It's going on three weeks now that the Bills have been without one of their most consistent offensive performers, and signs are not positive that he'll be ready to play Sunday at Washington.
Bills head coach Dick Jauron gave the latest update on feature back Marshawn Lynch Monday.
"Marshawn, we're not optimistic again," said Jauron. "He's now doing some running and some cutting, but nothing like full speed playing."
Buffalo did get good production out of veteran Anthony Thomas and Fred Jackson. Thomas set a career-high with eight catches including one for a touchdown, and was the team's leading receiver. Jackson contributed five receptions for 47 yards.
The pair also helped move the sticks for Buffalo's offense providing eight of the team's 20 first downs in the game including Jackson's crucial 4th-and-1 carry to extend a touchdown drive.
"I knew coming in that I was going to get some touches so I did everything I could to help the team and try to make some plays and give us a spark to keep us going forward," said Jackson.
"They're both good players as we've said all along so it doesn't surprise me," said Jauron. "When they're called upon they'll perform. I'm more familiar with Anthony and Fred is getting an opportunity to play in the real deal and he looks pretty much like he looked in preseason and he looked good in preseason."
The only problem is Thomas suffered a strained calf in the game Sunday.
"Anthony Thomas strained a calf muscle and we'll have to see how that goes in the next couple of days," said Jauron. "He finished the game really only in the third down stuff because he was having problems with it. It affected his knee a little bit."
If Thomas is still hobbled by the weekend more of the load will fall on Jackson's shoulders and rookie Dwayne Wright.
"We're hoping that Anthony comes back fast enough," said Jauron. "If he doesn't then that's where we'll be and we feel pretty good about it. (Jackson) looks fast, he looks elusive and tough. He catches the ball well and runs it well. He runs it hard. I was very impressed with his game yesterday. We know that Dwayne is a big, hard runner."
