This is the unedited version of my game story that will appear in tomorrow's News Tribune:

By Frank Hughes
Frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Every single unanswered question that faced the Seattle Seahawks as they headed into their regular-season opener against the Buffalo Bills, every doubt and every uncertainty that was raised was greeted with a negative response at Ralph Wilson Stadium Sunday afternoon.
In the first game of Mike Holmgren’s last season, the Seahawks looked overmatched and overwhelmed, dropping a disheartening 34-10 decision to the Bills that exposed every weakness the Seahawks believed they could mask with either youthful exuberance or unrealistic hope.
A restructured offensive line? It continued to have difficulties either opening holes or protecting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who was sacked five times.

=> Read more!

On the fake field goal
We actually called it earlier in the first quarter on third down, but we got the first down and decided to wait on it. When we had the chance again in the second half, we called it and I was pretty excited about that.

=> Read more!

Opening statement:
It was as good as could be expected in all phases of the game – offense, defense, and special teams. I can’t say enough about the preparation of our staff and of course our players just performed. Special teams, of course you saw the two huge plays. Roscoe’s return just had a great impact on the game, and then the play to Ryan (Denney) was almost exactly like we practiced it, and you hope it comes out. Usually it doesn’t, though. Offensively and defensively we sure played well and we played hard. We played hard the whole game. We knew that team was a really talented football team coming in, and we knew we’d have to make plays to win and try to steal some points at different times and just kind of went out, we got some of the breaks and we played well. In the turnover area, we won that, and we didn’t have many penalties, so we didn’t hurt ourselves. All in all, it was just a terrific start for us, and we just have to sustain it, but I tell you, we’ll enjoy this for 24 hours or so.

=> Read more!

On today’s game:
I think for the most part we will be able to watch this film and learn a lot of things. Our mistakes today I think are nothing hard work can’t fix.

On lack of preseason playing time:
I didn’t feel that way. I guess I could leave that to my coaches to say what they thought, but I didn’t feel that way at all. I’ve felt really good for a long time. I didn’t think it was that at all.

On national reports of back problems:
That is not really what was hurting, my back. From what I was told is that 85% of the world would look the same if they MRI’ed it, and it was probably 5, 6 years old. That is not really why my back was hurt.

=> Read more!

On the pressure of missing injured wide receivers
Not at all. It don’t put anymore pressure on us than we already feel as individuals to get better.

On if Hasselbeck not playing in the preseason had something to do with the inconsistency in the game today
No that had nothing to do with it. Buffalo came out and played a great game and we didn’t execute on offense. That’s the bottom line.

On the injuries to other wide receivers
That’s the nature of the game. We got to take it in stride. Our other receivers need to step up and make a big play. We didn’t today.

General Comments:
“To the Bills credit, I think they did a great job and we have a lot of work to do. I thought we were sloppy particularly on offense, the special teams, clearly; field position and how Buffalo handled their special teams against us, was I think, the big story of the game. We’ll get better. We didn’t play very well today I think, but we’ll get better. We’ve got to get back home, roll up our sleeves and get going.”

On Nate Burleson (injury):
“We’ll know more tomorrow. He hurt his knee. It was a little bit of an aggravation from an old injury.”

=> Read more!

View complete stats for the game here.

There’s no getting around how ugly this one was. The Seahawks averaged 3.8 yards a play, could not convert on third down for most of the day and could not run the ball, a point of emphasis during the preseason.

The young receivers proved they have a lot of growing up to do, with at least six drops attributed to the receiving core, with many of them coming on critical third down.

Ryan Plackemeier didn’t play particularly well, including a two 22-yarder, one of which led to a late field goal by the Bills.

The defense didn’t play that badly, but they did give up several big plays in the passing game against a team not known for its ability to stretch the field in Buffalo. Lee Evans finished with four catches for 102 yards, including a long of 41 yards. And Robert Royal caught a 30-yard touchdown pass after Josh Wilson fumbled the kickoff.

Matt Hasselbeck, who didn’t play much during the preseason because of a sore back, struggled with his top receivers Bobby Engram and Deion Branch out, finishing 17 of 41 for 190 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

But part of the problem was the inconsistent play from his young receivers.

The keys for Seattle to get better for next week will be to drastically improve its special teams play, get the running game going and find one or two of the young receivers that can make a play in the passing game.

First and foremost, Nate Burleson has a sprained knee. His status is unclear. Here's why: Burleson told Eric Williams that he expects to be back next week. However, when we asked Mike Holmgren about the decision to use Nate as a punt returner, his last line was, "Now it looks like we are going to have to find somebody else," insinuating that Burleson could be out next week. Holmgren said they will know more tomorrow, when both Burleson and Mo Morris get MRIs.

As for the locker room, both Holmgren and the players seemed rather matter-of-fact about the loss. They all said it was not the end of the season, they have to learn from this and move forward and they have a lot of work to do.

=> Read more!

The Seahawks could not punch in a late touchdown despite being inside the 5, indicative of the entire day. Eric and I are heading to what promises to be an uplifting postgame locker room, but wanted to start a thread before we get back up for postgame stuff. The score right now is 34-10. Please keep the language appropriate and the discussion on football.

Josh Wilson fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the Bills recovered, and Trent Edwards threw a strike to Robert Royal on the next play for a 34-10 lead.

The Bills just embarrassed the Seahawks, coonverting a fake field into a touchdown. Defensive end Ryan Denney was split out to the left side, and not one Seahawk was out there with him. Holder Brian Moorman simply rose up and lofted a Billy Kilmer-like pass to Denney, who caught the ball easily with no Seattle player within 10 yards. Bills lead, 27-10.

Nate Burleson suffered a knee injury and is done for the day.

Olindo Mare hit a 45-yard field goal attempt. I could not completely tell, but it appeared that it was tipped before going through as a knuckleball.

Nate Burleson is off the training table and sitting on the bench, though he currently has his pant leg rolled up so I don't know his status.

On the last pass play, NAte Burleson tripped over his own feet making a move and went down. He is laying on the field and they are working on his left leg. Things are not really going very well for the Seahawks right now.

UPDATE: He was just helped off the field with two trainers, limping and favoring his left leg.

His return is questionable. No details on the injury.

UPDATE: Morris is sitting on the bench on the sideline, not in the locker room, so it appears it is not that serious. He has his right shoe and sock off and is getting worked on.

While Lofa Tatupu is back playing he appears to be wearing a wrap on his right hand.

Seahawks middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu emerged from the locker room and is on the sideline. It appears he will play in the second half.

Except for a second-quarter scoring drive that was helped out by a long kickoff return and a pass interference penalty, the Seahawks' offense has looked completely uninspired in a game they are trailing 20-7.

Matt Hasselbeck appears to be rusty from his long layoff and the receivers look like deers in the headlights. Courtney Taylor has two drops and no receptions. Nate Burleson has three catches and a touchdown. The running game has not been able to establish anything, whether it is Mo Morris or Julius Jones. Hard to say if it is the East Coast thing or the inexperience thing or first-game jitters or what.

On the bright side, the defense has looked decent, bottling up Marshawn Lynch for the most part and keeping Trent Edwards in check. The defensive pass rush is not as dominant as I thought it might be, but Patrick Kerney does have a sack. One frightening thing: Lofa Tatupu was not in at the end of the half and we could not spot him on the sideline. I'll try to get an update on that.

The special teams have been pretty awful. Ryan Plackemeier has not been able to get off a punt, and the one that he did was returned 63 yards for a touchdown by Roscoe Parrish. He hit only a 22-yarder at the end of the half, allowing Buffalo to kick a last-second field goal.

The Seahawks have a lot of work to do if they want to win their fifth opener in the last six years.

Nate Burleson dropped a wide-open pass that would have been a touchdown reception, then on the next play makes a ridiculously difficult catch for a touchdown, landing on D back Jabari Greer when he landed. The TD pulled the Seahawks to 14-7.

This game kind of reminds me of that Arizona game last year -- and a few others as well -- where the Seahawks and Matt Hasselbeck didn't get it going until they realized they were down.

That drive was started with a nice kickoff return by Josh Wilson, a pass interference call and a 20-yard pass to John Carlson.

Bills punt returner Roscoe Parrish just went 63 yards, through a number of Seahawks cover guys to score on an elecrtric return and give the Bills a 14-0 lead.

Logan Payne missed the initial tackle, then Parrish dashed to the right, cut across ot the middle of the field, broke a tackle by John Carlson, kept going and ended up tin the end zone.

Seattle needs to get something going offensively. So far it has been unable to establish anything. Matt Hasselbeck has had a few passes dropped, but he has been off all afternoon.

This is what the fear was with the Seahawks' offense coming into the season, that when the real games started the young receivers would have a hard time making the adjustment. So far Matt Hasselbeck is 0-4 on his passing, three of which were intended for Courtney Taylor and one of which was intended for Nate Burleson.

On the flip side, Seattle's defense looks good so far, with Patrick Kerney recording his first sack of the season and Brandon Mebane looking strong.

ESPN's Chris Mortenson reported this morning that Matt Hasselbeck has a bulging disc in his back. What Seahawks pr is telling us is this:

Matt does have a bulging disc that was revealed on the MRI that was taken when he initially injured the back. But the disc, we are told by Pr, is not the reason he missed the time in the preseason. That was because he was suffering from back spasms. He did receive an injection for that, we are told by pr, which calmed down the back. The bulging disc, pr tells us, is the result of wear and tear and age and is not affecting his ability to play. When we asked why this was not revealed before, pr told us that Matt is very protective of information regarding his health, though this does go against him saying that he is "100 percent."

Right now, Nate Burleson and Seneca Wallace are out on the field practicing catching punts.

K Brandon Coutu
RB Justin Forsett
OG Mansfield Wrotto
OT Sean Locklear
WR Deion Branch
WR Bobby Engram
DE Baraka Atkins
QB Charlie Frye

We were debating who the eighth and final inactive was going to be, and it is Forsett, which obviously means he will not be returning punts. We'll have to see who does the returns.

Bills inactives

Steve Johnson
Reggie Corner
Matt Murphy
Demetrius Bell
Derek Fine
Chris Ellis
John McCargo
Gibran Hamdan

The interesting this here is that Bell was the replacement if either Langston Walker or Kirk Chambers get injured. They would probably use backup center Duke Preston in that case. He played in the preseason against Pittsburgh.

My trusty sidekick Eric Williams is with me here at Ralph Wilson Stadium, which is somewhat reminiscent of Lambeau Field in the sense it is outside the city, kind of plopped in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, where the residents are charging $10 a pop for parking in their front yard. We'll both be blogging throughout the day from the game and afterward.

Referee: Walt Coleman
Umpire Undrey Wash
Head linesman Paul Weidner
Line Judge Carl Johnson
Field judge Eddy Powers
Side Judge Rick Patterson
Back Judge Greg Steed
Replay Bill Spyksma
Video Ted Sullivan

The weather this morning when we got up was bright and sunny, but that has given way to an overcast sky. It is still relatively warm, about 65 degrees with a light breeze.

A return of morning links as we head into the Seahawks’ first regular-season game, along with a question to start things off. How much yardage will Seattle rush for offensively today? Let us know in the comments section.

Seattle Seahawks

Frank Hughes offers a good perspective piece on wide receiver Nate Burleson, who needs to play big with experienced receivers Bobby Engram and Deion Branch unavailable because of injuries this week.

Dave Boling checks in with some key things to look for in today’s game.

Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald talks to Maurice Morris, who says he’s ready to step up after serving as Shaun Alexander’s back-up for six years.

Johnson also touches on the expectations of the Seahawks in the team’s season opener.

=> Read more!