PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott put aside his concerns over the team’s growing injury list, which now includes starting receiver Khalil Shakir, by saying he has no choice but to move forward in returning to training camp on Sunday.
McDermott followed the Bills day off by opening his pre-practice news conference listing 15 members of Buffalo’s 91-player roster as either being limited or not practicing.
Click to Gallery
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, left, and team owner Terry Pegula watch practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston (31) walks to the field before practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer (5) runs on the field during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) catches a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Shakir was among the latest additions and listed week to week with a high ankle sprain after he was hurt during the Bills annual Red and Blue scrimmage at their home stadium on Friday.
Also injured Friday were receiver Josh Palmer (groin), one of the team’s prized offseason free agent additions, and linebacker Shaq Thompson (groin).
The injuries have particularly hit Buffalo's receivers, with Curtis Samuel (hamstring) and backup Kaden Prather also sidelined. That leaves Keon Coleman as the only projected starter still healthy with Buffalo preparing to open the preseason by hosting the New York Giants on Saturday.
“What we’ve tried to do is pull back on some things in hopes of getting some numbers back. And that hasn’t helped,” McDermott added, in reference to cutting back on the number and length of padded practices. “We’re moving forward. It’s time for us to go and we got to get some work done and move this team forward.”
The most serious injury has been to rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston, who is out indefinitely after spraining a ligament in his right knee last week. Hairston is watching practice on crutches with no definitive timetable for his return.
“It’s going to take some time. He’s week to week,” McDermott said of the first-round draft pick who was competing for a starting job opposite Christian Benford.
"Here’s a young player that is not only missing just the moving around, but also the mental part of the experience you get with through the reps,” he added. “So there’s no way to avoid it, he’s going to be behind when he comes back.”
Injuries have been an issue for the five-time defending AFC East champions since opening training camp with four players on injured lists, including tight end Dawson Knox (calf) and right tackle Spencer Brown (back). Of those four, backup center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (calf) remains sidelined with McDermott hoping the player will be available to return in time for Buffalo’s preseason finale at Tampa Bay on Aug. 23.
Brown resumed practicing on Sunday as did starting linebacker Terrel Bernard, who missed a week with a hamstring injury.
The rash of injuries has also affected Buffalo’s special teams unit with kicker Tyler Bass sidelined with a pelvis issue.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, left, and team owner Terry Pegula watch practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston (31) walks to the field before practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer (5) runs on the field during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) catches a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The sound of construction roared over the most memed metro station in Mexico City as workers hammered at marble floors under a chandelier and rows of lamps reminiscent of a scene from “Harry Potter” or “Titanic,” racing to finish ahead of the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony Thursday.
Mexicans milling through the busy Hidalgo metro station pointed and laughed, occasionally snapping pictures of the face-lift that has become the subject of a cascade of internet memes.
The cosmetic makeover that authorities have attempted to give the capital as visitors arrive from around the globe also has become a symbol of criticisms that the government is prioritizing its superficial appearance for World Cup fans over fixing critical structural issues that have long plagued the city.
“People make fun of it because it's a failed aesthetic, it doesn't make a lot of sense,” said Silvia Escamilla, 28, who was hustling to work among a crowd of Mexican commuters. “All these renovations are like putting makeup on the city, because the infrastructure they could actually invest in just isn’t there.”
For weeks, Mexico City workers have plastered walls and metro cars with cartoon axolotls, the mole salamander that has become a city mascot. They also have painted bridges purple and planted Mexican marigold flowers typical of Day of the Dead celebrations in November.
The 22 million residents of the sprawling capital, known as Chilangos, have jokingly referred to the renovations as the city's “axolotlization.” They have posted videos of flooded underpasses next to freshly painted murals of axolotls and crumbling stairs and potholes painted bright purple.
Hidalgo station, in the heart of the downtown, has perhaps become the subject of more memes than anywhere else in the city.
When city workers installed the chandelier near the metro entrance and rows of Victorian wall lamps in May, social media users were quick to joke that authorities were trying to make the gritty metro system look like it was in a European city.
Residents began to show up at the station in elegant dresses in videos layered over Mozart music. One social media influencer descended the marble stairs dressed as the Beast from the classic Disney cartoon “Beauty and the Beast.” Another arrived as Napoleon Bonaparte in a white wig and French military uniform.
“May you have an elegant metro connection,” one social media influencer said as he strolled through throngs of commuters dressed in a tuxedo and top hat. Another filmed herself selling pink dresses aboard one of the metro trains, yelling to passengers that the items matched the “etiquette” of Metro Hidalgo.
Many more posed next to marble floors and walls torn up by construction ahead of the soccer tournament being hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The crush of jokes amused Mexicans for weeks, but also cut to the core of a deeper problem in the city, said Aldo Solano Rojas, an art historian in Mexico City who has criticized the remodel.
Failures to prioritize issues like the metro's crumbling infrastructure and holes in the major municipal roadways show the government “doesn't understand the real needs of the city,” he said.
“State presence, at its best, is reflected in well-maintained sidewalks and adequate transportation infrastructure that doesn't collapse every day,” Solano Rojas said. “It's not reflected in frivolous, superficial axolotl murals while the streets are flooding.”
The criticisms come in the midst of wider social unrest in Mexico City as the country's teachers union, families of Mexico's 130,000 missing people and a range of other social movements use the proximity to the event to pressure authorities.
The government also has faced accusations of displacing sex workers and street vendors in an effort to clean up the streets. Despite the tensions, city workers on Wednesday were still racing to complete construction ahead of the opening ceremony and first match.
Mirna Baranco looked fondly on the renovations, but the 46-year-old laughed at the chandelier over Hidalgo construction workers. She nudged her boyfriend and pointed.
“I've already seen it all over the place on Facebook, but not in real life,” she said.
Baranco understood the criticisms, but said she didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing that authorities were making changes to be more attractive to international visitors. The World Cup has helped push local governments to make needed renovations, even if some look a little out of place, she said.
The changes show that “Mexico isn't just how others stereotype us, as a country with narcos,” Baranco said. “Mexico has a lot to give the world.”
A woman puts on makeup at the subway in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A dancer holds a replica of the World Cup trophy as soccer fans stand along Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, Saturday, June 6, 2026 ahead of the FIFA World Cup. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
People walk through a subway station that has new lighting, part of preparations for hosting the World Cup soccer tournament in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
People walk through a subway station that has new lighting, part of preparations for hosting the World Cup soccer tournament in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
