Hamdan, Bills lackluster in pre-season finale (Photo Source)

Thank the merciful gods of football.  It's over.

The Buffalo Bills mailed this one in, playing just one starter - free safety Ko Simpson - in their final pre-season game, a 14-6 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Gibran Hamdan, the team's third quarterback - and not even a lock to make the final roster - got the start at quarterback over dinged starter Trent Edwards (who dressed, but did not play) and Fozzy Bear J.P. Losman.  Playing behind a JV offensive line and with only a few playmakers at the skill positions, Hamdan's effort wasn't terrible; he completed 18 of 26 passes for 158 yards and electrified the crowd early with a 29-yard scramble that put the Bills in field position.  Hamdan was injured late in the game, suffering an apparent head injury, but he's expected to be ready for the season opener - again, if he makes the final roster.

In all, Buffalo's pre-season finale was hardly a crowd-pleaser; on a personal note, I found myself wondering exactly how much money the Bills would pull in on the $1 hot dogs sold for tonight's Kid Night festivities.  If anyone reading this is privy to that information, I'd be interested to know.  Lots of tube-shaped bologna was consumed this evening.

I digress.  There were some occurrances of note to discuss, so discuss we shall:

Youboty, Johnson Shine with Cuts Looming
Two players - wide receiver Steve Johnson and cornerback Ashton Youboty - stood out amongst their peers as several young players took their final stabs at making the 53-man roster, which will be finalized on Saturday.

Youboty was stellar; he recorded multiple pass breakups, tackled well, forced a fumble on a sack, and helped down a Brian Moorman punt inside the 10-yard line.  The kid is just straight up a good football player, and it's excellent to see him proving himself.  He's hungry and he's humble - and he played before Will James tonight.  Bold prediction: Youboty is the team's nickel back after the bye week (Week 5), and he's pushing Jabari Greer for a starting role by season's end.

Meanwhile, Johnson - a seventh round pick this past April - was easily Hamdan's favorite target, snaring 8 passes for 74 yards.  He showed excellent hands, nabbing passes low and away from his body, and he also flashed an ability to gain significant yardage after the catch.  The kid has "stud slot receiver" written all over him.  The better news?  He was very solid on special teams tonight.  I think he's now a lock for the roster.

Speaking of Shining... Dwayne Wright Didn't
Running back Dwayne Wright had an uphill climb to make the final roster tonight and had a golden opportunity to, at the very least, make the coaches think about this decision come tomorrow and Saturday.  Alas, his 8-carry, 11-yard performance featuring his third fumble of the pre-season has probably sealed his fate.  Buffalo's 2007 fourth-round draft pick is almost certainly a roster casualty at this point.

It wasn't just his running, either - Wright was flagged for lining up in the neutral zone on a punt block.  Mental errors are inexcusable, especially when you're screwing up everything else you're doing offensively.

The Pre-Season is Over!
Don't expect a Film Session for this one folks; I no longer regret my decision to not set the DVR before heading up to The Ralph this evening.  Instead, we'll do some roster predictions and cover the final cut-downs this weekend, talk a little more Jason Peters (but only a little), and get ready for Seattle Week.  The regular season is upon us, folks, and I could NOT be more excited.

ROLL CALL: Here's the roll call from tonight's two open threads; shout-out to norcaliangelsfan, who once again paced the crew with 189 comments.  Thanks to the following folks who joined the thread tonight (and to Kurupt for keeping the ship sailing smoothly): norcaliangelsfan, Kurupt, FemaleFanatic85, BuffCrunch, Krenn, Scoe221, spavery, NYTXFAN, WABillsfan, sireric, the Skycap, twoeightnine, LeClaireBill, ScrumHalf9, MARVelous, Cinga, mckelvin, Polish Lover, Kumario!, Pocono Bob, keuka121

  Has Ashton Youboty outjumped the competition? (Photo Source)

As the pre-season begins to wind down, some of the Buffalo Bills' fringe players have one game left to show their stuff.  So the question becomes: what spots on the roster are most up for grabs and who's fighting for these final spots?  Besides the positions that have been discussed previously (Backup TE, Backup LT, Starting CB, Returners, Starting DT), there are some strong battles being waged between players of different positions fighting to make the final roster.

How many spots are available?
To start off, I'd like to point out the positions I feel we are comfortable enough to say who and how many players will make it.  I left a few positions up for grabs as one of those guys is likely to grab the final spot.

QB: 2 (Edwards, Losman)

RB: 3 (Lynch, Jackson, Omon(or Wright I suppose))

FB: 1 (Barnes)

TE: 3 (Royal, Fine, Schouman)

WR: 5 (Evans, Reed, Parrish, Hardy, Jenkins)

OL: 9 (Peters, Dockery, Fowler, Butler, Walker, Chambers, Whittle, Preston, Bell)

DE: 4 (Schobel, Kelsay, Denney, Ellis)

DT: 4 (Stroud, Williams, McCargo, Johnson)

LB: 6 (Posluzny, Mitchell, Crowell, DiGiorgio, Ellison, Spragan for now)

CB: 5 (McGee, Greer, McKelvin, Corner, Youboty/James)

S: 5 (Whitner, Scott, Simpson, Wilson, Wendling)

ST: 3 (Moorman, Lindell, Neill)

That gives us a rough total of 50 roster spots that should be pretty set at this point, at least numbers wise.  Again, the battle for the 5^th WR, backup C and 5^th CB are all debatable by many, but we will definitely be keeping someone for those spots.  That leaves us with roughly 3 open spots to be filled by any number of individuals from various positions: 3^rd QB, 4^th RB, 4^th TE, 6^th WR, 10^th OL, 9^th DL, 7^th LB or 6^th CB.  There should be some heated competition for these final roster spots and it should come down to a number of deciding factors, which we'll discuss after the jump.

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DT Williams fighting off S. Johnson for starting role (Photo Source)

The Buffalo Bills have made the trip to Indianapolis, where they are set to take on the Colts in tonight's pre-season game at the newly constructed - and absolutely gorgeous - Lucas Oil Stadium.  The Bills will be without three key players - QB Trent Edwards, WR James Hardy and WR Roscoe Parrish - for this matchup, and the Colts are missing some starters as well, most prominently QB Peyton Manning.

Despite the starters missing the one pre-season game that's important to a team's growth - especially a team as young as the Bills - there will still be some positional battles and players in unique positions that we'll be keeping an eye on.  We sincerely hope that you'll join us for tonight's open thread; here's what we'll be watching for:

Hamdan vs. Baker: It has become excruciatingly obvious that the Bills will be relying on J.P. Losman as a starting option at some point during the 2008 season.  With that in mind, it's probably high time to start paying a bit more attention to the battle for the team's third quarterback spot raging between Gibran Hamdan and Matt Baker.  One of these guys might actually be our primary backup for stretches during this season.  It is prudent, therefore, to know a bit more about these two players.

Dwayne Wright: He's 2/2 this pre-season; unlike in baseball, that's not a good thing - Wright has fumbled in each of this pre-season's two games.  Rookie sixth-round pick Xavier Omon is far more than just a challenger to Wright's job as the third back now.  Wright has looked good running the ball, but he needs to protect the rock, or he won't be a part of this final roster.

Jenkins, Huggins and Johnson: We can only guess, but we're predicting that Josh Reed - due to the problems he's had with his lower back - won't play as much as the rest of the starters tonight.  Lee Evans might not see a huge work load either, though he's expected to play much of the first half.  With Hardy and Parrish out, we're going to see a lot of playing time for the three receivers fighting for one to two spots - Justin Jenkins, Felton Huggins and rookie Steve Johnson.  The time is now for them to prove that they belong on this team.

Langston Walker: Dwight Freeney is making his first start of the pre-season tonight for Indianapolis, and with that, Walker faces by far his stiffest challenge since his move from right to left tackle.  Walker handled Jason Taylor relatively well in Washington, but Freeney steps the challenge up a notch.  We're expecting Ron From NM to keep an eye on #68, but we'll be watching closely as well.

Demetrius Bell: See Walker, but substitute Freeney's name for any of a number of the Colts' reserve ends who have ridiculous speed, most prominently rookie Marcus Howard.  I'm very intrigued with this kid, as most of you know, and he'll get tested tonight.

Williams vs. Johnson (vs. McCargo?): Apparently, there's a battle raging for the starting tackle spot next to Marcus Stroud, and the two main combatants are Kyle Williams and Spencer Johnson.  The winner of the battle's title may in reality be only a figurehead position, but we've spent enough time with our eyes glued to Marcus Stroud this pre-season to know he's legit; it's time to get more familiar with his running mates.

Angelo Crowell: Buffalo's starting strong-side linebacker makes his 2008 pre-season debut tonight.  Will he look rusty?  How does he look in pass coverage?  How will he operate next to, in essence, two new teammates in Paul Posluszny and Kawika Mitchell?  Well, that's why we're watching him tonight.

Cornerback rotation: The third pre-season game is followed swiftly by initial roster cut-downs and the fourth pre-season game - this coming Thursday against the Lions - so Buffalo's cornerback battle is about to get furiously heated.  Ashton Youboty will again get most of our focus, but we're expecting Leodis McKelvin to take a step forward in the competition tonight as well.

Bills rookie CB Reggie Corner (Photo Source)

Note: Apologies for the lateness of this entry, folks.  The Bills' quick turnaround between pre-season games prevented me from getting to this until yesterday; rest assured that we'll go over the Bills/Steelers game ASAP, with the first half Film Session post coming tomorrow morning.

Yes, the Bills have already played another pre-season game, but that doesn't mean that our Film Session review of the second half of their first pre-season game won't come without valuable tidbits.  I've already broken down some of the Bills' win over the Steelers, but for the sake of chronology, we'll cover the second half of their loss to the 'Skins first.  Rather than making general observations about each position, I'll point out some things I noticed about individual players (this will be specific to pre-season games only).  Enjoy...

Dick Jauron: Whoops.  Guess we'll start with Buffalo's head coach first.  I found this curious: Dick looked murderous after RB Dwayne Wright's second-half fumble; he clapped his hands encouragingly (while still looking pretty miffed) after RB Xavier Omon's fumble.  Just an interesting fact to add to the facts in the competition for the third RB job.

Gibran Hamdan: I wasn't all that impressed.  He made some nice throws underneath and looks like a smart enough guy.  His accuracy on deep balls isn't great, and he looks jittery from time to time in the pocket.  He's light years better than Matt Baker, but I still don't think Gibran is a mortal lock to make the final roster.

Xavier Omon: This kid looks good.  He's already as tough as Wright in the run game, but he's more physical picking up the blitz.  On two plays in Washington, Omon made thumping good hits to completely erase Redskins blitzers.  That was unexpected from Omon coming from Division II.  Quite the pleasant surprise.

Demetrius Bell: Bell has got a future.  His athleticism is great - he's got quick feet and quicker hands.  Not surprisingly, he still struggles a bit technique-wise and with more physical players; I saw him get knocked backwards more than once by a solid punch.  He looks a bit tentative at times as well - but don't mistake that for his being passive.  He looks like he could be counted on as a reserve this season.

Duke Preston: My stomach lurched a bit on one play, where Preston was blown five yards backwards into his own backfield, but otherwise, I didn't think he looked too bad.  Granted, he was playing second and third team linemen from Washington.  I think his versatility keeps him on this team for another year.

Matt Murphy: It's a pity Murphy got hurt, because I thought he looked pretty solid at both left and right tackle.  He'd have made a fine third tackle in the event that Jason Peters' holdout extends into the regular season.  Alas, the 2007 injury bug waited around for Murphy as well.

Derek Fine: Buffalo's rookie tight end is easily the team's most natural receiver at the position.  He just looks comfortable running routes and catching the football; I think by mid-season, he's playing a prominent second fiddle to Robert Royal.  Derek Schouman appears to be all hype at this point.

Steve Johnson: I liked what I saw out of Buffalo's other rookie receiver as a run blocker; he's a tough shed in the slot.  He flashed good hands as well.  I don't know if we've seen enough out of him on special teams, however, to say that he's got a shot at the final roster.  In fact, I'd say that Felton Huggins has a better shot at the final roster than Johnson at this point, because Huggins is a better deep threat.

Chris Ellis: One one running play, Ellis completely blew up the Redskins' entire blocking scheme with outstanding penetration; he was blatantly held on the play as a result.  I'm going to be honest - I thought Ellis was Buffalo's most impressive rookie in Washington.  He's still green and needs another pass rush move or two for his repertoire, but I think if things go well this season he could be starting next to Aaron Schobel in '09.

Marcus Buggs: UDFA LB Buggs is small, but packs a nice punch.  He was solid in the team's goal line stand in the fourth quarter.  He looks good on special teams as well.  He may just beat out Blake Costanzo for the final roster spot at LB if the team keeps a seventh.

Reggie Corner: He took some lumps, but he also made some great plays.  For a guy nobody knew about exiting the draft, he looks very natural - and very quick - on the field.  Another solid find by Buffalo's scouting department.

Leodis McKelvin: I'm not worried about McKelvin's cover skills; those are already solid, and they'll get much better.  I focused instead on his tackling - and it's not great.  McKelvin is physical and willing to risk his body to make a tough play, but his tackling from a technique standpoint is quite poor.  It's this fact that might prevent him from sneaking in nickel reps, at least initially, in the regular season - Buffalo's nickel back must be a good tackler in Perry Fewell's system.

I have some notes on some other players, but they're not necessarily worth posting here.  Saw some good things out of Buffalo's youngsters, though, in particular Bell, Omon, Ellis and Corner.  Again, we'll have more Film Session stuff to discuss tomorrow morning as we break down the first half of the Bills' victory over Pittsburgh.

Edwards enters Year 2 with starting experience (Photo Source)

Prior to the 2008 NFL Draft - in fact, prior to the free agent signing period of this past March - we took a look at the Buffalo Bills' roster position by position, breaking down then-current personnel, finding holes, and building our community needs list.

Now that free agency and the Draft have been completed, and the Bills have infused their roster with new talent, it's time to repeat our process.  Where has Buffalo gotten better?  Where have they gotten worse?  How will additions impact which Bills veterans remain on the roster?  These are questions that we'll attempt to answer over the next week or so.

We'll start the positional discussions off today by looking, of course, at Buffalo's quarterback situation.  To see our previous discussion on Buffalo's quarterbacks, bang it here.

Trent Edwards: Buffalo's second-year starting quarterback has a lot of pressure on his shoulders.  We all are keenly aware of where Edwards' strengths lie - he's got excellent pocket awareness, a very solid (if unspectacular) arm, the ability to read defenses, and that dreaded "p" word, potential.  We're also keenly aware of Edwards' weaknesses, most notably his lack of statistical production - both on a personal level as well as a team offense level.

Clearly, Edwards - who still has less than a full season's worth of NFL starts under his belt - has a lot of growing up to do, not only in terms of increasing Buffalo's mediocre scoring output, but blossoming into a team leader as well.  Despite all of the question marks, however, Edwards is clearly and irrevocably (do you hear that, Coach Jauron?  irrevocably) Buffalo's starting quarterback.

J.P. Losman: After making it known that he'd much prefer a trade out of town this past January, Losman remains a Bill, and he is clearly and irrevocably (do you hear that, Coach Jauron? irrevocably) Buffalo's backup quarterback.  Losman struggled in his '07 starts after an '06 season that showed marginal growth on his part.  He will likely only be a Bill for one more season (his current contract expires after 2008), and he'll then hit the open waters as an unrestricted free agent.  Due to the lack of an appealing veteran option, and the lack of a trade partner, and the fact that he's the best man for the job, Losman is the team's best bet at backup quarterback.

Gibran Hamdan: Signed during the '07 season after the team released Craig Nall for a second time, Hamdan currently resides at third on the depth chart.  The coaching staff likes Hamdan, but does he hold enough sway with the coaches to keep his job safe from the likes of Matt Baker and Luke Drone?

The Additions: Matt Baker, Luke Drone
We mentioned prior to the events of the off-season that should the Bills trade Losman, adding a backup quarterback with experience.  Clearly, the Losman trade did not happen, and the Bills instead chose to round out their training camp depth chart by adding Baker - an NFL practice squad veteran - and Drone, an undrafted rookie free agent from Division I-AA Illinois State.  Baker and Drone will enter a three-way competition with Hamdan for the #3 quarterback role in Buffalo; whether any of them ultimately makes the roster remains to be seen.

The Subtractions: None

Pre-Season Outlook: Edwards and Losman are locked in to the '08 opening day roster, and will serve in their irrevocable (Coach?) starter/backup respective roles.  Whether or not Hamdan, Baker or Drone makes the roster depends heavily on whether or not the Bills keep more than two quarterbacks on the opening day roster (they entered '07 with two on the roster).  At least one of the trio of Hamdan, Baker and Drone will stick around, either on the active roster or as a member of the practice squad.

Change: Negligible.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts on Buffalo's quarterback position - whether it be Edwards, Losman, the third-string trio, roster numbers, or anything else your little hearts desire - in the comments section.