Do Dolphins expect Josh Allen to play? Plus injury updates, Flores on outside critics

Will the Buffalo Bills play to win or rest their key players Sunday?

It’s the great unknown of Week 17 and could determine the Dolphins’ playoff fate.

Bills coach Sean McDermott chose not to share his team’s plans Tuesday, but Brian Flores, his counterpart in Miami, has an idea of what to expect:

“I expect everyone to play,” he said. “Sean’s a competitor, [offensive coordinator] Brian Daboll’s a competitor. Josh Allen, [Stefon] Diggs ... I expect them all to play. That’s how we’re preparing.”

They might all play — a little. But it wouldn’t be a shock if Buffalo’s key guys only go a series or two, given the risk-reward calculus. While the Bills and Steelers are both alive for the No. 2 seed, there’s little incentive to put their players at risk since that slot no longer comes with a first-round bye.

And the Bills also know the Steelers aren’t going all-out; Ben Roethlisberger will not play Sunday against the Browns.

If the Bills do play to win Sunday, the Dolphins would probably be a touchdown underdog, oddsmakers say. But Las Vegas isn’t convinced they will. Currently, the game is listed anywhere between pick-em and Bills plus-3.

“Buffalo’s a good team,” Flores said. “They are. They play well offensively, defensively. ... They’ve got good players. We’ve got a great challenge ahead of us. We’ve got to prepare ourselves the best way we can to go up to New York and play our best game of the season, or try to. That’s what it’s going to take against a team like this.”

▪ Flores acknowledged the obvious Wednesday: linebacker Elandon Roberts suffered a significant knee injury and will not play Sunday against the Bills.

“Everyone’s got to do their job and do it a little bit better,” Flores said.

He had no update on the Dolphins’ other injured players, but the Miami Herald has reported that wide receiver/kick returner Jakeem Grant will not play due to a high-ankle sprain.

Grant and Roberts were the only players on the Dolphins’ active roster absent from practice Wednesday. DeVante Parker, Shaq Lawson and Solomon Kindley all practiced after missing the Raiders game.

Parker, who wore a sleeve/wrap on his left hamstring, appeared to be running well.

▪ Flores has made a series of controversial decisions in his two years as Dolphins coach, and most of them have worked out.

The latest: Electing to pull Tua Tagovailoa twice in the fourth quarter of games due to performance.

“I have a lot of peace with the decisions that I, that we make, because it’s sincerely, genuinely, authentically based on winning football games,” Flores said. “... It’s important to me that we do everything we can to win football games.”