The Buffalo Bills (0-1) will travel to FirstEnergy Stadium to play the Cleveland Browns (0-1) at 8:00 p.m. ET in tonight's NFL preseason matchup. Both teams are excited to further evaluate their up-in-the-air quarterback positions tonight.
Matt Cassel, EJ Manuel and Tyrod Taylor are currently in a three-way battle for the starting gig in Buffalo. Taylor had a solid showing against the Carolina Panthers last week - five of eight passing for 49 yards, six carries for 47 yards - prompting Buffalo general manager Doug Whaley to say that he has "everything you're looking for" in a QB. He'll get the start tonight though veteran Cassel, and 2013 first-rounder Manuel won't just hand over the starting job.
New head coach Rex Ryan is hoping that one of his quarterbacks distinguishes themselves tonight. The Bills finished 2014 ranked first in sacks (54) and fourth in overall defense (312.2 yards allowed per game). But similar to Ryan's New York Jets teams, the QB position leaves a lot to be desired. If he wants his tenure in Buffalo to be different than New York, he'll have to cobble together a competent offense to compliment his dominant defense. That mission continues tonight.
On the other side of things, second-year QB Johnny Manziel is hoping to build on his solid start to the preseason. Although veteran free agent Josh McCown is in line to start for the Browns in Week 1, he mustered just a 1-10 record as the starter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season and won't enjoy the longest of leashes in Cleveland. Granted, Manziel's rookie season was an absolute disaster. But following a stay in rehab this offseason and some solid training camp work, the Browns are still interested to see what they have in the former first-rounder.
McCown completed five-of-five pass attempts for 33 yards and one score against the Washington Redskins last week. Manziel completed seven-of-eleven passes for 42 yards while also carrying the ball twice for 14 yards and a touchdown.
Buffalo and Cleveland will not meet in the regular season.
You can check out the live stream for the game by clicking here and listen to the radio broadcasts here (BUF) and here (CLE).
