After both teams pareddown their rosters to 75 players this week, the Lions and Bills meet on Thursday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium to end their respective preseasons.
For Buffalo, a first-team offense that has yet to get into the endzone against an opponent’s first team defense. There may be little opportunity to do that, as while head coach Doug Marrone said Tuesday he still plans on playing the starters, he’s “not looking at playing them very long into the game.”
“We’ll get in there and the guys that have some nicks we will keep out and the guys that have to work through some things we may put in there,” said Marrone. “It’s not going to be something where I’m looking to keep them in there for a very long period of time.”
The extra work for the offense, including quarterback E.J. Manuel, was not expected since the Bills have already played the customary four preseason games, with their participation in the Hall of Fame game helping the team equal the amount of preseason games 30 other NFL teams will have played. However, with former Chicago Bear Jordan Palmer replacing the recently cut Thaddeus Lewis at quarterback, getting him to play as “much” as possible, improving overall execution, and with still some roster spots to decide, Marrone feels their are things to be “accomplished” in this fifth and final game.
“I’m comfortable with my team,” said Marrone. “Where I want to see us is getting better at understanding some things, schematically, and some of the things we’ve been working on this week getting ourselves ready to go. I think for each person it’s different. There are still some jobs that are out there that are on the line. There’s competition out there. Obviously, we’re playing a game so our goal is to win.”
On the Detroit side, Tim Twentyman, the senior writer at detroitlion’s.com, revealed what Buffalo’s opponent is looking to take out of their final preseason game:
Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell has said throughout training camp that when it comes to the competitions at certain positions for playing time and roster spots, it’s more of a marathon evaluation than it is a sprint.
Caldwell and Co. are going to look at a player’s whole body of work, not just the preseason games, but he did admit to reporters on Tuesday that this week’s preseason finale in Buffalo will be an especially important measuring stick for some of those players.
“Well this game is really important to a lot of our guys, (especially) to those that are in tight battles,” Caldwell said. “This is kind of the point of the roster where these games count heavily for the individuals that are playing in the games.”
The starters aren’t expected to play a whole lot Thursday night, which means players fighting for a spot at the bottom of the roster, along with those entrenched in close position battles, will have an opportunity to get extended playing time in Buffalo to make their final case to coaches.
“A lot of them will get more playing time and some may not have gotten any playing time up to this point and it’s a very, very important one for them, so they try to take advantage of it – give them the best opportunity to do well,” Caldwell said.
“But it is one of those things indeed where we look at their body of work since they’ve been here and make the decision accordingly.”
For a player like tight end turned offensive tackle Michael Williams, this game will be his best opportunity to make a case for that fourth tackle spot. He’s been competing with undrafted rookie Cornelius Lucas there all camp.
“It’s huge for guys like myself and Lucas,” Williams said. “We’ll get a lot of playing time and then let the chips fall where they may.”
One interesting nugget in this game is Bills defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz coaching against his former team that let him go at the end of the 2013 regular season. However, the Paula Pasche of the Daily Tribune writes that both Schwartz and the Lions have moved on:
Traditionally an opposing defensive coordinator doesn’t shake hands with the head coach.
Would be interesting if it happened Thursday night when coach Jim Caldwell and the Detroit Lions play the Buffalo Bills whose defensive coordinator is Jim Schwartz.
It may be a conversation worth hearing.
That’s not how the players see it though.
When the Lions play the Bills in the final preseason game for each team, Schwartz will not be a factor.
“I think everybody has moved on from that,’’ center Dominic Raiola said. “I’ve been here long enough you see enough coaches come and go you just greet them when you see them and you move on. Everybody’s moved on.’’
Linebacker Tahir Whitehead said having Schwartz on the other sideline doesn’t make the game more important or less so than the previous three preseason games.
Whitehead, starting his third season, has nothing bad to say about Schwartz.
“We had a good relationship. He was an easy-going guy, a little fiery at times as well,’’ Whitehead said. “It’s going to be fun, he’s a competitive guy. We’re going to go out there and try to get after them. It’s football, it’s the name of the game.’’
Schwartz definitely exuded both energy and sometimes a laid-back attitude at Bills training camp at St. John Fisher College. However, with it being preseason, it would be odd for Schwartz to open up the playbook against his former team, instead keep things close to the vest in order to save it for the regular season.
Both squads will have their final opportunity to evaluate who are the best 53 players on their roster, and who are the 22 that they will have to let go in order to pare down their roster further. With both teams coming off non-playoff seasons, the decisions could potentially be the best difference between playing or golfing in January.
