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Orchard Park, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills began their practice week on Wednesday in preparation for Sunday’s clash with the Kansas City Chiefs without a pair of starters. Wide receiver Joshua Palmer (ankle) and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (calf) didn’t practice on Wednesday after missing last week’s game against the Carolina Panthers. Bills running back Ray Davis is dealing with an illness and also missed practice. The Bills are getting healthier at linebacker. Starters Terrel Bernard (ankle) and Matt Milano (pectoral) were full participants after being limited all last week. They were both questionable heading into the Panthers game. Milano was inactive, and Bernard was active but didn’t play. Bills coach Sean McDermott said he’ll have to watch how the returning players get through the week of practice before deciding who plays against the Chiefs this Sunday. “Yeah, we have to evaluate,” McDermott said. “We got to take it one day at a time just because of some of the different things that we’ve had going on health-wise. So we wanna look at practice and then go from there.” Palmer went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter of the Bills’ Week 6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The first-year Bills receiver looked to be on his way to a big game. He made a monster play on the opening pass of the game from Josh Allen, hauling in a 46-yard reception to help set up Buffalo’s first touchdown. His two catches for 60 yards in a bit more than a quarter of playing time were the second-best performance in a Bills uniform. Jones injured his calf during pregame warm-ups in Week 6 ahead of the Falcons game. The Bills had to go with just three interior defensive linemen. Rookie Deone Walker played a season-high 56 snaps (80%) in the game, finishing with an impressive four tackles for loss. The loss of starting defensive tackle Ed Oliver this week after he sustained a torn biceps muscle against the Panthers looms large with the high-powered Chiefs offense coming to town. The Bills only have three healthy defensive tackles on their 53-man roster in Walker, Larry Ogunjobi, and veteran Jordan Phillips, who Buffalo signed to the 53-man roster on Tuesday from the practice squad. The Bills signed former Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Tommy Akingbesote to their practice squad on Wednesday. He joins Zion Logue and Phidarian Mathis as the tackles available for elevation this weekend if Jones isn’t able to play. With Palmer’s status in question, the Bills made another receiver transaction on Wednesday. They moved veteran receiver Gabe Davis from the practice squad to the injured reserve. He practiced on Wednesday and could be an option for elevation in the coming weeks. Davis tore his meniscus in his knee in his first season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He signed with the Bills in September while continuing to rehab the knee.
