The Buffalo Bills will continue to play without two defensive starters.
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver (ankle) and linebacker Matt Milano (pectoral) have been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, coach Sean McDermott announced Friday.
Ahead of practice, McDermott said that right tackle Spencer Brown (calf) and defensive end A.J. Epenesa (pectoral) would be limited in Friday’s practice and will be questionable for Sunday’s game. Both were participating during the portion open to media, which on Fridays consists of just stretching.
Brown did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, after injuring his calf in the Week 3 game against the Miami Dolphins. Epenesa has been limited all week.
Brown missed one game last season, Week 11 against the Kansas City Chiefs. Swing tackle Ryan Van Demark started in his place. Van Demark played all 73 of the offensive snaps, as the Bills went on to win 30-21.
Van Demark went about this week with his usual routine.
“Backup plan is to play like the starters,” Van Demark said on Thursday. “So, kind of just another week of planning, and if Spencer can’t go, I’m ready.”
Van Demark, 27, also started Week 18 against the Patriots when the Bills rested their starters.
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“The common phrase is, ‘You’re one snap away,’” Van Demark said. “So, being that backup guy, each game it could happen in the first quarter, and then boom, you’re playing the whole game. Or it could happen in the fourth, so you never really know. It’s just being prepared each week like a starter.”
Oliver has now missed three games, and Milano has missed two.
A big spread
The Bills enter Sunday as 15½-point favorites against the Saints. According to data kept by website pro-football-reference.com, this is the 12th time in team history the Bills have been favored by at least that amount going into a game. It’s the largest spread since they were favored by the same amount against the New York Giants on Oct. 15, 2023 – a game the Bills won, 14-9, but did not cover.
The largest spread in the Josh Allen era is 17½ points, which the Bills were favored by over the Houston Texans on Oct. 3, 2021. Buffalo covered easily in that one, 40-0.
The largest point spread as a favorite in team history was 20 points, on two occasions. On Sept. 18, 1966, the Bills beat the Dolphins 58-24 to cover. On Oct. 13, 1991, the Bills won, 42-6, over Indianapolis to easily cover that 20-point spread, as well.
For the Saints, the 15½-point mark is the largest for the team in 40 years. In 1985, they were 16-point underdogs to the San Francisco 49ers. The Saints went on to win that game.
Homecoming for Morse
Former Bills center Mitch Morse is returning to Highmark Stadium this Sunday to be this week’s Legend of the Game.
Morse played for the Bills from 2019 to 2023, before spending one season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and then retiring.
“Yeah, I think that’s cool, it really is,” McDermott said Friday. “I guess it possibly also means I’m getting a little bit older, maybe. But he is well deserving of that honor, No. 1. And it is a great honor that we do that. … Those guys sacrifice so much to play and play at a high level and help this organization over the years.”
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Katherine Fitzgerald
Sports reporter
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