Mike James, William Gholston out against Buffalo Bills

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will miss defensive end William Gholston and running back Mike James against the Buffalo Bills next Saturday, Lovie Smith told Roy Cummings today. Both of those players injured their shoulders in last night's loss against the Miami Dolphins. Rick Stroud quotes Lovie as saying "it's probably going be a while for [Gholston]", which is not good news.

The Bucs have had several minor injuries to their defensive linemen in training camp, with Da'Quan Bowers and Steven Means missing yesterday's game. If Gholston is sidelined for a significant amount of time, Bowers should see more playing time at defensive end and the chances of either defensive tackle Euclid Cummings or defensive end Scott Solomon making the roster go up.

Mike James' injury is even more unfortunate, as the Bucs lost backup running back Charles Sims for half the season just this week. That means they'll likely bring in a temporary replacement, and undrafted free agent Brendan Bigelow is the most likely signing as he spent part of the offseason with the Bucs.

In addition, Lovie Smith noted that Rashaan Melvin's injury won't require surgery, and it's unknown whether he can play on Saturday, per Rick Brown. Alterraun Verner does have a chance to play despite missing the past two preseason games with a hamstring injury, per Rick Stroud. Cornerback Mike Jenkins will likely be sidelined once again.

Linebacker Brandon Magee and safety Major Wright also left the game with various injuries, but we did not get an injury update on either player.