When the Buffalo Bills complete this afternoon's practice at St. John Fisher's Growney Stadium, the team will have wrapped up its first full week of training camp. Fathom it.
With that "milestone" (we use that term loosely) in mind, we've got some stuff planned for over the next couple of days to recap the week's action and look ahead to the team's first pre-season game, which is a little over nine short days away. In the interim, however, our de facto camp reporter, MattRichWarren, will be at Fisher today tweeting live updates as practice occurs. His updates will appear here as well, keeping y'all in the know. Jump on in for those updates once practice starts, at 2:25 PM.
2:30 PM: Twiddle your thumbs for a few minutes, folks. Camp Reporter is stuck in traffic.
2:45 PM: And we're live! Aaron Schobel, Copeland Bryan, Marcus Smith, Shawn Nelson, Lee Evans and Terrell Owens are on the sideline without pads. Bryan, Smith and Nelson have been injured, and it looks like Schobel, Evans and Owens will be given a lighter workload today. Roscoe Parrish and Josh Reed are the first-team receivers. Chris Brown adds in that Terrence McGee has a day off as well, and that John McCargo, Ventrell Jenkins, Dustin Fox and Steve Johnson remain on the injury shelf.
2:53 PM: Trent Edwards is donning a baseball cap and appears to be getting a rest day as well. Ryan Fitzpatrick is running the first-team offense. Raise your hand if you think this will be a boring practice!
2:56 PM: It's nice and sunny, and the heat is cranked up higher than it's been this past week. The pads just came off. Demetrius Bell is getting some first-team reps at right tackle, and rookie guards Andy Levitre and Eric Wood are getting all of the action with the first team. The team has been working on a version of the Wildcat in which Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson and Dominic Rhodes are all on the field.
3:18 PM: Just as they did on Wednesday night, the Bills are concentrating on red zone work in 7-on-7. There are currently no first-unit skill players on the field for the offense. In our continuous effort to keep track of the epic battle going on at reserve linebacker, the second unit today is comprised of Nic Harris, Marcus Buggs and Ashlee Palmer.
3:30 PM: Josh Reed and Derek Schouman have recorded touchdown receptions in red zone work; Reed's catch was highlight reel-worthy. Meanwhile, perhaps the only other highly important veteran practicing, DT Marcus Stroud, made tackle/guard Chris Denman look silly on a pass rush.
3:33 PM: Y'all asked for an update on rookie sixth-round pick CB Cary Harris. Here's where we oblige. Harris was one of the last corners onto the field in 7-on-7 work, and he was just roasted for a touchdown by street free agent receiver Shaine Smith. Things aren't looking good for the USC product.
3:45 PM: Asked for an update on the safety rotation, so here it is: clearly, Donte Whitner and Bryan Scott are running first team. Ko Simpson and George Wilson are running second team (with Wilson at strong safety), and John Wendling is running third team. No surprises, but things could get very interesting here once Jairus Byrd returns to the field.
4:04 PM: Peter King wasn't lying, folks - Ryan Fitzpatrick really does have a very strong arm. Buffalo didn't do a lot of throwing today, but when they did, both Fitzpatrick and Gibran Hamdan were solid, yet also unspectacular. Much better than terrible.
Also, a note on the defensive ends: with Schobel sitting, Ryan Denney is taking first-team reps at right end alongside Chris Kelsay. Chris Ellis and Jermaine McGhee - the only other two ends on the field - are running with the second team.
4:08 PM: This one needs to go in verbatim. "Saw another screen. Wood running at the cornerback is scary for that DB. Just practiced the quick spike to kill clock. I clapped."
4:22 PM: That's all she wrote. Recap coming later on this afternoon.