ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott ruled out Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown on Friday from playing at Pittsburgh this weekend, leaving Josh Allen without his two primary protectors.
Left tackle Dawkins has not yet cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol. Brown is out with a right shoulder injury that could force him to miss multiple weeks. The right tackle suffered the injury in a 23-19 loss at Houston on Nov. 20.
The Bills (7-4) are coming off an outing in which Allen was sacked a career-high eight times.
The quarterback was also hit 12 times and, during practice Wednesday, wore a protective pad taped to the bottom of his forearm and extending to above his right throwing elbow. Allen, who also complained about his left shoulder going numb against Houston, dismissed questions of being sore and said he's ready to play.
Buffalo also continued shuffling its receivers by placing Curtis Samuel (elbow/knee) on injured reserve, and filled his roster spot by signing receiver Gabe Davis off the practice squad.
The five-time defending AFC East champions have dropped four of seven and enter the game on Sunday holding the AFC’s seventh and final playoff spot.
Backup Ryan Van Demark will take over for Dawkins. The Bills have two potential options at right tackle with rookie Chase Lundt and Tylan Grable, a second-year player who has yet to play this season due to a concussion. Grable has resumed practicing and would have to be activated off injured reserve.
McDermott also ruled out starting linebacker Terrel Bernard (elbow).
Meantime, tight end Dalton Kincaid has an opportunity to return after missing two games with a hamstring injury.
Davis has four catches for 62 yards in two games in his second stint with Buffalo. The sixth-year player spent the first two months of the season on IR due to a knee injury he sustained with Jacksonville last year.
Being placed on IR could spell the end of Samuel’s tenure in Buffalo after two under-performing and injury-limited seasons. The ninth-year player has just seven catches for 81 yards and a TD in six games this season. Injuries also limited his production last year in finishing with 31 catches for 253 yards and a touchdown.
This wasn't what the Bills were expecting from Samuel in signing him to a three-year contract and reuniting him with offensive coordinator Joe Brady. In 2020 with Carolina, Samuel enjoyed his most productive NFL season with Brady serving as the Panthers' coordinator.
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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott responds to a question during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Houston Texans Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was set to address the nation Wednesday night and offer an update on the war in Iran, his first prime-time speech since launching strikes alongside Israel more than a month ago.
The speech will offer Trump a wide audience to articulate clear objectives for the war that could attempt to reconcile weeks of changing goals and often contradictory messages about whether he’s winding down or ready to escalate military operations — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran.
It comes amid rising oil prices, volatile financial markets and polling showing many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran — even as more American troops move into the region for a possible ground offensive. Trump opted not to deliver such an address closer to when the U.S. and Israel first launched attacks 4 1/2 weeks ago, and questions now remain about whether it is now too late for what he says to break through.
A White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the address and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president will talk about the U.S. progress on achieving his goals in Iran and will reiterate his estimated timeline for concluding operations within two to three weeks.
In a social media post Wednesday morning, Trump maintained a belligerent tone, demanding that Iran stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway vital to global oil supplies — or the U.S. would bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.” The president has also said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” ensuring the security of ships passing through Hormuz — an apparent backtrack from a previous threat to attack Iran’s power grid if it didn’t open the strait by April 6.
In another post, he claimed that “Iran’s New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.
Speaking earlier to Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled Tehran’s willingness to keep fighting. “You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines,” he said. “We do not set any deadline for defending ourselves.”
Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. citizens and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path. “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Thousands of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why.
Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. And the U.S. could decide to send in military forces to secure Iran’s uranium stockpile — a complex and risky operation, fraught with radiation and chemical dangers, experts and former government officials say.
Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of these scenarios.
Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war that has been pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war.
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, including a demand for the strait to be reopened and for its nuclear program to be rolled back.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. And in a report last week by Iranian state TV's English-language broadcaster, an anonymous official was quoted as saying Iran had its own demands to end the fighting, including retaining sovereignty over the strait.
In the interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”
He warned against any U.S. attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.”
In a deal ostensibly to give diplomacy a chance, U.S. officials have given “clear assurances” that Araghchi and Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf won't be targeted, according to three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
A cruise missile slammed into an oil tanker off Qatar’s coast Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said. The crew was evacuated and no casualties were reported. A Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.
In the United Arab Emirates, a person was killed when he was hit by debris from an intercepted drone in Fujairah, one of the country’s seven emirates.
In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a large fire.
Jordan’s military said it intercepted a ballistic missile and two drones fired from Iran in the last 24 hours. No casualties were reported. Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia.
Very early on Thursday, Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles at the country, the first time of the day.
In Lebanon, at least five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Beirut neighborhood.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon after the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group began launching missiles into northern Israel days after the outbreak of the war.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Grambell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
A young girl is comforted by her father and Israeli soldiers as they take cover in a bomb shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People inspect the site of an Israeli strike amid debris and damaged vehicles in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man feeds stray cats in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
