ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Bills coach Sean McDermott on Wednesday listed edge rusher Joey Bosa as being week to week because of a hamstring issue that will further impact Buffalo’s already injury-depleted defense.
McDermott did not provide a definitive timeline of how many weeks Bosa will miss except to say “we’re hoping it’s on the shorter end of it.”
The 10th-year player was hurt in the second half of Buffalo’s 26-7 win at Pittsburgh on Sunday. It was a game in which Bosa helped turned the tide with a strip-sack of Aaron Rodgers, with Christian Benford returning the fumble 17 yards for a touchdown on the opening snap of the third quarter.
The forced fumble was Bosa’s fifth, tying the team’s single-season record held by three others, including Hall of Famer Bruce Smith in 1990. The 30-year-old also has a team-leading five sacks — one more than Bosa combined for over his injury-limited final three seasons with the Chargers.
Bosa’s injury leaves Buffalo (8-4) further short-handed in preparing to host the Cincinnati Bengals (4-8) on Sunday.
The Bills’ defensive front is already missing starting tackle Ed Oliver (bicep) and edge rushers Michael Hoecht (Achilles tendon) and Landon Jackson (knee). Oliver is the only one expected to return, though he's still a few weeks away from being cleared for practice.
Meantime, starting linebacker Terrel Bernard’s status remains uncertain because of an elbow injury, while safeties Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin are on IR.
“You can never replace a player like Joey, but it’s someone’s job to step up,” McDermott said. “And that’s what we’ve been doing and counting on all year pretty much. So the same is expected this week.”
The options to replace Bosa are few, with Buffalo currently carrying three defensive ends, plus rookie T.J. Sanders who has split time at tackle and end.
Morgan Fox has a chance to make his Bills debut after being signed to the practice squad three weeks ago. The eighth-year player spent the previous three seasons with the Chargers in which he combined for 19 starts in 51 games.
“I’m confident in all the guys we have,” veteran defensive tackle DaQuan Jones said. ’They’re all here for a reason and everybody’s just got to hold the fort until (Bosa) gets back.”
In other injury updates, McDermott said left tackle Dion Dawkins (concussion) and right tackle Spencer Brown (shoulder) were expected to practice on a limited basis. Despite missing both starters, the Bills didn’t allow a sack against the Steelers and Buffalo’s 249 yards rushing were the most by any opponent at Pittsburgh in 50 years.
Buffalo made an addition on Wednesday by claiming cornerback Darius Slay off waivers, a day after the 13th-year player was cut by the Steelers. In his first season in Pittsburgh, Slay was inactive in two of the Steelers past three outings after losing his starting job.
The 34-year-old was an All-Pro in 2017, while playing his first seven seasons in Detroit, and spent another five years in Philadelphia. He provides experienced depth to a position where veteran Tre’Davious White and rookie Maxwell Hairston have split time opposite starter Christian Benford.
Buffalo freed up a roster spot for Slay by releasing fourth-year cornerback Ja'Marcus Ingram, who has been a healthy scratch the past three weeks.
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) is tackled by Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa (97), wide receiver Joshua Palmer (5) and defensive end Javon Solomon (56) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
MONROE, Wash. (AP) — A blast of arctic air is sweeping south from Canada and spreading into parts of the northern U.S., while residents of the Pacific Northwest brace for possible mudslides and levee failures from floodwaters that are expected to be slow to recede.
The catastrophic flooding has forced thousands of people to evacuate, including Eddie Wicks and his wife, who live amid sunflowers and Christmas trees on a Washington state farm next to the Snoqualmie River. As they moved their two donkeys to higher ground and their eight goats to their outdoor kitchen, the water began to rise much quicker than anything they had experienced before.
As the water engulfed their home Thursday afternoon, deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office marine rescue dive unit were able to rescue them and their dog, taking them on a boat the half-mile (800 meters) across their field, which had been transformed into a lake. The rescue was captured on video.
In Snohomish County, Washington, north of Seattle, emergency officials on Saturday led federal, state and local officials on a tour of the devastation.
“It’s obvious that thousands and thousands of Washingtonians and communities all across our state are in the process of digging out, and that’s going to be a challenging process,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said.
“It’s going to be expensive,” he said. “It’s going to be time consuming, and it’s going to be potentially dangerous at times. So I think we’re seeing here in Monroe is what we’re going to be seeing all across the state, and that’s what’s got our focus right now.”
As the Pacific Northwest begins to recover from the deluge, a separate weather system is already bringing dangerous wind-chill values — the combination of cold air temperatures and wind — to parts of the Upper Midwest.
Shortly before noon Saturday, it was minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 24 degrees Celsius) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the wind chill value meant that it felt like minus 33 F (minus 36 C), the National Weather Service said.
For big cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, the coldest temperatures were expected late Saturday night into Sunday morning. In the Minneapolis area, low temperatures were expected to drop to around minus 15 F (minus 26 C), by early Sunday morning. Lows in the Chicago area are projected to be around 1 F(minus 17 C) by early Sunday, the weather service said.
The Arctic air mass was expected to continue pushing south and east over the weekend, expanding into Southern states by Sunday.
The National Weather Service on Saturday issued cold weather advisories that stretched as far south as the Alabama state capital city of Montgomery, where temperatures late Sunday night into Monday morning were expected to plummet to around 22 F (minus 6 C). To the east, lows in Savannah, Georgia, were expected to drop to around 24 F (minus 4 C) during the same time period.
The cold weather freezing much of the country comes as residents in the Pacific Northwest endure more misery after several days of flooding. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate towns in the region as an unusually strong atmospheric river dumped a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain in parts of western and central Washington over several days and swelled rivers, inundating communities and prompting dramatic rescues from rooftops and vehicles.
Many animals were also evacuated as waters raged over horse pastures, barns and farmland. At the peak of evacuations, roughly 170 horses, 140 chickens and 90 goats saved from the flood waters were being cared for at a county park north of Seattle, said Kara Underwood, division manager of Snohomish County Parks. Most of those animals were still at the park on Saturday, she said.
The record floodwaters were expected to continue to slowly recede Saturday, but authorities warn that waters will remain high for days, and that there is still danger from potential levee failures or mudslides. There is also the threat of more rain forecast for Sunday. Officials have conducted dozens of water rescues as debris and mudslides have closed highways and raging torrents have washed out roads and bridges.
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Associated Press writers Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.
A man pushes a truck through a neigbhorhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
An aerial view shows homes surrounded by floodwaters in Snohomish, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Emergency crews, including National Guard soldiers, wort in a neighborhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
