one of our better players, thought he had a good game the other day and we’re just looking forward to playing the Houston Texans,” head coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday. “We get calls all the time, incoming calls happen all the time, (general manager) Brandon (Beane) and I talk a lot and I won’t go into any more detail than that.”
McCoy was asked if he had been following what was being said, and he dismissed the rumors. “To be honest, I never paid too much attention to when he got hurt,” McCoy said of Ajayi. “I kinda found out about it late. You know how it is, you worry about your team, worry about yourself. I don’t pay attention to it too much, trade stuff and everything else. I’ll let that stuff play itself out. We’ll see what happens. I’m not going to get into that, that’s for my agent and the guys upstairs to work that out.”
With the Bills 2-3 and still believing they can contend for a playoff berth, trading McCoy would send a bad message to the locker room, while also taking away from rookie quarterback Josh Allen the only real playmaker he has. However, should the Bills lose their next three games before the trade deadline, and the Eagles – or any other team – are interested, it would make sense to try to acquire a draft asset for McCoy.
“I’m not the one fielding most of those calls because that falls more under Brandon’s job description,” McDermott said of Beane. “He’s a valuable member of our football team and I’m gonna leave it at that.”
–Linebacker Matt Milano has come on fast in his second year in the league, and it seems the defensive coaches have finally realized this. After losing snaps to underwhelming Ramon Humber in the first four games, Milano played all but one defensive snap in the victory over Tennessee. He made 10 tackles and recovered a fumble on the fourth play of the game that set the Bills up for their lone touchdown drive of the game.
“He’s another good, young player that’s developing and growing for us,” said McDermott. “He’s around the ball, he continues to get better every week, and I thought he took advantage of his opportunities this week to do that.”
Milano already has 34 tackles, three fumble recoveries, an interception, a sack and two pass breakups.
–The Bills made an under-the-radar signing last week, picking up defensive tackle Jordan Phillips on waivers after he was let go by Miami. The 2015 second-round draft pick practiced three times, then played 17 snaps on defense and was in on three tackles and batted down a pass.
Phillips made 26 career starts for the Dolphins, but he fell out of favor and was waived last week after getting into a sideline spat with the coaches. His presence gives the Bills a solid four-man defensive tackle rotation with Kyle Williams, Star Lotulelei and Harrison Phillips.
“I loved the energy, it was awesome,” said McDermott. “For a guy who has only been here for a couple days to feel comfortable enough to not only play and execute, but to get the crowd into it. He played with a ton of energy, and that was fun to watch.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 3 – Times in Bills history where they won a game they were trailing on the last play of regulation. The first came on a Jim Kelly TD run for a 27-24 victory in Miami in 1989, and the other came on a Rian Lindell field goal in 2008 against the Raiders.
