Bills Roster Moves & Practice Notes

It was a noteworthy Wednesday morning for the Buffalo Bills, with the team adding a kicker and wide receiver while subtracting the same.  Veteran kicker Billy Cundiff and wide receiver Dareus Moore were signed to the roster, while receiver Marcus Thigpen and kicker Jordan Gay were released.

Most affected by Wednesday’s moves could be incumbent field goal kicker Dan Carpenter,  whose tenure with the Bills may now be on life support.  Carpenter, despite being consistently good over the past two seasons with the Bills, has fallen out of favor with first-year head coach Rex Ryan, dating all the way back to training camp.  Carpenter has made 5-of-7 field goals so far this season but missed an extra point against New England and a short 30-yard field goal against the Giants last Sunday.

During his weekly press conference a short time ago, Ryan went out of his way to note that Cundiff’s addition had little to go with the job Gay has done on kickoffs, and perhaps more tellingly stopped short of saying Carpenter’s job is even remotely safe.  Cundiff will handle kickoff duties Sunday at Tennessee and when asked if Carpenter will still be kicking field goals, Ryan said “we’ll see who will handle everything Sunday based on how the week goes.”

To say Cundiff is well traveled would be an understatement. Including the Bills, Cundiff has now spent time with nearly half the league, 14 rosters to be exact.

Ryan said Moore will handle punt return duties on Sunday, a job Thigpen previously held.  Moore spent the first four years of his career with the Oakland Raiders. He was on Cincinnati’s roster this summer but was cut before the regular season.  Moore did have productive years with Oakland in 2012-13, combining for 97 catches for 1,436 yards and 12 touchdowns in 28 games.

In other team news, Ryan said Boobie Dixon will probably be the team’s featured back on Sunday.  Lesean McCoy (hamstring) and Karlos Williams (concussion) aren’t practicing and Ryan hopes to get one of them back in time for Sunday, but it’s an unlikely scenario.  If Dixon gets the heavy workload, Cierre Wood and newly signed Daniel Herron will handle backup duties.

Wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who missed the Giants game with a hamstring injury isn’t practicing today, but according to Ryan that doesn’t rule him out for Sunday.  Rookie guard John Miller, who also missed last Sunday is back at practice on a limited basis today.

One piece of good news on the injury front--- Ryan expects safety Aaron Williams to be able to return on Sunday. He’s missed the past two games with a neck injury suffered in loss against New England. Both Bacarri Rambo and Duke Williams struggled in pass coverage last week against Eli Manning, so Williams’ return would be a nice boost for the secondary.