Why isn’t James Cook playing for the Bills against the Jets? MNF Week 6 injury status

The Buffalo Bills head to East Rutherford for Monday night’s clash with the New York Jets with a lengthy injury list as the top two teams in the AFC East battle for supremacy.

Both go into the game after having suffered a dip in form following an excellent start to the campaign. The Jets will be attempting to bounce back after suffering back-to-back defeats to Minnesota and the Denver Broncos while the Bills also stumbled in their last two games - losing 23-20 to Houston last week and 35-10 to the Ravens in Week 4.

It will be Jeff Ulbrich’s first game as Jets coach. He replaces Robert Saleh who was fired at the weekend - a move which surprised many. Ulbrich was hired by New York as defensive coordinator in 2021 and takes on the coaching post on an interim basis.

McDermott waiting on four players ahead of Jets game

Bills coach Sean McDermott meanwhile could be without a number of key players tonight at MetLife Stadium. Running back James Cook has been ruled out after a toe injury in the latter stages of last week’s defeat to Houston. He landed awkwardly during a tackle and was not able to practice last week although he participated in Saturday’s practice. He, along with a number of others, is listed as questionable and will be assessed on the day of the game.

If Cook is ruled out, McDermott will likely turn to Ty Johnson. The 27-year-old, who signed a one-year extension back in March, has 10 carries for 42 yards and one touchdown from his five appearances so far this season. Rookie fourth-round pick Ray Davis could also get his first outing of the campaign.

McDermott gave an update on his injured players on Saturday: “Ed Oliver will not practice today, out for the game. The rest of the guys that you probably have in your minds: Khalil, James Cook, Taron Johnson, Austin Johnson will all be questionable and limited today in some fashion. We’ll just see how it goes today at practice.

Khalil Shakir (ankle), Taron Johnson (forearm) and Austin Johnson (oblique) remain questionable. Darrynton Evans and Ed Oliver are both recovering from hamstring injuries but McDermott hopes the latter will be able to return to training later this week. “I don’t think that he will go on the injured reserve list, I think he’s trending in the right direction. Hamstrings are usually more than one week. I’m hopeful for next week, we’ll just have to see.”

The 2024 NFL Week 6 game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Monday 14 October, with the game scheduled to kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on ESPN and streamed on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app.