The Bills made several roster moves on Wednesday ahead of their wild-card game this weekend.
They placed defensive tackle Jordan Phillips on injured reserve.
Phillips injured his right ankle in Week 15 against the Patriots and missed two games before returning to log 18 defensive snaps against the Jets in Week 18. The move ends his season after 11 games, nine tackles, a sack and a pass defensed.
The Bills signed cornerback Dane Jackson from the practice squad in a corresponding move.
In three games this season, Jackson totaled three tackles.
The Bills will need Jackson against Jacksonville as they have ruled out Maxwell Harrison, who injured his ankle in Week 18 against the Jets.
The Bills also announced they have signed quarterback Shane Buechele and cornerback Daryl Porter Jr. to the practice squad. Buechele rejoins the Bills after being released by the Chiefs.
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Former Bengals wide receiver Jordan Shipley is hospitalized in Austin, Texas after an accident on his ranch.
In a statement released through the University of Texas, Shipley’s family said he was working on a machine that caught fire and caused “severe burns” to Shipley’s body. Shipley was taken to a local hospital and then flown to Austin for further treatment.
Shipley was in critical but stable condition at the time the statement was released on Tuesday night.
Shipley was a two-time All-American at Texas and is the school’s all-time leader in receptions. He was a Bengals third-round pick in 2010 and played in 17 games over two seasons with the team. He also played for the Buccaneers and Jaguars in 2012.
The Bills have found a solution for their injury issue at kicker.
Buffalo announced on Tuesday that the club has signed Matthew Wright to its practice squad.
Wright, 29, appeared in four games this season for three different teams. He made one field goal for in one contest with the Titans, an extra point in one game for the Commanders, and was 4-of-4 on field goals and 2-of-2 on extra points in two games with the Texans.
Wright was Jacksonville’s full-time kicker in 2021, hitting 21-of-24 field goals in 14 games while hitting 13-of-15 extra points. But other than that, he’s been limited to fill-in duty. Nevertheless, he’s connected on 60-of-68 career field goals (88.2 percent) and 45-of-47 extra points (95.7 percent).
Matt Prater aggravated his quad injury during the Bills’ Week 18 victory over the Jets. Michael Badgley had recently filled in for Prater for two games, but missed a pair of extra points.
Head coach Sean McDermott had noted on Monday that the team would have tryouts for kicker.
Additionally, the Bills have signed kicker Maddux Trujillo to a futures deal and released offensive lineman Richard Gouraige from the practice squad.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott gave an update on the team’s kicking situation on Monday.
Matt Prater returned from missing two games with a quad injury against the Jets in Week 18, but he had to leave the game after re-injuring the muscle. On Monday, McDermott said that Prater is considered day-to-day as the team moves toward Sunday’s game in Jacksonville.
McDermott said that the team will be working out kickers in order to have a backup plan in the event Prater is not able to play.
The Bills released Michael Badgley last week when Prater was deemed healthy enough to return. McDermott did not say whether he’s in consideration for a return.
The 2025 season was the year that 60-yard field goals became commonplace in the NFL.
NFL kickers went 12-for-22 on field goals of 60 yards and longer this season, something that would have been unthinkable for most of NFL history. Jaguars kicker Cam Little led the way with the two longest field goals in NFL history, a 68-yarder in November and a 67-yarder on the last day of the season. Cowboys kicker brandon Aubrey hit three field goals from beyond 60 yards in 2025.
Never before in NFL history had kickers come remotely close to their level of success from 60 yards and beyond. In 2024, kickers were 4-for-15 on field goals of 60 yards and longer. As recently as 2014, there wasn’t a single 60-yard field goal in the NFL all season (kickers went 0-for-5 from beyond 60 yards that year).
In the entire 20th Century, there were only four field goals of 60 yards or longer.
Kickers have completely redefined field goal range in the NFL, to the point where a 60-yard field goal attempt doesn’t seem like a particularly big risk. Sixty yards is well within the range of many kickers in the modern NFL.
Home-field advantage might not mean much in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
Of the six games in the wild card round, the road teams are favored in four.
The biggest favorites are the Rams, who are 9.5-point favorites to beat the Panthers in Carolina. But that might be just fine with the Panthers: The Rams were previously 10-point favorites at Carolina in the regular season, but the Panthers won 31-28.
The Packers are 1.5-point favorites on the road in Chicago. It will be the third meeting of the two teams in the last six weeks after they played twice in December. The Bears beat the Packers 22-16 in overtime in Chicago in the regular season, while the Packers beat the Bears 28-21 in Green Bay.
The Bills are 1.5-point favorites against the Jaguars at Jacksonville. The Jaguars lost twice at home in the regular season.
The Eagles are 3.5-point favorites at home against the 49ers. The Eagles lost twice at home in the regular season.
The Patriots are 3.5-point favorites at home against the Chargers. The Patriots went 14-3 this season, but all three losses were at home.
The Texans are 3-point favorites on the road against the Steelers. The Steelers lost at home three times in the regular season.
If the betting lines are to be believed, only two division winners, the No. 2 seed Eagles and Patriots, will advance to the divisional round.
The NFL has announced the wild-card weekend schedule for Jan. 10-12:
Saturday, Jan. 10
4:30 p.m. 5 Los Angeles Rams at 4 Carolina Panthers (FOX, FOX Deportes)
8 p.m. 7 Green Bay Packers at 2 Chicago Bears (Prime Video)
Sunday, Jan. 11
1 p.m. 6 Buffalo Bills at 3 Jacksonville Jaguars (CBS, Paramount+)
4:30 p.m. 6 San Francisco 49ers at 3 Philadelphia Eagles (FOX, FOX Deportes)
8 p.m. 7 Los Angeles Chargers at 2 New England Patriots (NBC, Peacock, Universo)
Monday, Jan. 12
8 p.m. 5 Houston Texans at 4 Baltimore/Pittsburgh (ESPN/ABC/ESPN+/ ESPN Deportes; ManningCast-ESPN2/ESPN+)
The Jaguars made one of the league’s biggest turnarounds in 2025 and they iced the cake with a division title on Sunday.
Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes in the first half and the Jaguars cruised to a 41-7 win over the Titans to sew up the AFC South. It’s their first division title since the 2022 season and it comes after a 4-13 campaign in 2024.
Doug Pederson was fired after the season came to an end and — after a false start that resulted in G.M. Trent Baalke being let go as well — Liam Coen was hired and his first season could not have gone much better. The Jaguars won their eighth straight game on Sunday and Lawrence has played some of the best football of his career during that run.
Lawrence was 22-of-30 for 255 yards before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter. He remained in the game long enough to get to 4,007 passing yards and finishes the regular season with a career-high 29 touchdown passes.
The Jaguars’ other points came on a Bhayshul Tuten touchdown run, an Antonio Johnson interception return and two Cam Little field goals. One of Little’s kicks was a 67-yarder and he now has the two longest field goals in NFL history after hitting a 68-yard kick earlier this year.
The Jaguars know they’ll be hosting a playoff game next weekend, but their final seed remains up in the air. If the Broncos and Patriots lose, the Jags will be the top seed in the conference. They’ll be the No. 2 seed if either team loses and the No. 3 seed if Denver and New England win their games.
Titans quarterback Cam Ward opened the day with a seven-yard touchdown run, but he suffered a right shoulder injury on the play and the first overall pick missed the rest of the game. Ward will have plenty of time to heal up with the season over and the Titans will turn their attention toward hiring a new coach that can help him and the Titans get where Lawrence and the Jaguars find themselves.
Trevor Lawrence has his third 4,000-yard season.
The Jaguars left Lawrence in Sunday’s game long enough for him to get the yards he needed to cross that milestone. The final yards came on a 23-yard throw to wide receiver Parker Washington in the fourth quarter.
Lawrence now has 4,007 yards on the season. He was 22-of-30 for 255 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday.
Nick Mullens took over at quarterback after the completion to Washington. His first drive ended with a Bhayshul Tuten touchdown run and the Jaguars now lead the Titans 41-7.
The Texans have accepted that the Jaguars are going to win the AFC South.
To win the division, Houston needed both to beat Indianapolis today and for Jacksonville to lose to Tennessee. But with Jacksonville beating Tennessee 31-7 in the third quarter, Houston decided to pull its most important players, concede the division to Jacksonville, and start getting ready for the wild card round.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is out of the game, replaced by backup Davis Mills. And other key players on the Texans have gone to the sideline as well.
The Texans still have wild card seeding to play for, and beating the Colts today would guarantee the Texans the No. 5 seed. But Texans coach DeMeco Ryans has apparently decided that keeping his key players healthy is more important than improving his wild card seed.
And so the Texans have decided to prioritize staying healthy for next week over winning this week.
