Josh Allen’s new visor, DT plan for Bills-Dolphins, O’Cyrus Torrence’s breakout, and more

When the Bills take on the Dolphins on Thursday night, it will likely mark a first in quarterback Josh Allen’s NFL career. He is expected to don a visor on his helmet due to the nose injury he suffered against the Jets on Sunday.

Allen wore the clear visor during the team’s lone padded practice on Tuesday ahead of its primetime matchup, attempting to get familiar with it before the Bills go for their third straight win.

“It doesn’t really impact much,” Allen said, before going into some of the minor differences of wearing the visor. “It’s weird to say it, but it’s a little warmer in there. Like your voice kind of echoes off of it, too. So it’s just a little bit weirder.”

Allen has worn a visor occasionally in practices during his NFL career, but not during a game, to his knowledge. He said he wore a visor during his college career, however.

On Sunday, the reigning MVP raced off the field near the end of the first quarter after the bridge of his nose took the brunt of the impact from a collision. Upon arriving at the bench area, Allen was surrounded by team doctors and members of the athletic training staff as they attempted to stop the gushing nosebleed.

After only two plays missed, the team around Allen got the nose to stop bleeding temporarily and jammed gauze up both nostrils. After the game, Allen’s nose looked a bit more swollen than usual, there was some blood on the bridge of it and there appeared to be the start of some bruising.

Shortly after the game, Allen said of his injury, “We can breathe, so it’s good.”

On Tuesday, the light bruising began to set in just underneath Allen’s eyes. As for the condition of his nose, Allen, who is generally dismissive of injuries, upheld his usual standard and didn’t make a big deal of it.

“It’s all right,” he said. “I’m a little bruised up, but we’re all good.”

The Bills did not list their starting quarterback on the injury report on Monday or Tuesday.

Outside of Allen’s nose, here’s what else stood out during the team’s short track to its Week 3 matchup with the Dolphins.

Matt Milano’s potential absence could be felt on early downs

As the shortened practice week began for the Bills, head coach Sean McDermott didn’t provide much more than the minimum information regarding linebacker Matt Milano, who appeared to have injured his pectoral near the end of the first half. After halftime, the Bills shut him down for the rest of the game, and he had a new brace around his right arm while standing on the sidelines. The only new piece of information about Milano is that he did not practice at all and wasn’t seen working on the sidelines during Tuesday’s session. On a shortened week, the very likely outcome is that Milano won’t play.

The big question is how long this new injury could keep him out. McDermott was evasive, not ruling out the notion that Milano could practice on Wednesday, while also not ruling out the injury potentially leading to a long-term problem. More news could be available Thursday, because if the team doesn’t put Milano on injured reserve by that day, it’s a strong indicator that it isn’t a long-term injury — at least as far as they know four days in.

If Milano doesn’t play, the Dolphins could be getting a bit of a boost. With his plus instincts as a linebacker, Milano has done an excellent job sniffing out misdirection attempts by the Dolphins, making tough one-on-one stops against their running backs and not taking the bait on the play-action passing game on early downs. Dorian Williams would likely start in place of Milano, and while Williams is a good seek-and-destroy type of run-defending linebacker who can make some plays in the backfield, he has problems sniffing out misdirection plays. Moreover, he creeps too close to the line of scrimmage on play-action passes.

The Bills could always replace Williams on obvious passing downs, like they did last season when he was the starter, but that still leaves first and second down for the Dolphins to try to get Williams moving the wrong way to yield big gains. However, it’s also a chance for Williams to prove he can be a better all-around linebacker, using the opportunity as perhaps an audition for a full-time starting job in 2026 with Milano’s contract expiring in March.

Ed Oliver likely down again; will the Bills shift their DT plan?

The Bills ruled out starting defensive tackle Ed Oliver for the Jets game, but left the door open to him playing against the Dolphins. It’s looking unlikely that he’ll suit up. On Tuesday, after the Bills’ lone padded practice of the week, Oliver was spotted in the team’s locker room still in a walking boot to deal with his ankle injury. Expect the Bills to figure things out on the fly again with their defensive tackle group.

Fourth-round rookie Deone Walker, not second-round rookie T.J. Sanders, was in the starting lineup next to veteran DaQuan Jones on Sunday. Sanders was the primary backup to Oliver at three-technique, so it was a slight surprise to see Walker — a one-technique — get the most reps next to Jones, who is also a one-technique. However, after reviewing the Jets film, I found that the move made a bit more sense.

Rather than having Walker work at a different position in just his second NFL game, the Bills had Jones line up at three-technique in place of Oliver for most of the game, and even used Jones as their pass-rushing tackle in obvious passing situations. That kept Walker at one-technique, and Sanders paired with practice squad elevation Zion Logue, who is a one-technique only.

The Dolphins are a far different offense to prepare for because the Jets have the far more mobile quarterback, so it does make you wonder if the Bills would switch things up in favor of a better interior pass rusher like Sanders next to Jones. After all, the quickest point to the quick-strike passing attack of the Dolphins is up the middle, and Sanders could give them a higher ceiling to make that happen and move Tua Tagovailoa off his spot.

But two things are working against it. First, it’s a shortened week, meaning the Bills might not be able to prepare for and make that kind of change with only one day of practice. The second is that Jordan Phillips, who is generally a three-technique for the Bills and could have been in consideration for a game-day elevation, was not on the field during their lone practice on Tuesday. That makes it far more likely that the Bills stay the course by having Jones partner with Walker, and Sanders with Logue after another practice squad elevation.

O’Cyrus Torrence’s possible third-year breakout is off to a fast start

On the list of positions that get closely paid attention to, guards are usually near the bottom of the list. But inside the building in Orchard Park, the team is extremely bullish on the progress of third-year right guard O’Cyrus Torrence — the team’s second-round pick in 2023. Torrence took a big step forward in the second half of the 2024 season, which had many hoping that a breakout in his third year was on the horizon.

Fellow Bills starting guard David Edwards said in training camp that Torrence has the ability and on-field results to become one of the best, if not the best, guards in football. Through the first two games, the film has backed up some of that assertion.

Torrence has been the highest graded Bills offensive lineman of our film study to this point, playing extremely well as a pass blocker in keeping his assignments out of the pocket, but also in how well he moves with both power and athleticism as a run blocker. It’s only two games, but Torrence could potentially be one of the core building blocks for the Bills moving forward as Allen enters his 30s starting next season.

On Tuesday, ahead of the Dolphins game, The Athletic caught up with Edwards again to ask what he’s seen from Torrence to this point.

“I know what he’s capable of, and I think that he’s starting to play into that,” Edwards said. “I’ve seen a guy that I think now is really playing to his strengths in pass pro and the run game. A lot is being asked of O’Cyrus, I feel like to be able to understand what he knows how to do in the run game, in the pass game. And kind of playing to that, I think has been pretty evident the first couple of games.”

Torrence only turns 26 in January, and seemingly has a long career ahead of him, given the way he’s been playing for the last 13 games. If Torrence continues along on this trajectory, he will be a clear-as-day extension candidate in the offseason when the Bills will still need to make difficult decisions on Edwards and center Connor McGovern, who are each free agents in March.

Bills projected practice squad elevations: DT Zion Logue, LB Keonta Jenkins

Bills projected inactives vs. Dolphins: WR Curtis Samuel, OT Chase Lundt, DE Landon Jackson, DT Ed Oliver, LB Matt Milano, NCB Cam Lewis, CB Ja’Marcus Ingram

(**Subject to change following Wednesday’s walkthrough)

Prediction: Bills 40, Dolphins 14

This is a lopsided prediction and one made with plenty of thought. While the Dolphins do have the speed on offense to give the Bills some problems early, a lot is working against Miami in this matchup. That’s before even factoring in the talk about Mike McDaniel’s job status, which, as we’ve seen in Buffalo with past regimes, can certainly wear on players — especially on a short week.

The Dolphins’ offensive line is an issue. Almost the entire starting defensive line for the Bills will have a plus-matchup to get into the backfield and help move Tagovailoa off his spot. That, along with how Tagovailoa wilts under pressure, could lead to some real game-changing opportunities for the likes of Greg Rousseau, Joey Bosa, Jones, Sanders, Walker and Javon Solomon when he’s in at defensive tackle for situational pass-rushing chances.

When the Bills are on offense, the Dolphins have a secondary that is a work in progress, and an interior defensive line and linebacker group that have been getting moved off their spots in the first two weeks. The Bills seem to have an advantage both as a rushing unit and through the air, which could lead to a bit more of a balanced game plan than what they showed against the Jets. Though if they build a substantial lead by the early third quarter, it could be another big day on the ground for James Cook and the offensive line.

Even with the advantages, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Dolphins began the game with a quick start under the natural adrenaline of a primetime game and kept it relatively close in the first quarter-and-a-half. Ultimately, as the matchup starts to settle in, the Bills could easily begin to pull away due to their depth, talent and how well their starters match up against the Dolphins’ starters. Where the Bills are very good, the Dolphins are weak, and that could be all the difference in the Bills running away with another blowout victory over an AFC East rival.

(Top photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee / USA Today)

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