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Alaina Getzenberg
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills will be without starting safety Taylor Rapp for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, coach Sean McDermott said Friday.
Rapp, who is dealing with back and hip injuries, being ruled out puts rookie Cole Bishop in position to start the game alongside starting safety Damar Hamlin. Bishop, 22, has started four games this season because of injuries and played in 16, primarily on special teams.
“Yeah, it’s high,” McDermott said of his confidence in Bishop. “He’s a young player, but at the same time, he’s grown. He went through an injury in training camp, missed a lot of time — that set him back, set his growth back, delayed it at least — and then came in, and he’s grown through each experience, and confident he’ll continue to do that moving forward.”
The second-round pick out of Utah came in for Rapp after he was injured in the second quarter of the Bills’ divisional round win over the Baltimore Ravens. Rapp had an interception against Baltimore before leaving with the injury, in addition to two regular-season interceptions. Bishop has 2 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble and 40 tackles.
“It’s easy to say it’s just like any other game, but everybody knows it’s really not,” Bishop said of the game earlier this week. “So being able to just prepare throughout the week, and then once Sunday comes, like you’ve done everything you can, so at that point there is really nothing you can be nervous for. You prepared, and now you’ve just got to go make plays.”
The Bills are dealing with other defensive injuries as they prepare to go up against quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs’ offense. Starting cornerback Christian Benford remains in concussion protocol and missed Friday’s practice because of a personal matter. McDermott said that he expects Benford to be back with the team potentially as soon as later Friday.
Linebacker Matt Milano (hamstring/biceps) and nickel corner Taron Johnson (neck/shoulder) were full participants in Friday’s practice after being limited Thursday and carry no injury designation into the game.
