The Pittsburgh Steelers are on the road against the Buffalo Bills in the opening round of the AFC playoffs. The Steelers will be without their team MVP in OLB T.J. Watt, but otherwise are pretty healthy. The Bills on the other hand announced Friday morning that two important players will not be available for the game.
Sean McDermott told the media that WR Gabe Davis and S Taylor Rapp will miss the Wild Card playoff game. He also mentioned that CB Rasul Douglas and LB Tyrel Dodson will have to be monitored over the next couple of days to determine their availability, per Syracuse.com’s Matt Parrino on X.
These are some significant names for the Bills. Look no further than the box score of the last time the two teams played each other in 2022. As the Bills blew out the Steelers 38-3, Davis was the leading receiver and Dodson was the leading tackler.
Davis caught three passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, including a 98-yard touchdown on the third play of the game. He has been one of the best deep threat wide receivers in the league this year with 16.6 yards per reception. He caught 45 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns during the regular season. Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said during his weekly coordinator press conference that he still has nightmares of Davis’ performance against the Steelers last season.
Dodson had 11 total tackles, seven solo, and a sack in that game. He had the fourth-most tackles for the Bills this season. Appearing in all 17 games, starting 10 of them, Dodson had 70 combined tackles, 53 solo tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a forced fumble.
Rapp started four games for the Bills this season and had 50 combined tackles, 33 solo tackles, and one interception. This is his first year in Buffalo after spending his rookie contract with the Los Angeles Rams.
Douglas has been one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL this year. He started the season with the Green Bay Packers but was dealt at the trade deadline for a third- and fifth-round pick. Across the whole season, he had 61 combined tackles, 47 solo tackles, five interceptions, one interception for a touchdown, and two fumble recoveries.
Losing Davis and Rapp is a significant blow for the Bills’ passing game on offense and defense. The status of Douglas and Dodson will be closely monitored leading up to the game and could turn into a game-time decision on Sunday morning when the inactives lists are turned in by each team. Douglas has not been able to practice all week while Dodson started the week limited and was not able to practice on Thursday.
