Bills place TE Knox on IR after his wrist surgery

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills placed tight end Dawson Knox on injured reserve before their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.

Knox, who had surgery on his wrist on Tuesday, will miss at least four games with the injury after coach Sean McDermott said earlier this week that the Bills did not have a clear timeline yet for his return. The tight end initially injured his right wrist in the team’s Week 5 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He was already ruled out of Thursday’s game along with tight end Quintin Morris (ankle). The Bills elevated cornerback Josh Norman and wide receiver Andy Isabella from the practice squad for the game, the first elevation this season for both. The moves mean that rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid will be the only available tight end for the Bills against the Buccaneers as Buffalo looks to improve on a slow-starting offense that has scored 10 points in the first halves of the past three games combined.

“Just staying reserved, not being overzealous of getting the ball, but he just does his job,” quarterback Josh Allen said of Kincaid this week. “He’s finding ways to get open. And he caught every pass that I threw his way last week. And again, we’re going to need them going forward.”

Knox played 75.4% of offensive snaps in the 14-9 win against the Giants in Week 6. Leading up to Week 7, Knox was listed on the injury report but fully participated in all three practices and played 63.4% of offensive snaps in the loss to the New England Patriots.

Knox, 26, has caught 15 passes for 102 yards and one touchdown this season. His role as a receiver has decreased with the addition of Kincaid, although the team is fourth in the league in 12 personnel usage (31.2%), with part of the goal in drafting Kincaid being to get both players on the field at the same time. Last season the Bills ran 12 personnel on 11.9% of plays, the fifth-lowest rate.

The Bills, however, ran their second-lowest rate of 12 personnel plays of the season (21.2%) in Sunday’s 29-25 loss to the Patriots. The only lower rate came in Week 6, which Kincaid missed because of a concussion. Against the Patriots, Knox was unable to hang on to a key fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter after it was knocked loose by linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley.

The Bills did not elevate any defensive linemen from the practice squad for the game as defensive tackle Ed Oliver (toe) is active after missing last week’s game against the Patriots.

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