Buffalo Bills Preseason: Bills Offense Appears Ready For 2010 NFL Season

The Buffalo Bills defeated the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday night 35-20 at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills offense turned in the strongest effort of any of the Bills units, as Trent Edwards, C.J. Spiller, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Roscoe Parrish turned in strong games.

The defense and special teams units can't be overly pleased with their efforts however, and since this was the last preseason game where the starters typically play the most, the Bills coaches and fans would be right to be concerned about how these two units will fare once the regular season starts.

I suspect that many will point to the lack of significant game planning, or that the Bills would not want to reveal too much of their defensive schemes before the start of the NFL season, and to a certain degree I can appreciate that. However, there is basic fundamentals of shedding a blocker to make a tackle, and on defending against a receiver that continue to be issues for the current Bills starters on defense.

The defense is giving up touchdown drives to first team offenses with alarming regularity in all three preseason games to date. The Bills close out the preseason against the Detroit Lions, and the starters usually only play the first series or two in the final game as they try to keep the starters healthy and give the roster bubble players one final audition before final roster cuts are made.

Bengals Passing Attack Proved Too Much For Bills Secondary

Leodis McKelvin breaks up pass to Chad Ocho Cinco

Carson Palmer was only on the field for the first three Bengals drives. During that time, he led the team to two touchdown drives of of five plays for 38 yards and 9 plays for 71 yards. Thankfully, Donte Whitner stuffed Cedrick Benson on a fourth and one attempt, or Palmer might have cashed in all three chances.

The Bills secondary allowed touchdown passes from Palmer to Chad OchoCinco and to rookie tight end Jermaine Gresham. Looks like between Gresham and the duo at New England, the Bills will get their fare share of looks at the rookie tight ends they passed up in the draft.

Not that the Bills should be complaining about who they took in the first round, as C.J. Spiller continues to shine. It is not the offense though that is of concern now. Who would have thought that statement was possible when training camp opened?

Special Teams Play Continues To Be a Concern

Ellis Lankster upends Bengals receiver

It should be noted that the first Palmer drive only required 47 yards due to the poor kick off return coverage. The Bills special teams allowed both Bengals return men to average at least 30 yards per return. Adam Jones averaged 38 yards, and Quan Crosby averaged 30.

In case you were wondering, how did the Bills kick returners fare Saturday night? The Bills never were able to return it to their own 30 in any of the five kick returns, while the Bengals made it to the 30 and beyond in all six of their returns.

Bruce DeHaven has his work cut out for him. For what it is worth, John Wendling was just signed to a contract last week, as he had been a free agent until then. In fact, the Bills will see him this week, as Wendling is now a Detroit Lion.

C.J. Spiller Continues To Demonstrate Rookie Of Year Worthy Skills

C.J. Spiller takes it in for one of his two rushing TD's vs Bengals

C.J. Spiller gave the Bills home crowd something to cheer about as he picked up two rushing touchdowns of one yard and 20 yards against Cincinnati.

Spiller had a rough start to the contest as he began with three carries that netted a negative 16 yards. From that point forward he carried the ball nine times for 68 yards, averaging over 7 yards per carry. The speed he demonstrates is what will continue to allow him to run past defenders and be on many Bills highlights all season.

He will learn when he has to see that the play has no chance and take his lumps, but for now these are all valuable lessons he is learning on the field. He recognized that he took some unnecessary long losses in the first quarter during his post game interview. That is a sign of his maturity and that he is a team player. You have to really like Spiller, his demeanor, and humble approach. A quality person and a home run hitter to boot.

Spiller also netted two pass receptions for 33 yards and had the ball snapped directly to him once in the "Wildcat" formation. The Bills will continue to explore ways to keep the ball in his hands and letting his legs do the damage to the opposition.

Trent Edwards Solidifies His Starting QB Position

Trent Edwards just gets this pass off in time vs Bengals

Trent Edwards turned in another solid effort as he attempts to win the outright battle for starting quarterback of the Bills. Edwards played the entire first half and led the Bills to three touchdown drives out of his six drives.

Twice Edwards saw drives end quickly with the dreaded three and out outcome. But overall, Trent had a very solid effort finishing with 13 of 17 passing for 153 yards and one touchdown pass and zero interceptions. That was good for a QB rating of 122.9. Very encouraging effort by Edwards, and it appears that his confidence level continues to rise under the guidance of Chan Gailey.

After the game, Gailey commented that he was pleased that Edwards was able to find his second or third option repeatedly throughout the game. That was a testament to not only the offensive line giving him the time to throw, but to Edwards for hanging in there in the pocket and having the presence for allowing his receivers time to run their patterns and get open. Edwards is showing growth this preseason in his play. That is a welcome sight to all Bills fans.

Roscoe Parrish And David Nelson Catch TD Passes

David Nelson scores on this catch vs Bengals

Lee Evans and Steve Johnson took a back seat on Saturday night while Roscoe Parrish and David Nelson stepped up with touchdown catches. For Nelson, he has now caught a touchdown pass in both games that he has played. It seems like he is outperforming Steve Johnson so far, and it will be interesting to see if he can work his way in to the starting lineup.

For Roscoe Parrish this game was like a re-introduction to the Bills fans, as Parrish led all receivers with 56 yards in just four catches. He looks to be playing with a positive attitude and is just happy to be contributing again. There were many fans that had called for Parrish to be traded away, but he just wasn't given much of a chance in Dick Jauron's offenses to produce. That is clearly a different story under Chan Gailey.

Regarding the rest of the receivers, it should be noted that James Hardy saw his first preseason activity and did come up with one catch good for a 30 yard gain. Steve Johnson had two catches for 14 yards, but has yet to make an impact in any of the first three games. He does not appear to have locked up the number two receiver role, and may yet be passed over by David Nelson.

Defense Scores Again For Second Week In a Row

Reggie Corner returned an interception for a TD vs Bengals.

Reggie Corner was able to atone for some of his earlier gambles that backfired in the preseason, when he intercepted a pass from Jordan Palmer, early in the fourth quarter, and returned it for a touchdown. This was the second straight game that the Bills returned an interception for a touchdown, as Terrence McGee did the trick last week in Toronto.

The Bills defense also generated a fumble recovery in addition to the Corner pick. Although there is reason to be concerned about the number of points they are giving up, the defense is continuing where they left off last year, generating turnovers, which is a welcome sight.

Nice Game For Arthur Moats

Arthur Moats lays the lumber on Jordan Palmer

Here Arthur Moats delivers a hit to Jordan Palmer as he attempts a pass. Moats had four tackles and forced a fumble in  the fourth quarter. We believed that Moats would be a physical player, and he is demonstrating that style of play. Last night helped his chances to make the team, although as we saw earlier in the preseason, he has work to do on pass coverage.

Aaron Maybin Records Two Sacks In One Game

One of Aaron Maybin's two sacks vs Bengals

For Aaron Maybin, the Bengals game allowed him to register two sacks in a game for the first time since he signed with the Bills. Yes, this was not against Carson Palmer, or a first string offensive line, but the mere fact that he is making positive plays is something that he can hopefully build on, and give him a greater level of confidence in his abilities.

Maybin has not been able to step up and become a starter even after Aaron Schobel retired. He is behind Reggie Torbor and even Chris Ellis on the depth chart, so we hope that he can build some momentum off of this Bengals game in to the regular season.

Joique Bell: Did His Bubble Burst?

Joique Bell was rather quiet on Saturday vs Bengals

Bills fans were wondering how Joique Bell would continue to fare after turning in two strong games rushing against backup defensive units.

The results from Saturday: six rushes for 10 yards. 1 pass catch for zero yards.  Ugh. That whoosh of air you hear is the air rushing out of his bubble that just burst.

Maybe he was hurt. Maybe he wasn't. Not really sure but we will probably see much more of him against Detroit.

No Major Injuries To Report So Far

Marcus Stroud fights off a Bengals blocker

The Bills did not report any major injuries immediately after the game. If they were able to come out of the game healthy, as it appears they did, that is a very positive sign.

Eric Wood and Demetrius Bell got more reps than they did against the Colts.

Ryan Fitzpatrick outplayed Brian Brohm, but Brohm really didn't have much time to do anything in the fourth quarter.

The Bills offense continues to excel, while the defense and special teams will be under the microscope during film sessions this week.

Bills travel to Detroit to finish the exhibition season, and then shortly after that, a number of players will be asked to clean out their lockers. Final cuts are fast approaching, so stay tuned.