The Patriots announced a few roster moves ahead of Sunday’s game against the Bills.
Running back D’Ernest Johnson has been signed to the active roster from the practice squad. Johnson has appeared in three games for New England this season and has four carries for seven yards.
Johnson will be the No. 3 back behind Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson because Terrell Jennings has been placed on injured reserve. Jennings was ruled out on Friday due to a concussion and he will now miss the rest of the regular season.
The Patriots also elevated defensive lineman Leonard Taylor from the practice squad for Sunday’s game.
The 9-4 Bills are on the brink of losing their five-year hammerlock on the AFC East. They’re also on the verge of yet another 10-win season.
They’ve done it every year since 2019. The next one, barring an 0-4 free fall, will be their seventh in a row.
That would tie the 1975 through 1981 Cowboys for the fifth-longest streak of 10-win seasons. The Patriots have the record, with 17 (2003-19). The 49ers did it 16 straight times, from 1983 through 1998. The Chiefs have a 10-year streak, from 2015 through 2024. (They need to run the table to extend it.) And the Colts won 10 or more games for nine seasons in a row, from 2002 through 2010.
The 17-game season, which arrived in 2021, makes it easier for all teams to get to 10 wins. But the Bills haven’t had a 10-7 season that would justify an unofficial asterisk.
After going 10-16 in 2019 and 13-3 in 2020, they’ve gone 11-6 in 2021, 13-3 in 2022 (the Damar Hamlin game was suspended and not made up), 11-6 in 2023, and 13-4 in 2025.
Cornerback Christian Benford didn’t practice on Friday, but the Bills have not ruled him out for Sunday’s game against the Patriots.
Benford landed on Thursday’s injury report as a limited participant due to a toe injury and the team has officially listed him as questionable to play this weekend. Benford has scored touchdowns in each of the team’s last two games and his absence would be a significant blow to the secondary.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced on Friday morning that wide receiver Josh Palmer (ankle) and linebacker Terrel Bernard (elbow) would be listed as questionable. There are no other players with injury designations.
That leaves defensive end Joey Bosa (hamstring, wrist) and right tackle Spencer Brown (shoulder) on track to play.
The Bills may be without cornerback Christian Benford for Sunday’s game against the Patriots.
Benford was added to the injury report on Thursday with a toe injury. He was listed as a limited participant and head coach Sean McDermott said on WGR 550 that Benford will not practice at all on Friday.
McDermott said that Benford does have not an injury designation at the moment, but his trajectory would seem to leave him questionable to play at best.
Wide receiver Josh Palmer (ankle) and linebacker Terrel Bernard (elbow) will be listed as questionable on the team’s final injury report. Defensive end Joey Bosa (hamstring, wrist) and right tackle Spencer Brown (shoulder) will be full participants in Friday’s practice, which bodes well for the team’s chances of having him against New England.
Bill Belichick has survived a full season in Chapel Hill. Two of his key assistants have not.
Via Pete Thamel of ESPN.com, Belichick has fired offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer.
Kitchens, the head coach of the Browns in 2019 and the interim Tar Heels coach in 2024, stayed on after Belichick was hired last year. Belichick brought Priefer to UNC after two decades in the NFL, and two years out of football.
Priefer was a member of Kitchens’s staff in Cleveland.
Belichick will now be hiring two new coordinators as he prepares for his second second at UNC. If it doesn’t go much better than his first season, there may not be a third.
And coaching only goes so far. At the college level, it’s about the quality of the players. For 2025, the Tar Heels didn’t have enough good players. They’ll need better players if they want to have a better outcome in 2026.
