Josh Allen defends Stefon Diggs after tablet slam on sideline

ORCHARD PARK - Sunday afternoon in London, Stefon Diggs slammed a Surface tablet down on the sideline at one point during the Buffalo Bills’ 25-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

So what.

On the NFL Network broadcast Sunday from London - which I heard was a pretty brutal watch in many ways - one of the few things the cameras got a good look at was Diggs showing his frustration, but the reality is that this isn’t exactly outrageous behavior. Players do that all the time, no one more so than Tom Brady. Brady could be up three touchdowns in a game and no tablet was safe when it was in his hands.

I’m sure when loudmouth Stephen A. Smith - noted football expert that he is - saw Diggs do this he immediately started crowing that his “sources” had it right back in training camp when he claimed Diggs wanted out of Buffalo. That’s just pure folly, and Josh Allen was the first to point that out Wednesday.

Sign up for the Bills Blast newsletter Delivered straight to your inbox, additional Bills analysis, insight, stats, quotes and team history from Sal Maiorana

“I know a lot of people are throwing different ideas of what he was mad at on the sideline,” Allen said. “He was mad at himself for running a wrong release on a route. He’s a competitor, he’s a fiery competitor. I’m tired of hearing all this nonsense from people.

“There's a lot of guys in the league that have that same fire that don’t get talked about. He’s a lot of our juice on the sideline, making sure the offense is staying up and as energized as possible and we feed off of that.”

Diggs was also mad at himself for being out-fought for the ball on the deep pass that Jaguars cornerback Darious Williams stole from him in the fourth quarter. It was a play that he should have made and didn’t, and as a leader and a captain, he was frustrated for not coming through like he usually does and he owned it.

“I look at 50-50 balls like they are mine or nobody,” Diggs said. “I put it more on my shoulders than anything. He made a good play. I try not to say anything other than he made a good play; give him his respect.”

At one stage in the game, with all the adversity the defense was going through, Diggs made it a point to give them encouragement.

“I just be on some positive energy,” Diggs said. “Let’s go, trying to be there for my guys just because offense, you kind of get lost, you kind of lose sight of everything that’s going on on defense. You might watch them on the board a little bit. But you’re not that attentive. So for me, I tried to be there for my guys, give them some positive energy, a boost.”

Which is why any discourse the last couple days about Diggs slamming a Microsoft product to the ground was a waste of breath or keystrokes.

“He’s a captain for a reason,” Allen said. “When you look at the sidelines of guys that are talking and making sure everybody’s ready to go, for better or worse he’s up in guys’ faces and he’s making sure we have as much juice as we need and he supplies that to our offense. Especially in times we need it. He doesn’t get the burn he deserves there. Frankly it kind of ticks me off when people want to say stuff about him but we’ll keep that all internal here.”

Here’s what else that was being discussed at One Bills Drive Wednesday:

Bills dealing with the NFL's eternal injury reality

No one around the league is shedding any tears for the Bills just because their defense has been ravaged by serious injuries in the last two weeks.

Injuries are an integral part of this brutal sport, every team deals with them, and right now, the Bills are in the throes of a particularly difficult run of misfortune as they have lost their best linebacker in Matt Milano, their best cornerback in Tre’Davious White, and one of their best defensive linemen in DaQuan Jones.

Losing a Pro Bowl-type player at every level of the defense five weeks into a season is quite a thing and coach Sean McDermott recognizes that it will be a sizable challenge fitting his unit back together with replacement parts. However, that’s why you have a 53-man roster and the next man up has to do his job.

“Like I’ve said before, multiple times, you never replace a player and I don’t like to get into comparing players; I don’t think that’s healthy,” McDermott said. “Injuries are not an excuse. It’s a next man up approach and you do what you’re called to do and that’s step up and step in when somebody goes down like this.”

Don’t read much into the Josh Norman signing

Norman is 35 years old and he wasn’t in any teams’ training camp so he’s coming into the Bills practice squad ice cold and not ready to play. However, I think this signing might have more to do with getting a longtime NFL veteran into the cornerback room to provide some mentorship for a very young group now that White is out of the picture.

Right now, Dane Jackson in his fourth season is the grizzled veteran at the position. Kaiir Elam and Christian Benford are in their second years, and none of the three other corners on the practice squad - Ja’Marcus Ingram, Kyron Brown and Herb Miller - have more than two years experience and have played a combined total of 24 NFL games with a grand total of one start, that by Brown in 2019 with the Jets.

“To me, it’s not the primary reason why J-No’s here, but it is a secondary reason that he can impart wisdom and perspective that sometimes can’t always come from a coach,” McDermott said. “It’s powerful when it comes from a teammate or a player that’s played your position and been there and done that before.”

Norman has 137 NFL games on his resume including 110 starts with the Panthers, Commanders, Bills, and 49ers. He has 16 career interceptions and at one time was considered one of the best coverage corners in the NFL which led him to being named an All-Pro in 2015.

He obviously has experience in McDermott’s defense both with Carolina and Buffalo, and he should be a good addition in the film and meeting room.

The roster churn is underway

Wednesday morning the Bills placed Milano and Jones on the injured reserved list, opening two spots on the 53-man roster.

Linebacker A.J. Klein took one as he was recalled from the practice squad and signed to the active roster, but the other position has not been decided. Linebacker Baylon Spector was designated to return from injured reserve which opens his 21-day practice window, but it’s highly unlikely he’ll get that spot. First of all, he needs to ramp up, but also, with Klein, Terrel Bernard, Tyrel Dodson and Dorian Williams already active, there really isn’t a need for a fifth linebacker.

Ingram, who was elevated for the Jacksonville game, is another candidate to get signed to the 53 and he’s the more logical choice given that Benford is still battling back from a shoulder injury, and now Jackson is dealing with a foot injury which McDermott revealed Wednesday. Their status for Sunday’s game against the Giants is very much up in the air.

Against the Jaguars, Ingram replaced the struggling Elam in the fourth quarter and played eight snaps. If both Benford and Jackson can’t play Sunday night, the Bills are looking at having to start Elam and Ingram which obviously would not be ideal.

Dorian Williams may be Milano’s replacement

The rookie third-round pick played only 32 defensive snaps in the first four games, but when Milano went down Sunday, he was the man McDermott sent in to take over. He wound up playing 32 snaps and he had a few problems that led McDermott to go with Tyrel Dodson - who is more suited to middle linebacker - for a chunk of the game.

“We just felt like Dorian being in there, he was struggling a little bit with some of the tackling so we felt, at the time, let’s give T-Dod a chance in there and try and calm it down a little bit, T-Dod being the more experienced player in this situation,” McDermott said.

Williams was in on four tackles but he also missed two and in pass coverage he allowed three completions on four targets, though the yardage against was just 19. There were times when he simply seemed too over-anxious and aggressive which is understandable for a rookie seeing his first meaningful playing time.

“It could have been that, but you’re out there, man, you go from zero to 100,” Williams said. “You gotta read your keys, slow things down and just get better week by week.”

When he was asked if it would be a burden to have to replace such a great player like Milano if he gets the call Sunday, Williams said, “I wouldn’t say it’s a burden. Matt, he goes out there, he plays a hell of a game, he’s a great leader, great person, we love him. Honestly, I just feel I gotta do my job, help our guys and put us in a position to win.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills news: Josh Allen defends Stefon Diggs after tablet slam