00:00Here's near the stadium at Wings of Hope 4000 California Road Park for just $30 with proceeds benefiting Wings Flights
00:07of Hope for riding free flights for seriously ill patients, music, food, beverages from the help of our partners, Tim
00:13Horton's Liberty Cab 26 shirts, supporting our communities through Freedom U.S. Army, Be All You Can Be, and by
00:19Hartman's Distilling Company, official non-carbonated hard tea and lemonades of WGR 550 Tailgate.
00:25Zach Jones, Derek Kramer, we are hanging with you here until kickoff, and then we're still going to be with
00:30you at kickoff.
00:30We're going to have the GameCast coming up at 8.15.
00:33Nate Geary will jump in as well, and we'll be reacting live as the game happens.
00:38It's not play-by-play.
00:39It is.
00:40We'll be reacting live.
00:41We'll be hanging out with you guys, talking to you through Twitter, through the YouTube chat.
00:45It's been a lot of fun to do that the last couple of weeks.
00:47The preseason is the preseason, but last week we kind of got everything we could wish for there.
00:52By the way, I'm glad you said it because we're going to say it constantly during the GameCast.
00:55This is not play-by-play.
00:57For anyone that was maybe a little mad about the clips circulating over the weekend, what we are doing is
01:04not play-by-play.
01:05And if you think that it is, well, we're here to help you to say, and I'm going to say
01:09it one more time just for the sake of it, it's not play-by-play.
01:12Inactives are out.
01:13We have the inactives.
01:14Skylar Bell, Ty Johnson, Jalen Kilgore, Amarj Reed Adams, Jude Bowery, Ed Oliver, and T.J. Sanders.
01:23So Ed Oliver not playing tonight.
01:25He was not on the injury report at all throughout the week.
01:29Do not know what happened there, but Ed Oliver not playing tonight.
01:33They're going to have four defensive linemen, Dwayne Carter, Landon Jackson, Deion Walker, and Greg Gaines.
01:38So one of the guys you'd maybe point to and say, hey, have a big night.
01:43Not going to play.
01:45And, I mean, until...
01:46He was injured during warm-ups, they just said.
01:48During warm-ups.
01:49Okay.
01:49All right.
01:50So Ed Oliver not going to go tonight.
01:52It was a pig issue.
01:53Last year with Ed Oliver was his inability to stay healthy.
01:57He injured his hip during warm-ups today.
02:00And so he's part of the inactives.
02:02Again, if you missed it, Skylar Bell, Ty Johnson, Jalen Kilgore, Amarj Reed Adams, Jude Bowery, Ed Oliver, and T
02:09.J. Sanders.
02:10Not a good time to also have Sanders still out.
02:14Knee illness.
02:16But Oliver injuring his hip in pregame warm-ups.
02:19So that is how it comes down.
02:22They just put that out, by the way.
02:24So that's unfortunate.
02:26And it seems like a designated hip injury, by the way.
02:30So, oh, that hurts.
02:33How much does that take a hit for how you feel about this game?
02:37A decent amount.
02:38Oliver was one of the three usual suspects causing problems when the defense could against Houston.
02:46So now you take away one of the usual suspects.
02:48And, yes, I know the offensive line for Detroit's banged up and injured to holy hell.
02:53But now you can key a little bit more on Deion Walker.
02:58Right.
02:58I think it becomes even more important.
02:59Saying that is one thing, though.
03:00Like, good luck blocking him with the stature that he is.
03:04But you can key on him a little bit more.
03:07You can key on Russo a little bit more with Oliver out.
03:11And that's going to be an unfortunate pain to deal with there.
03:15That's tough.
03:16Walker may become, I think, the most important player on defense now.
03:19I mean, especially, too, with the run game they have.
03:2229 carries to Jameer Gibbs last week.
03:23He's over 150 yards on the ground against the Saints.
03:26Walker, when he was in against the Texans' rush offense, was very, very good.
03:32They were able to stymie them pretty well when he's out.
03:35It is still a huge concern, as you mentioned as well.
03:37T.J. Sanders being out also hurts with that fact.
03:40Now you're down defensive lineman.
03:42This also could be a big moment for Greg Gaines to come in.
03:45You're kind of supposed to be that typical nose tackle, big body, eat-up space, and allow guys like Ed
03:50and Walker to eat.
03:52Now one of them's out.
03:53And now I think it becomes even more important for Walker to maybe establish himself.
03:58I mean, it's a national audience as well.
04:00Establish himself as one of the premier young defensive tackles in the game.
04:04Might also be looking into Michael Hoyt kicking inside a little bit more on some reps just to give some
04:11of these guys a little bit more of the rotation because you're only rocking four defensive linemen right now.
04:16That is a little tough on the interior when you're trying to cover three spots.
04:21Yep.
04:21So I would imagine that Hoyt will kick inside a couple of times throughout the evening.
04:26You might see a little bit of that rotation going on there as well because of that fact.
04:32Or you might see a little bit more of classic four-man fronts.
04:38Four-man fronts.
04:39I even wonder, too, is this something where Greg Rousseau gets kicked inside?
04:43I mean, we all love him from the edge rusher spot, but that was something as well that he was
04:47able to do.
04:47Kick inside, use his big frame, the wingspan and everything.
04:51They are now very shorthanded defensive tackle-wise.
04:55They are very, very injured and limited at that position group.
04:59Again, it's Dwayne Carter, Landon Jackson, Deion Walker, Greg Gaines.
05:02Those are the defensive linemen.
05:03Now, of course, Chubb, Rousseau, Hoyt, Parker, Solomon.
05:07They're all edge rushers.
05:10They are just not necessarily listed with the defensive linemen.
05:13But that is going to be a huge hit.
05:15That really, really is because it's one thing if it's somebody like Dwayne Carter.
05:22It's another thing when it's at Oliver where I think everyone that watched back the tape from the first game
05:27pointed to,
05:27yeah, Oliver maybe doesn't have the sack or the multiple tackle for losses or anything like that,
05:33but he's affecting everything from the middle of the field.
05:36And now for him to pick up a hip injury in warm-ups right before the game, not ideal.
05:41We don't know the severity of it.
05:42They're going to have 10 days after this.
05:45This is also what happened to Ed last year with injuries.
05:48He's fine, and then something happens in a practice, and all of a sudden he's out for weeks.
05:54And they really do not recover from that at all.
05:57They only do it for a slight time when Oliver and Hoyt are both back,
06:01and then they both eventually go down with injuries again, and that's it.
06:04And the defense really does not recover.
06:06So the big news tonight of the inactives is Ed Oliver is out after picking up a hip injury in
06:13warm-ups.
06:14We are about 90 minutes, a little bit less now, from kickoff.
06:17The Bills are going to open up Highmark Stadium for the first time,
06:19the inaugural regular season game for Highmark Stadium, again,
06:23in just about under 90 minutes when they take on the Detroit Lions.
06:26The other inactives, if you have missed it, Skyler Bell, Ty Johnson, Jalen Kilgore,
06:31Amaj Reed Adams, Jude Bowery, and TJ Sanders, of course, along with Ed Oliver.
06:35We're going to be staying here, though, throughout the evening.
06:38We'll be on at 8.15.
06:40Once we get the game cast going, Nate Geary is going to jump in with us as well,
06:45and we'll have you throughout the game, and then Nate's going to be on for postgame.
06:48But we're also going to continue on after a quick timeout with Countdown to Kickoff.
06:53We're going to keep on rolling here.
06:54We'll get another look at traffic, the weather for tonight.
06:56We'll also get a bit of an update as well.
06:58But, again, the big news heading into this one is that Ed Oliver got hurt in warm-ups.
07:04He injured his hip, and now he is inactive for this game,
07:06along with Skyler Bell, Ty Johnson, Jalen Kilgore, Amaj Reed Adams, Jude Bowery, and TJ Sanders.
07:12We'll take a quick timeout here, and when we return, Countdown to Kickoff when we come back.
07:17Zach Jones, Derek Kramer, this is WG.
Comments