THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- Even with Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch on the shelf, Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards isn't the least bit worried about the club's running attack.

Rookie C.J. Spiller rushed for 54 yards and a TD in his first NFL start as Buffalo earned a 34-21 exhibition win over the Indianapolis Colts before just 39,583 spectators at Rogers Centre on Thursday night.

"We have a real good running back and it's a joy to hand the ball off to him," Edwards said. "He's a very impressive player and we have to make sure he stays healthy."

Especially considering veterans Jackson (hand) and Lynch (ankle) are both expected to miss the remainder of the pre-season. But Spiller, selected ninth overall in this year's NFL draft, quickly calmed the Bills' fears when he opened the scoring with a sparkling 31-yard run at 2:40 of the first quarter.

"He did an unbelievable run on that touchdown," Bills head coach Chan Gailey said. "He picked up a couple (of blocks) on pass protecting and obviously he can run."

A modest Spiller said his TD run was a team effort.

"I just read my keys and the offensive line did a great job of holding them," Spiller said. "I just cut back, made a guy miss and it felt good to get in there."

Buffalo improved to 1-1 while Indianapolis fell to 0-2.

The game was the fourth of eight Buffalo will play here through 2012, with the club hosting Chicago in a regular-season contest in November. The victory was the Bills' second at their home away from home, the other being an exhibition victory over Pittsburgh in 2008.

But again the story was the attendance.

Not even the presence of such stars as Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and receiver Reggie Wayne as well as Spiller could deflect attention from the many patches of empty seats. The attendance was the lowest of the four games played here thus far and well short of Rogers Centre's 54,000-seat capacity for football.

That's yet another disappointment to the Toronto-based group that secured the games -- dubbed Bills Toronto Series -- hoping to showcase the city as a viable home for a full-time NFL franchise. The expectation when the series was unveiled was southern Ontario football fans would flock to Rogers Centre to watch Buffalo, regardless of the price.

But that's not been the case as the combination of high ticket prices and bad Bills teams have combined to make this a tough sell.

Fans complained about ticket prices two years ago, forcing event organizers, who are paying the Bills an average of $9.75 million per game, to slash prices by an average of 17 per cent. They also offered more than 11,000 tickets for less than $99 compared to just 4,700 for that price.

An hour before kickoff, there was little buzz outside Rogers Centre. There were fans walking around wearing various NFL jerseys but very few lines at the ticket booths. One attendant said there was still plenty of decent seats available ranging from $275 to $75.

Just down the street, one scalper was willing to unload tickets ranging from $150 to $275 for half price.

Those in attendance saw Buffalo roll up 404 total yards -- compared to 293 for Indianapolis -- and force four turnovers. The Bills capped a high-scoring first half as Rian Lindell's 24-yard field goal at 14:38 of the second quarter gave the home team a 24-21 half-time lead.

Colts coach Jim Caldwell had nothing but praise for Spiller.

"He's obviously a very fine back," Caldwell said. "He's got quick feet, he's got speed and had a little cutback run.

"He made a couple of guys miss on that play and certainly had the afterburners to take it the distance."

After Spiller's touchdown, the Colts tied it on Joseph Addai's 17-yard run at 5:40. But the lead was short-lived as Terrence McGee's 78-yard interception return put the Bills back ahead 14-7.

"Drayton Florence tipped the ball and I was in the right spot at the right time," McGee said. "At first, I thought someone was going to tackle me so I just took off.

"My team did the blocking and got me to the end zone."

Manning's 21-yard TD toss to Jacob Tamme at 13:27 pulled Indy even again before Bills' starter Trent Edwards found a streaking Lee Evans 70 yards for the touchdown at 14:19.

Colts backup Curtis Painter then hit Taj Smith on a 43-yard touchdown pass at 8:55 of the second before Buffalo regained the lead on Lindell's boot.

Lindell's 37-yard field goal at 7:11 of the fourth and Joique Bell's eight-yard run at 13:05 were the lone scoring plays of the second half.

Manning played the first quarter, completing 8-of-15 passes for 91 yards with a TD and an interception. At times, Manning looked frustrated on the field, something he said is a byproduct of the pre-season.

"Anytime you're in the pre-season you know you're only going to play a certain amount of plays and you like to score every single time," he said. "You want everything to go perfect when you're in there.

"That's not always the case but you must have those kind of expectations."

Caldwell treated this game as a business trip, saying he had precious little free time to look around Toronto. But Manning was able to catch up with former college teammate Jeremaine Copeland, now with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts.

"He was a great teammate for me at Tennessee," Manning said. "I'm really proud of what he's done here."

Edwards played into the second, completing 5-of-8 passes for 93 yards and a TD.

"I thought we had a couple of good and bad drives," Edwards said. "It starts with our running game.

"If C.J. can pound out yards, move the ball and the chains, it helps scoring touchdowns if you can run the ball like that."

Colts receiver Sam Giguere of Sherbrooke, Que., entering his third NFL season, was the lone Canadian player in the game. Defensive end John Chick -- the CFL's top defensive player last season with Saskatchewan -- also played for Indianapolis.

Giguere, listed as the Colts' top kickoff returner, had a catch for one yard and two kickoff returns for 43 yards. Chick had one tackle.

The Bills were the home team but it was Manning, safety Bob Sanders and defensive end Dwight Freeney who received the loudest ovations during pre-game introductions. And unlike last year's regular-season loss to the New York Jets when fan loyalties were clearly in Buffalo's corner based on the abundance of blue jerseys in the crowd, this time around fans wore a variety of NFL team uniforms to the contest.

One fan even wore a No. 4 Brett Favre jersey dating back to his days with Green Bay. Another, an obvious CFL fan, sat in his seat wearing the No. 42 of former Hamilton Tiger-Cats safety Rob Hitchcock.

The Rogers Centre roof was open on a clear summer evening with a kickoff temperature of 27 C. While there were no corporate logos on the artificial turf -- just the Bills crest at centre field and their team name in both end zones -- what was especially noticeable was the 10-yard end zones on a 100-yard long NFL field compared to the 20-yard end zones and the 110-yard field in Canadian football.

Another difference was the presence of large banners covering the hotel windows that overlook the field, preventing guests from watching the game. People staying in those rooms during Toronto Argonauts home games can take in the CFL contest from there.