Bills-Lions Preview

Tonight is the final preseason game for the Buffalo Bills as they travel to Detroit to face the Lions. While the starters are expected to only get about 12-14 snaps, the game itself cannot be deemed meaningless. They are a few skilled players on the Bills squad that have to go out tonight and give it their all, because for many, there may be no tomorrow.

‘Must Perform’ players include:

On Offense:
Joique Bell – Bell has shown some explosive stuff so far this preseason, and leads the Bills with 142 rushing yards and 2 TDs. He will need to improve his special teams skills if he wants to increase his chance of making the roster. With the rumor of Marshawn Lynch seeing extended playing time tonight, Bell is going to have to make the most of his opportunities.

James Hardy – It seems that throughout Hardy’s young career, his name is showing up more on the injury report, than it is in the box scores. Although there aren’t too many ‘stand-out’ wide receivers on the team, there have been plenty of impressive preseason plays made by the other WRs, including Roscoe Parrish, David Nelson and Chad Jackson. It’s going to be tough for Hardy to make his case in one game, but perhaps he will show enough to make the cut.

On Defense:
John McCargo – McCargo has had one of his strongest camps this preseason, and may have already made his case to be the seventh defensive linemen to make the roster this season, but a strong game tonight definitely wouldn’t hurt his cause.

Chris Brown of ‘Inside the Bills‘ also reports that Ryan Fitzpatrick will not suit up tonight, leaving the QB rotation to look like this: Edwards, Brohm, Brown. Seems as if the coaching staff has seen what they got in Fitz so they perhaps want to give Brohm a final rehearsal before making their cuts.

Detroit Lions

The Lions are a team that after many losing seasons, finally look like they have found the right coaching staff and players to turn this franchise around.

And much like the Bills , Lions fans are extremely excited about what they have in rookie running back Jahvid Best.

Zac Snyder of SideLionReport.com has this to say about Best:

"Lions fans were excited about what Jahvid Best could bring to the offense as soon as they landed him with the 30th overall pick last April. Best’s preseason performance has done nothing to temper that enthusiasm. In fact, he has been even better than advertised.The Lions have lacked explosiveness out of the backfield for a long time. Just a handful of carries into his NFL preseason carry Jahvid Best ran the ball wide and turned the corner against Pittsburgh’s first string offense. That just isn’t something we’ve seen in Detroit, unless it was from the opposition. One carry for 51 yards and one catch for a first down was all the Lions coaching staff needed to see in the third preseason game. The staff cited stiff legs as the reason for the light workload; it is scary to think what he is capable of when those legs get loose."

Hopefully fans will be able to see C.J Spiller and Jahvid Best try to out do one another in Week 10, when the Lions come to Ralph Wilson Stadium in a regular season match up.

Tonight’s kickoff starts a half hour earlier tonight at 6:30pm, due to the Jay-Z & Eminem concert taking place near Ford Field.