dpThe Buffalo Bills will help conclude Week 5 in the NFL when they roll into SoFi Stadium for a “Monday Night Football” heavyweight matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. This could very well be a Super Bowl preview between two of the league’s elite clubs, but Buffalo won’t be firing on all cylinders offensively as top wideout DJ Moore is officially inactive for the contest as he continues to deal with a nagging shoulder injury.
After not practicing on Thursday or Friday because of the ailment, Moore returned to the practice field on Saturday in a limited capacity, which held out hope and led to his questionable designation.
On Monday afternoon, the Bills elevated wide receiver Trent Sherfield Sr. from the practice squad, indicating that Moore was truly a game-time decision.
Moore, who was acquired by the Bills this offseason in a trade with the Chicago Bears, initially suffered the injury in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. He has yet to miss a game due to the injury, but it has lingered, and he re-aggravated it in the second quarter of last week’s loss to the New England Patriots.
When Moore has been on the field, he’s been the type of top target that the Bills were hoping to give Josh Allen when they struck the deal with Chicago. Through four games, Moore has caught 12 balls for 178 yards and a touchdown. While those are modest numbers, the injury has helped keep the production deflated. That said, in the two games he did not leave with an injury, Moore was a go-to resource for Allen in the passing game.
In Week 1, Moore hauled in five of his eight targets for 100 yards and a touchdown in a win over Houston. Then, in Week 3, he caught six of a season-high 10 targets for 67 yards. In those two games, Moore commanded a 28.6% and a 38.5% target share, respectively. Moore is second on the team in red zone targets (3), and nine of his 12 receptions have gone for first downs.
Keon Coleman will need to step up
Former second-round pick Keon Coleman will need to carry more of the receiving workload. Coleman is coming off arguably the best game of his career, catching six passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in last week’s loss to New England. Those six catches were tied for the second-most in a game in his career, while his receiving yards were also second-best of his career.
In Week 4, five of Coleman’s six catches went for first downs, and he averaged 12.8 air yards per target. That quantifies just how much of an explosive weapon he was in that contest, and he finished the game with four of his catches going for 16-plus yards.
