Jaguars vs. Bills: Week 3 NFL Preseason Game To Determine 2011 Buffalo Starters

This coming Saturday evening, the Buffalo Bills will host the Jacksonville Jaguars at Ralph Wilson Stadium in the all-important Week 3 NFL preseason game. The Week 3 contest is the one NFL preseason game where the starters traditionally will get the most snaps as coaches will let them go deeper into the game in preparation for the start of the regular season.

A week from today, the Bills wrap up their preseason when the Bills host the Detroit Lions. That contest figures to be a game where the starters may only play for one drive to prevent injury, unless the Bills think that a starter or two needs some extra work. The rest of the team will be fighting for a roster spot.

This game highlights two linebackers swapping teams, as Paul Posluszny comes back to Buffalo as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the Bills welcome ex-Jaguars linebacker Kirk Morrison, who just signed a contract yesterday. Morrison may not be ready to play, since he literally just signed with the team, so he probably will see some extended reps against the Lions next Thursday.

The Bills roster will have to get down to 80 players by August 30 (next Tuesday), and then be slashed down to the final 53-man roster on Saturday, September 3rd. Such a huge cut is happening all over the NFL, which means that 864 players will be hitting the waiver wire over that four-day span. There will be some talent among that many cuts, so Buddy Nix and Doug Whaley will need to be on their toes to snag whatever offensive linemen are out there that can improve the team's worst starting unit.

Chan Gailey Still Looking for Answers to 22 Starters

It is safe to say that Chan Gailey can't tell you yet who his 22 starters are right now. There is plenty of competition on some units, not enough on others and plenty of question marks that pop up all over the offense and defense. Due to all of the uncertainty and intrigue, this contest should see the Bills players as focused as they have been throughout the preseason to date.

When players are fighting for their starting job, it usually brings out the best in them. When guys are playing that hard, it is not out of the question that more serious injuries will incur. So far, even though it seems that the Bills have been really decimated with a slew of injuries, the reality is that these injuries are all minor in nature. The Bills had as many as 15 players unable to practice this week, which shows how hard they have been banged up.

The latest group of players not able to practice yesterday were: Roscoe Parrish, Naaman Roosevelt,
Donald Jones, Johnny White, Arthur Moats, Reggie Torbor, Shawne Merriman, Kellen Heard, Shawn Nelson, Chris Kelsay and Chris White. No word yet if any of these 11 will play on Saturday night.

Nobody had been placed on the injured reserve list until Reggie Torbor was placed on IR on Wednesday, due to issues with his shoulder. Just losing one player this deep into the preseason is very fortunate for the team, due to the nature of the short 2011 training camp and lack of a full regimen of offseason work with the Bills strength training coaches.

There are too many question marks to list all of them on one slide, so let's pour through the current roster questions to address what is settled and what is not.

Quarterbacks

Ryan Fitzpatrick could really use a good game to give him some confidence coming into the 2011 season. Fitzpatrick has been suffering from a rotating cast of characters as his starting wide receivers, not to mention an offensive line that has been living up to its name—offensive.

The stats from the Denver game were probably as bad as anything that Fitzpatrick has experienced during his stay in Buffalo. Hitting on 6-of-16 passes for just 44 yards and a QB passer rating of 19.8 is about as bad as it gets. Fitz does not have the benefit of throwing to the same starting receivers week in and week out and he had very little time to throw against the Broncos.

The timing looks off in the passing game. This could either be a result of the short practice period in 2011 or perhaps is the result of not being allowed to run two-a-days where you can continue to get your timing down. Since the passing attack was such a big part of the Bills offense in 2010, it is no wonder that the offense has only been able to generate 13 points in eight quarters of football.

Tyler Thigpen has led the Bills to their only touchdown of the preseason. He showed marked improvement in the Week 2 game, and appears to be ready to go should Fitzpatrick become injured. The difference between Thigpen and Brian Brohm is night and day, so at least Bills fans should feel better about the backup situation.

Brad Smith continues to impress in his varied roles as Wild Cat quarterback or as a potential difference-maker on special teams. His run for a 1st down off of punt formation gives teams one more thing to worry about when trying to game-plan against the Bills.

Running Backs

Fred Jackson got worked up over the past week when C.J. Spiller was in the starting lineup at Denver, and Jackson found himself on the bench. During his career with Buffalo, Jackson has been a good soldier and had to endure a number of changes on the team, while putting his best foot forward.

Maybe it was seeing long-time teammate Lee Evans being traded away that made his emotions spill over, but Jackson seemed adamant that he wanted his feelings to be heard about his reaction to not getting the start. It does seem like the Bills have taken him for granted too often and it is good that the team and Bills Nation rallied to Jackson and showed him some support.

Maybe now we can just focus on football again. Jackson has not been afforded many carries so far, and hopefully that changes on Saturday night. C.J. Spiller, on the other hand, has continued to have some ups and downs and we really don't know what we have got in Spiller this far into his second season.

The play where he ran into the quarterback and lost eight yards cancelled out the great run he had for 14 yards. The screen pass where he had at least three blockers in front of him with only two defenders shows that all of the talk about running with patience is a myth. Most NFL backs would have turned that play into a 20-plus-yard gain, but Spiller found a way to turn it into a three-yard play. Spiller also completely blew his pass-blocking assignment and Fitz took a huge hit as a result. Not impressed so far.

Johnny White was the loser in a bad hit from ex-Bills linebacker Mario Haggan. White will miss the rest of the preseason and no word yet on when he will be ready to go. We don't know if this will put his ability to make the final roster in jeopardy, or if he will have to start out as an inactive player until he is over his injuries.

Wide Receivers

There are only two Buffalo Bills wide receivers that didn't miss any practice time in training camp. One is still a Bills player, while the other calls Baltimore home. Stevie Johnson has been healthy, and Lee Evans, of course, is the other. The rest of the wide receivers have missed some portion of camp, and there appears to be a number that are either questionable or out for the Jacksonville game.

David Nelson is back at practice, but for some reason has not been the source of targets from Ryan Fitzpatrick in preseason games. Would like to see Fitz throw him the ball at least four or five times to get him into the flow of the upcoming season.

Donald Jones and Naaman Roosevelt are both gone for the rest of the preseason due to the injuries they sustained in Denver. The NFL announced that they were fining Rahim Moore $20,000 for his hit on Jones.

Craig Davis and Roscoe Parrish have been bystanders at practice due to injuries and we don't know for sure when they will become part of the offense.

The only receiver to catch a touchdown pass in preseason is Felton Huggins, which I am sure was as much of a surprise to Bills fans as it was to me. Bills fans would like to see a nice game out of Marcus Easley, as this is his first game in front of them.

So, as banged up as this unit is, what free agents are out there to bring in for a tryout? Chris Brown at BuffaloBills.com laid out a nice list of free-agent receivers the team could bring in, and the Bills selected Ruvell Martin. Who? Exactly.

The other options are: Hank Baskett, Brian Clark, Mark Clayton, Kevin Curtis, Brian Finneran, Mike Furrey, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Greg Lewis, Randy Moss (retired), Terrell Owens and Brandon Stokley. So many interesting options to pick and we take Ruvell Martin.

Tight Ends

The Bills tight end position looks to belong to Scott Chandler. He has been a fairly consistent receiving target with the exception of the one picture that accompanies this slide. That pass against the Bears looked to be catchable, but went through his hands. Chandler's blocking has been inconsistent and that is probably why he is no longer part of the Cowboys team. 

At least Chandler suits up for every game, which is much more than can be said about Shawn Nelson. Nelson continues to be unable to practice due to some sort of mysterious ailment that the Bills aren't disclosing. But, after all the games that he missed while in Buffalo, is it any wonder that after having eight months to get ready for a new season, Nelson finds a way to not be healthy for the new season? Nelson has become the new version of James Hardy for the Bills this year.

David Martin hasn't made much of an impact so far. The two tight ends that have caught the ball when it was thrown to them are Mike Caussin and Zack Pianalto. If the Bills decide they have had enough of Nelson's antics, one of these two kids have a good chance to make the final roster.

Offensive Line: Part One

Some of the philosophies of Buddy Nix I understand and agree with. Building through the draft makes sense and I applaud that logic. But when there are obvious holes in a unit, Nix traditionally has gone out and brought in a player to help fix that weakness.

Examples of free-agent signings since Nix has started range from Andra Davis, Dwan Edwards, Nick Barnett, Shawne Merriman, Reggie Torbor, Akin Ayodele and now Kirk Morrison. All of those players either have or will be making an impact on the Bills.

But for some reason, Nix appears to be casting a blind eye towards the offensive line. The only player that the Bills have actively been linked to was Tyson Clabo of Atlanta. I have never heard of any other player even coming in for a tryout. Last year Nix signed Cornell Green, and we all saw how that turned out. Maybe it is just a simple explanation. Nix has trouble evaluating offensive linemen properly.

If you were able to watch the Bills game at Denver, you are fully aware of how bad the blocking was. Granted they have not had the normal summer camp routine as in years past, but who expected they would be this bad?

Joe D'Alessandris is an experienced and respected offensive line coach. Mike Mayock thinks he is one of the best at his job. But D'Alessandris must be staying up late at night watching film on his boys and doing whatever he can not to pull his hair out.

If the Bills are unwilling to trade for a veteran lineman, or sign any free agents, then the only thing we can hope for is that some other team is forced to cut somebody of quality and we are able to win the waiver-wire claim. As we mentioned in the first slide, there are 864 NFL players that will go through waivers over the next nine days. Surely there has to be some offensive linemen in that large group that would be an upgrade over the current collection.

Offensive Line: Part Two

Until somebody new is brought in to contend for a job, all Chan Gailey can do is try to create some greater sense of urgency by threatening guys with their jobs. Gailey put everyone on notice by allowing Chad Rinehart to take an equal number of snaps with Andy Levitre at left guard.

Next, Gailey had Levitre rotate over with Demetrius Bell at left tackle to light a fire under his butt. If you happened to see the sack that Von Miller had on Ryan Fitzpatrick (see photo), it was due to Bell watching Miller streak right past him on the way to an easy sack. Bell never laid a hand on Miller. When Gailey saw that play on tape, he knew he had to do something, or his quarterback would never survive the season.

Either way Levitre will be a starter. He might start at left guard or at left tackle. If he is starting at left tackle, then Chad Rinehart becomes the starter at left guard. It was interesting that Levitre, Rinehart and Hangartner were all in there playing at the start of the fourth quarter at Denver.

Eric Wood appears to be set at center, although he made a poor decision at Denver that led to a vicious hit on Fitzpatrick. The guy we seldom hear about is Geoff Hangartner. You would think his roster spot is secure, but then again it is not like Buddy Nix hasn't made some strange moves lately. For the guy that served as the Bills captain on offense in 2010, this has been a strange preseason.

At right guard, the player that appears to be headed for a starting job is Kraig Urbik. The Bills have looked at other players there in preseason, but nobody else appears ready to take the job away from him.

At right tackle, Erik Pears is the early clubhouse leader. There is the possibility that if Bell is bumped from the left tackle job, he might become the right tackle instead. That is a possible scenario that still could become reality.

Defensive Line

Two games and two sacks. Marcell Dareus is proving that he is ready to make a major impact on the Buffalo Bills defense as a rookie. Dareus has brought a new level of intensity to the defense. The run defense on the first team is definitely stronger than it was in 2010. How strong? That is something we will only know as the weeks unfold, but right now it is safe to say that things are looking up.

The combination of Dareus, Pro Bowl nose tackle Kyle Williams and Dwan Edwards should prove to be a formidable defensive line. Rotate guys in like improving sophomores Torell Troup and Alex Carrington and the Bills have a very strong top five for the defensive line.

Dareus was kicked in the calf at practice yesterday, and wound up on crutches as a result. So, it is not yet clear if he will be able to play on Saturday night, which would be a shame if he had to sit out his Bills home debut.

More reinforcements are found in Spencer Johnson and somebody that continues to catch my eye is Kellen Heard. Heard was impressive to me in practice and he has been making plays in the preseason as well. The player that was approaching Paul Bunyan-esque folklore status was rookie Michael Jasper, but in his limited snaps, he has not produced anything. But if you watch Heard play, you will see what I am talking about.

As of now, I would suspect that Jasper is ticketed for the practice squad, and that over time he will develop into something. But if it comes to keeping an extra wide receiver or a player like Heard, my vote would be to keep Heard.

Linebackers

The linebackers group is in a state of flux due to the recent injuries. After taking nine snaps in the Chicago Bears game, Shawne Merriman has only managed a few days on the practice field since then. Merriman was actively involved in recruiting Kirk Morrison to the Bills. Maybe the team was already aware that Reggie Torbor was playing hurt, and Morrison was brought in as insurance for Torbor. Now that Torbor was placed on IR, the move makes tremendous sense.

The pass rush looks to be far better due to the improved defensive line and the additions of Merriman and Nick Barnett. Danny Batten has shown promise for his pass-rushing abilities and we all know what Arthur Moats did at the end of last season.

Players that are still under the microscope are Antonio Coleman and our two rookie inside linebackers, Kelvin Sheppard and Chris White. Sheppard and White have missed considerable time due to injury, so their role in 2011 is up in the air since nobody has seen very much from them yet.

Andra Davis and Morrison will likely battle for playing time, but at least the Bills have much better depth at linebacker than in years past. With the current collection of talent, it seems that Paul Posluszny will not be missed after all. The Bills fans will have their own welcoming committee ready for him on Saturday night.

Defensive Backs

Between Terrence McGee, Leodis McKelvin and Drayton Florence, the Bills have to name two starters at corner. At this point, I would suspect it would be McGee and Florence based on the Denver Broncos game. Everything that was thrown McKelvin's way wound up being a completion, as he was often out of position or couldn't react to the pass because his back was turned away from the quarterback.

McGee had an impressive interception and an even better return. It looked like he might take it the entire distance, but his speed now is not what it was when he was returning kickoffs early in his career.

Aaron Williams has been impressive so far, and it is clear that the Bills got a very good player with their second-round pick. The other rookie corner, Justin Rogers falls in the same category with rookie linebackers Kelvin Sheppard and Chris White, since he has missed most of camp due to injury.

Reggie Corner has looked very good so far in games, and has outplayed McKelvin in my opinion.

Working over to the safeties, George Wilson and Jairus Byrd appear to be the starters coming into the new season. Da'Norris Searcy will see some time as he continues to adjust to the pro game. We know that Wilson will make more plays that Donte Whitner ever did, because Wilson is a better athlete. An ex-wide receiver, he is more adept at making plays on the ball. I am still a little concerned about Byrd, as he has been getting to the ball late on pass plays this preseason, just like he did in 2010.

Lots of New Things To See at Ralph

From the new playing field, to the new players, to the new home jerseys, there will be lots of new things for Bills fans to take in on Saturday night. The fans came out to support the team at St. John Fisher, so it will be a nice change of pace to see the team back again at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

This is the Bills' home debut for the rookie class of 2011, in addition to the first Bills home game for Nick Barnett, Tyler Thigpen, Brad Smith and now Kirk Morrison.

The Bills need to have some successful touchdown drives to build some confidence both for the players and for the coaches. As a result, it would not surprise me if the starters were still playing in the second half on Saturday night.

For Bills fans that reside outside of Western New York, the game will be re-broadcast on the NFL Network on Monday, August 29, at 4:00 pm. The game is blacked out locally on Saturday night since it was not a sellout.

If you have any comments about the team in general, feel free to put them in the comments section and we can carry on a discussion there.