Buffalo Bills: Whose Stock is Rising and Whose Is Falling and Stuck on I.R.?

Terrell Owens showed Sunday against Jacksonville that if you keep throwing the ball to him, you stand a better chance of making things happen. Terrell emerged this weekend to have his finest game in a Bills uniform by far, catching ten passes for 197 yards, and a 98 yard touchdown, the longest pass for a touchdown in the 50 years of Buffalo Bills football. Welcome back T.O.

His strong game will probably mean that his career is not over and he bought another year if not from the Bills, then from some other team that needs WR help. This will ultimately mean he continues his assault at the record books and his climb up the all-time receiver ranks.

Run with the ball, pass block, catch the ball out of the backfield, pass the ball to wide receivers out of the wildcat, return kick offs, return punts, run the wildcat offense, carry out the equipment, there is nothing that Fred Jackson can't do. Whatever he does, he excels at. Thankfully, the Bills had the foresight to sign Fred to a contract extension before the year began.

Started the year at guard, and due to injuries he has been pushed outside to left tackle and held his own there in the two games where he has been pressed in to service. Was playing both guard and tackle against Jacksonville.

Been reliable and dependable so far. One of the key building blocks the team has needed, just need to continue to build around him.

A nagging groin injury prevented Byrd from playing at 100 percent last weekend, and as a result, he saw his interception streak end at five games. The rookie leads the NFL in interceptions and has natural instincts that are fun to watch. Once he recovers, he will resume his assault on the record books for more interceptions. He has a bright future.

Began the year on the bench, but as a starter has established himself as a reliable performer. Is now second on the team in tackles and trails leader Keith Ellison by only two. Has good hands and been responsible for creating turnovers with his ball hawking skills. The combination of Wilson and Byrd is almost making Donte Whitner expendable, or possible trade bait.

Perry Fewell is very high on George Wilson, and rightfully so.

Familiar sight, Trent Edwards getting sacked. Ryan Fitzpatrick demonstrated on Sunday how to use Terrell Owens, something Trent never figured out. The Bills signed ex-Packers second round pick Brian Brohm to make sure they have one more reason not to rely on Trent next year.

From the Buffalo Bills web site, Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly wrote a column, and assessed Edwards with the following:

Trent has had a lot of opportunities to prove that he can do it. The total blame should not be placed on him, but the fact remains that there have been opportunities where plays can be made and he either doesn’t see them or doesn’t make them.

Now that being said, the offensive line has to improve too, and that’s not going to be easy. All the injuries they’ve sustained particularly at the tackle position, it’s been difficult to develop any kind of continuity and that affects performance. And when their performance suffers the first person that’s affected by that in turn is the quarterback and we’ve seen it happen.

It’s not like Trent went into the season with time to throw each and every week. It’s affected the way he looks at the secondary. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. When you start dropping back as a quarterback and your main focus, which should be on the secondary, has been shifted to the pass rush, you are going to lose nine out of 10 times. The total blame should not go on Trent Edwards, but again when plays are there to be made and he does have time he hasn’t made plays.

What I saw in training camp from him, I just haven’t seen this season so far. Where they go from here remains to be seen with respect to next season, but I’m confident the front office is already looking to the college ranks on quarterbacks. They’re looking at what quarterbacks in the league might be available and what free agent quarterbacks will be out there.

But in order for this team to compete with the upper echelon teams in this league the offense needs a big time play-maker.

Something strange happened to Roscoe Parrish. Alien abduction? Memory loss? Not sure what it is but the NFL career leader in average punt returns has completely lost his confidence and is now clueless as to when to call a fair catch and when to return the ball. He asked to be traded in the off-season and his play has shown that he doesn't want to be part of the team.

His decisions have resulted in the Bills offense being pinned frequently within their own five to ten yard line to start drives. Against the Jaguars, with no one around him, he decided to catch a punt at the four, only to figure out a way to lose two yards so the Bills could take over at the two. His botched return against the Browns cost the Bills the game.

Marshawn Lynch began the year with a three game suspension. He has scored one touchdown this season. He has not cracked the 100 yard barrier all season. He has dropped a number of passes, missed some key blocks in picking up the blitz, and has failed to impress. Against Jacksonville, he fumbled in one of his few carries, and hurt his arm, not to return.

Fred Jackson has outperformed Lynch by a wide margin. "Beast Mode" is long gone, so "Pie Ala Mode" seems more appropriate now. Lynch prefers to run over someone than to make the tackler miss him.

Here is Reggie Bush running away from Donte Whitner. He started out the year with a bang, returning an interception for a touchdown. But then he started getting nicked up and has been slow to return to the lineup. The time he spent away has allowed the Bills to audition two other safeties, Jairus Byrd and George Wilson, and both have excelled in their opportunities.

Whitner came on to play cornerback in certain situations last weekend, but it will be interesting to see who the Bills decide to start over the final month and a half.

Aaron Maybin was the Bills top draft choice this season. He held out of training camp to make sure that he would be wealthy. The Bills figured one great year of college football was all they needed to see to take him with the eleventh pick.

Maybin has yet to record a sack on the season. The speed rusher has not found a way to get on to the field or in to enemy backfields either. Maybe he will pan out, but with the Bills defense so ravaged with injuries, the team can't figure out a way to get him involved.

Eric Wood was the latest Bills casualty. Suffered a terrible injury when a defender collapsed his leg in, causing him to suffer a broken tibia and fibula. No word yet on if he can be ready for the 2010 season. Break was so bad it required emergency surgery after the game. Wood was in tremendous pain and we can only hope and pray he will recover and come back to his old self.

Brad Butler was lost for the year by the second game against Tampa Bay. His injury resulted in the Bills landing Jamon Meredith off of Green Bay's practice squad.

Leodis McKelvin suffered an injury early this season and was placed on I.R. right away. Year will be remembered for the fumble against New England during the Monday Night Football game. Hopefully he recovers. Bright future.

Schouman's season ending injury opened the door for Shawn Nelson to get more reps and experience. Unfortunately, for Nelson he suffered a concussion and migraine headaches of his own, which limited the experience the Bills would have preferred him to receive.

A Bills player carted away. Far too familair a sight this year. Mitchell's absence caused a major problem in the linebacking corps, as their was not enough depth there. The Bills have tried Jon Corto, Ashlee Palmer, Nic Harris, Chris Draft and Bryan Scott at LB to help fill in for Mitchell and Keith Ellison.

Mitchell was hurt while serving as middle linebacker, since Paul Posluszny was also out due to recovering from his broken arm. It has been a year to forget for the Bills.