Buffalo Bills (5-7) vs. St. Louis Rams (5-6-1)
Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 1:00 PM ET
Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, NY

Bills inactives: QB Tarvaris Jackson, WR Marcus Easley, OT Chris Scott, C Eric Wood, DE Mark Anderson, CB Aaron Williams, CB T.J. Heath

The Buffalo Bills and St. Louis Rams are two sub-.500 football teams that, thanks to ultra-tight wild card races in both conferences, are still mathematically alive for post-season contention. That's the angle both teams will be taking to this game; another apt angle: these are two middling football teams that are bad slightly more often than they're good.

Still, for a Bills team that is still fighting to prove that it's better than last year's 6-10 outfit that started the season 5-2, this Rams team - tough on defense, intermittently efficient on offense and much-improved in their first season under head coach Jeff Fisher - is a good way to measure the team's progress. A win in a winnable game against an evenly-matched opponent is not something that the Bills have routinely turned in. They'll have that chance today.

This is your open thread for the first half of today's game. I'm at the stadium, so Matt Warren is steering the ship today. Enjoy the game, folks. Let's go Buffalo!