The late-arriving crowd (or non-arriving crowd) offered a smattering of boos when Steven Jackson was introduced. Jackson has been more productive as a talker than as a runner/receiver this season.

The Bills were eager to get their defense on the field. After winning the coin toss, they elected to defer their choice to the second half. So the Rams got the ball first.

Al Saunders opened with a bomb to rookie Donnie Avery, but Bills cornerback Terrence McGee was sitting on it. Also, Green underthrew the ball. So much for his attempt to revive the Rams offense.

On third down, the Bills blitzed Green – against all odds – and the Rams had no idea how to react. Green was forced to dump off the pass as he got hit. In the process, he very nearly gave away the ball with a lateral.

The Bills came out firing, with Trent Edwards hitting a 49-yard bomb to Lee Evans over the hapless Tye Hill. Who could have seen that coming?

Hill didn’t. He had his back turned. Hill was just out there playing tag again.

Alas, a Buffalo holding penalty allowed the reeling Rams defense to hold the Bills to a field goal and a 3-0 deficit.

The Rams came back at the Bills on the ground, feeding Steven Jackson again and again. Then Green’s 19-yard completion to Torry Holt (remember him?) jump-started the offense.

Then the explosive Avery came around the end on a 37-yard touchdown jaunt. Yes, the Rams scored a touchdown and earned a 7-3 lead!

The Rams nearly caught a huge break on the ensuing kickoff return. Bills return specialist Leodis McKelvin lost the ball while breaking tackle after tackle after tackle, but the Bills recovered it.

Edwards caught Hill with his back turned again, but led receiver James Hardy too close to the sidelines. The play was there and the Bills didn’t make it. (Hill suffered a sprained knee on the play. “Addition by subtraction” noted one of the press box wags.)

Buffalo had to punt the ball back to the Rams, who held the momentum gained by Avery’s big play. Halfway through the first quarter, the Rams haven’t embarrassed themselves.

Then again, the Rams didn’t turn the corner. Their next possession went nowhere. Jackson ran into a brick wall, then the Bills pressured Green into two incomplete passes. On the first, Green flinched. On the second, he got bowled over.

Then the Rams allowed a 35-yard return on the ensuing punt – putting the Bills back into scoring position.

The Bills pounded the ball to Marshawn Lynch again and again, advancing the ball to the Rams 9. But Ron Bartell broke up a would-be TD pass in the right corner of the end zone, Chris Long delivered a sack and Bartell broke up another would-be TD pass.

So the Bills had to take the 3 and cut the Rams’ lead to 7-6.

Green opened the next offensive sequence with a quick out pass to Holt for a first down. After a two-yard Jackson run, Saunders tried to get tricky – bringing Dante Hall around end to take a handoff and bomb away to tight end Randy McMichael.

For a second, it looked like the play would work. But McMichael appeared to strain his hamstring muscle while racing downfield and the pass fell incomplete. But Green came back on the next play and hit the speedy Avery for a 15-yard completion.

Look! Joe Klopfenstein! He stepped in for McMichael and made an 8-yard catch. Who said he was a bad draft pick?

(Me? Oh, yeah. You’re right.)

Your cyber-correspondent has dogged Dante Hall during the first three weeks of the season. So it’s important to note that he looked pretty good on his 10-yard end around. He kept the Rams moving into scoring range.

When the first quarter ended with the Rams ahead by a precious point, the fans at The Ed responded with a non-derisive cheer.