Bills vs. Lions live chat, NFL preseason Week 4: first half open thread

Tonight, the Buffalo Bills enter their preseason finale against the Detroit Lions at Ralph Wilson Stadium battered and bruised at key positions, attempting to answer many questions heading into their Week 1 showdown with the New England Patriots. Regardless of where your enthusiasm level for Bills football is after a very long and crazy week, there's one thing we all can agree on: at least the preseason will be over in about four hours.

Jeff Tuel was expected to make the start at quarterback with both EJ Manuel and Kevin Kolb sidelined but Matt Leinart will get the nod followed by Thaddeus Lewis. Nigel Bradham and Crezdon Butler are the only potential opening day starters playing their roles tonight.

People will also look for any hint of a reason to be optimistic about new quarterbacks Leinart and Lewis sticking on the final roster, as well. There are plenty of position battles to monitor (see the link above) and a fair amount of intrigue for a preseason finale, but let's face it: we all just sort of want to speculate whether or not Manuel will be healthy enough to play next weekend. Right?

Kickoff is at 7PM ET. I'm at The Ralph to take this one in, so MRW will be your fearless leader for the remainder of the evening. Enjoy, and go Bills! (And for the love of all that is holy, stay healthy.)