2008 Bills Training Camp: Day Nine Breakdown

Jauron gives his players Sunday off (Photo Source)

The Buffalo Bills held a morning practice on Saturday, and the big news of the day was that the team agreed to a deal with veteran LB Donnie Spragan.  A player that the team worked out this past May, Spragan is a 32-year old veteran that has been a steady performer for the Broncos and Dolphins.  His signing came in the wake of rookie Alvin Bowen's season-ending knee injury.  Spragan is expected to compete for a reserve role at weak side linebacker and on special teams.

Missing Saturday's workout were QB J.P. Losman (re-aggravated thumb), WR James Hardy (hamstring), and CB Will James (groin).  DE Copeland Bryan left practice early with an apparent hamstring injury.

Practice Getting Boring
Much of the fanfare and interest that surrounded the first week's practice sessions seems to have died down a bit.  With the first pre-season game of the season coming up this coming Saturday at Washington, fans seem more anxious to see this team on the field than to hear about the goings-on on the practice field.  We're not alone, folks; the players are anxious to do the real thing as well:

"It felt really good to let that out and cross that line a little bit," said safety John Wendling. "But it's still your own teammates, so we're looking forward to seeing someone different across the ball and being able to just go at it with them. So we're looking forward to the preseason."

Red Zone Still Getting Emphasized
The Bills continued their focus on red zone work yesterday with another strong session in the red area.  It's becoming very apparent that Bills coaches are very focused on scoring more points this season - quite the novel idea if you're playing in the NFL.

Trent Edwards fared well in the red zone yesterday targeting his two favorite weapons down close (at least until James Hardy gets in more work): Lee Evans and Derek Schouman.

Lee Evans made a nice fingertip grab on a low throw from Trent Edwards near the sideline. He also pulled in a well-thrown ball from Edwards on a fade pass to the end zone for a touchdown.

Perhaps the best executed play came during red zone work when Edwards effectively used a play action fake to get the defense to bite and quickly hit Derek Schouman over the middle for a touchdown.

Defense Makes Some Plays, Too
Buffalo's offense played better than it has of late, but the defense made some plays of their own as well.  Leading the charge was my personal favorite player, LB John DiGiorgio, with a nice interception...

During 7-on-7 John DiGiorgio made the defensive play of the day as he stepped in front of a Gibran Hamdan pass for his first interception of camp.

(I'm not sure that "first interception of camp" is factually accurate, Mr. Brown.  I distinctly remember DiGiorgio picking off a tipped pass by Will James on the second day of camp.)

Cornerback Ashton Youboty - who did not receive as many additional reps as expected with CB James on the sideline - made a nice pass break-up in the end zone as well.

Steve Johnson almost made an outstanding leaping touchdown catch over Ashton Youboty, but Youboty was able to break up the play as the two players came back down to the turf.

The Bills have the day off Sunday and return to the practice field Monday for a 2:15PM practice.