Buffalo Bills Preseason: Bills Face Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco

Terrell Owens, Chad Ocho Cinco, Carson Palmer, and the rest of the Cincinnati Bengals come in to play the Buffalo Bills in the Bills third preseason game on Saturday night.

The talented pair of brash wide receivers have self-proclaimed themselves the new "Batman and Robin". I just wonder who plays the role of Commissioner Gordon, Marvin Lewis or Commissioner Goodell?

The Bills secondary will want to play the role of crooks, intercepting passes to steal the ball away. Holy Turnover!!

This is the first of two meetings with the Bengals this year, as the game that really matters will be in the regular season on November 21, in Cincinnati. That Bills team promises to be a much different one from the team that will take the field this Saturday.

This game marks the return of Owens to Buffalo, where he had an up and down campaign as the Bills leading receiver in 2009. Owens was able to demonstrate that he turned a corner last year playing for the Bills, toning down his antics by and large.

The NFL seemed to have him on ignore during the entire off-season as he didn't sign a contract until just before the Bengals played in the Hall of Fame game.

Chad Ocho Cinco, he of  "Dancing With The Stars" fame, will bring his football cleats and leave the dancing shoes home for this trip. He has been engaging in a running twitter debate with Donte Whitner about who is going to be showing up who this season.

Look for the Bills secondary to be up for this contest and looking to lay some lumber on any Bengals receiver that has a pass coming their way.

This game will also be a key contest in that the Bills will be forced to trim their roster down from 80 to 75 players, so some of the fringe players will be seeing their final action in a Bills uniform.

What to Expect in This Contest

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ORCHARD PARK, NY - NOVEMBER 04: Michael Myers #96 of the Cincinnati Bengals gets ready on the line of scrimmage during the game against the Buffalo Bills on November 4, 2007 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Buffalo won 33-21. (Photo by R

Look for the Bills to continue to develop their running game, albeit without their top two rushers in Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch, who are out due to injuries.

The Bills rookie running backs, C.J. Spiller and undrafted free agent Joique Bell have been shining in their place, so it will be interesting to see if they can continue to excel against the Bengals first and second team defenses.

The Bills expect to give more snaps to the trio of Eric Wood, Demetrius Bell, and Cornell Green then they saw last week against the Indianapolis Colts. How many more snaps is a direct result of how they are feeling, as all three are still not at 100 percent. But, you would like to see them get some more live action under their belt, as the season opener against Miami is only two weeks away.

On defense, Donte Whitner seems to be inspired this week. He wants to see the defensive secondary do a number on Ocho Cinco and T.O. The Bills defense has been lit up so far by both the Redskins and the Colts, so they would like to show some growth and comfort level with their new defensive alignments.

Each week that they continue to adjust to the new defense, the players are supposed to be feeling more and more comfortable in understanding and executing their assignments.

There were plenty of mistakes to review in the film room last week, as Peyton Manning led the Colts to three touchdown drives in the first quarter alone. We will see how far the defense has progressed in one week because Carson Palmer has some notable weapons at his disposal.

Is This a Make or Break Game for Ryan Fitzpatrick?

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LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 13: David Nelson #86 celebrates with Ryan Fitzpatrick #14 of the Buffalo Bills after scoring in the third quarter of the preseason game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on August 13, 2010 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo

For all intents and purposes, it appears that Trent Edwards will have emerged from the preseason as the Bills starting quarterback for the 2010 season.

So, who will emerge as the backup, and who will be number three?

A recent rumor running around Buffalo is that the team may only keep three quarterbacks on the roster, and the three would be Edwards, Brian Brohm and rookie Levi Brown.

That means that Ryan Fitzpatrick would be the odd man out. Is that a realistic outcome?

Fitzpatrick, who ironically enough used to quarterback for the Bengals, is still thought to have problems with his accuracy. There were some games in the 2009 season in which he was able to make big plays and hit T.O. on long passes that demonstrated he has skills. But he is hardly consistent.

So, if you figure that the Bills will use their final preseason game against Detroit as more of a final tune up to prepare for the regular season, and let the starters go longer as a result, this might be the final contest that Fitzpatrick gets an opportunity to make an impression on Chan Gailey.

Fitzpatrick was able to see extended action in the first game, and then sat out in week two as Brohm got the longer look. On the basis of the rotation, it will probably be Fitzpatrick again backing up Edwards this week, with Brohm getting the call in week four.

So, that gives you something to focus on as you watch the game.

Many Bills Players Will Still Be Sitting Out This Week

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ORCHARD PARK, NY - NOVEMBER 04: Marshawn Lynch #23 of the Buffalo Bills runs as Dhani Jones #57 of the Cincinnati Bengals comes in to make the tackle on November 4, 2007 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Buffalo won 33-21. (Photo by Rick

Besides missing Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch due to their injuries, there are a number of other players that will probably sit this game out.

That list includes: Shawn Nelson, Jairus Byrd, Ed Wang, James Hardy, Reggie Torbor, David Nelson, and Derek Schouman.

Hardy has returned to practice, but there is no word yet on if he will play. He really needs to, since a roster spot is no sure thing.

Players that are limited include Paul Posluszny and the new Bills added to the roster over the past few days.

They would be tight ends J.P. Foschi (ex-Bengals player), and ex-BYU tight end Andrew George.

In case you missed it, the Bills waived Michael Matthews due to a foot injury. They are also without suspended Shawn Nelson for the first four weeks of the season, prompting the need to add new tight ends.  

Difficult Roster Cuts Ahead For Chan Gailey

Hopefully the Bills will give Gailey more reasons to smile in the regular season

The entire 80 man roster knows that their jobs are on the line, and that final roster cuts are coming up soon.

By the looks of the weak special teams play last week, some guys may make the team if they can show something on special teams this weekend. Nobody on last week's special teams units should feel safe.

Although Gailey has not announced his starters or quarterback rotation yet, this week should allow him to get that much closer to identifying who is going to be lining up to start against the Dolphins in week one.

Speaking of Gailey, it was interesting that he went to bat for Trent Edwards at practice by taking to task some fans that were heckling Edwards from the bleachers.

Gailey encouraged the Bills players to ignore the autograph requests of the fans that were guilty of booing the quarterback. Gailey's stance was that if you are booing one player on our team, you are booing all of us. Kind of an interesting take, and somewhat refreshing, as I can't see Dick Jauron doing that.

The players know he has their back and it will be interesting to see how they respond on Saturday night.