Buffalo has come out a bit lackluster this year as per recent history. Now that Marv is back with the organization, perhaps he can see the sense in bringing in the rookie Trent at QB?  JP has had considerable chance in trying to get things going for the offense for sometime now. He is a good athelete but is lacking in the W column and does not seem to come up with the big plays when he has to…  Am I right here or am I missing something? I think that introducing Trent with a Stanford style offense would enable Lynch to ease into his role as feature running back as well. Its not that the fans expect to win all the time, they just expect positive progression. Sadly, JP may not have delivered to date on progression. We do like JP though and maybe the situation will change. However, I think that the Bills should look now to introduce, develop and build a better team that will threaten most teams in the league.   By the way, wouldn’t it be great to see Marv Coaching on the sidelines again. That is if he is up for it. He just might be!

The poor Buffalo Bills. Losing in the last second despite playing your hearts out and then losing three defensive starters mean the Bills could have a very long day against the Steelers this Sunday. That’s unless Dick Jauron can give the speech of his life to get his team motivated to win one for TE Kevin Everett so they can give him the game ball. The Bills will need to run the football to keep it away from the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Rookie Marshawn Lynch did a good job in his NFL debut as he carried the football 19 times for 90 yards (4.7 ypc) and a TD against the Broncos last week. But the Steelers defense is an entirely different animal. They have a solid defensive line and a group of active linebackers. The Steelers held the Browns to 46 yards rushing last week on 16 carries (2.9 ypc). The Bills also must attack the Steelers CBs with their WRs. No excuse can be given as to why Lee Evans only caught 2 passes for 5 yards last week. He is a physical mis-match for the Steelers secondary but will J.P. Losman have the time to get him the football? We’ll see on Sunday as the Steelers had six sacks against the Browns last week.

The Steelers will likely come out with the same exact gameplan that they had against the Browns. They will likely throw the ball early in the game and then grind it out on the ground. Willie Parker (109 yards rushing) will likely have a field day against a Bills defense that allowed the Broncos to rush for 171 yards on 32 carries (5.3 ypc). QB Ben Roethlisberger should have plenty of time to survey the field when he drops back to pass. The Bills allowed 309 yards passing last week to the Broncos so the Steelers should have little problem moving the ball in the air. Look for the Steelers to attack CB Ashton Youboty often as he will be making his first NFL start. I could definately see Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Heath Miller all making return trips to the end zone this week against the Bills.

PREDICTION: This game will be a bloodbath. Look for the Steelers to trounce the undermanned Bills by at least two touchdowns this Sunday.

The Buffalo Bills have signed TE Michael Gaines to replace the injured Kevin Everett. Gaines was cut by the Panthers in the pre-season but he could challenge Robert Royal for some playing time. Gaines played in all 16 games (9 starts) last season for the Panthers and he caught 15 passes for 146 yards (9.7 avg). He has now played in 42 career games (21 starts) and he has caught 31 passes for 335 yards (10.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs. Don’t expect him to add much to the Bills offense this season.

The Buffalo Bills got physically beaten up by the Denver Broncos yesterday and it will affect the 2007 season in a bad way. Reserve TE Kevin Everett had emergency surgery last night as he dislocated and fractured his neck when he hit Broncos KR Domenik Hixon head to head. It’s possible that he might not ever walk again but that won’t be known for a little while. The Bills had big plans for Everett this season as they wanted to throw to the TEs more this season. He caught 1 pass for 3 yards before he was injured. TE Robert Royal will get almost all the playing time this season with Everett hurt. He caught only 1 pass for 12 yards in the opener. Starting cornerback Jason Webster broke his arm after making 3 tackles against the Broncos and he will likely miss the remainder of the season. Second year man Ashton Youboty will take his place as the starting CB and he made 4 tackles yesterday. Starting FS Ko Simpson is also likely to miss the season after fracturing his ankle after making 1 tackle on Sunday. Jim Leonhard will replace him and he did an outstanding job after Simpson left the game with 13 tackles and 1 interception. The Bills are also in trouble at outside linebacker where they were already without starter Keith Ellison for 3-5 weeks with a high ankle sprain. Ellison’s replacement was Coy Wire and he was injured yesterday as he sprained his knee. He made 1 tackle before he was injured and it’s unknown at this time how long he will be out.

With no timeouts left the Broncos rushed Jason Elam on the field and he kicked a 42-yard field goal to break the Bills hearts. The Bills gave up a ton of yards on defense so it was amazing that they had a chance to win this football game. DB Jim Leonhard led the Bills with 13 tackles and an interception. LBs Paul Poslusny and Angelo Crowell each had 10 tackles apiece. The Bills had all of those tackles because the Broncos were rolling up the yards. The Broncos rushed for 171 yards on 32 carries (5.3 ypc) and they completed 23 of 39 passes for 299 yards.

The Bills couldn’t get much going on offense against the Broncos. QB J.P. Losman was off as he only hit 14 of 21 passes for 97 yards and a interception. He also ran the ball 2 times for 13 yards. Rookie RB Marshawn Lynch was outstanding as he ran the ball 19 times for 90 yards (4.7 ypc) with a TD and he also caught 2 passes for 9 yards (4.5 avg). Josh Reed was the leading receiver with 4 catches for 37 yards (9.3 avg) and he also ran the ball 1 time for 12 yards. The Broncos bottled up Lee Evans as he only caught 2 passes for 5 yards (2.5 avg). Roscoe Parrish caught 2 passes for 25 yards and he also returned a punt 74 yards for a TD. The Bills finished up with 112 yards rushing on 26 carries (4.3 ypc) and they completed 14 of 21 passes for 72 yards.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270909002

I don’t know about the rest of my faithful Bills fans, but I am sick and tired of watching the Bills lose games at the end. As I was watching the game near the end, I predicted exactly what would happen. The Bills, up by 2, set themselves up perfectly to get beat on a last second field goal. Good Job Buffalo! I’m so glad I can rely on the same thing every year!

I hate to say it Buffalo fans but I have to go with the under here. Losing London Fletcher and Nate Clements is going to devastate the defense which was making some strides. The Bills also will likely have problems on offense at no running back has stepped up to replace Willis McGahee. If Marshawn Lynch plays up to his ability the Bills will likely be o.k. running the ball because the Bills invested a lot of cash in the offensive line. Still, they will have to score a lot of points and that will be hard to do with the constant double teams that WR Lee Evans will be facing this season. Take the under.

The Bills drafted players to specifically replace these players so neither move is a shock. Craig Nall completed 12 of 19 passes (63.2%) for 121 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs (81.2 QB Rating) in the pre-season. He was soundly beaten out by rookie Trent Edwards for the #2 job in Buffalo. Still, he will likely get a chance to hook on with a team that needs a QB this season. RB Shaud Williams only carried the football 12 times for 38 yards (3.2 ypc) this pre-season for the Bills but he was behind too many other backs on the Bills. He will likely get a chance from some team that needs a running back this season.