On a hot, humid day, the Bills’ offense turned in its sloppiest performance of training camp. Tempers flared without major scuffles, and while the defense laughed first, the offense laughed last. Moving on in the face of difficult injury news was the theme of the day at practice and in the commentary afterwards. Our own Dave DeLuca was at camp watching firsthand. As for the recaps, here’s what was trending.
- Poor early showing for the offense: In two-minute drill work, the offense lost each time, turning the ball over on downs without generating much yardage. In Tyrod Taylor’s drill, the offense actually went backwards due to a false start and four straight incomplete passes. EJ Manuel’s ended with a 3rd down sack and an incompletion on 4th and 11. Overall, the team gained only 21 yards total between the three teams’ two-minute efforts, so the defense rebounded a bit.
- Frustrations boiled over: LeSean McCoy was decked by Zach Brown, who made a great read on a screen pass. McCoy took exception and flung a football at Brown’s midsection. They had to be separated. Later in that session, Randell Johnson threw TE Jimmay Mundine to the ground. Manuel let Johnson know that he was not pleased. Overall, it was a frustrating day for the offense, with multiple passes dropped mixed in with some better plays early. A few reporters noted that the heat and humidity, combined with the fact that it was Buffalo’s third consecutive day of padded practice, may have contributed to the sloppy overall showing. (Note: Rodak mentioned that it was the third straight day in pads, but he did so in one of those annoying, “click this for the first half of the tweet” posts. I don’t want to play his click game, but if you do, feel free!).
- More injuries...of course there were more injuries: Greg Salas has “a hamstring,” and Sterling Moore is in the concussion protocol, according to Rex Ryan. Eric Striker left practice and returned, albeit a bit gimpy. No update was provided on him after practice. Richie Incognito remained out, with Ryan Groy once again taking his place with the first team. Cyrus Kouandjio replaced Cordy Glenn once again, as well.
- Other lineup notes: Sal Capaccio’s tweets are fantastic in terms of determining lineups and pecking orders at different positions. He noted that Woods and Watkins were the first team in 2 wide sets, with Goodwin and Little second, and Lewis and Salas third. When the team went three wides, they went Watkins/Goodwin/Woods and Lewis/Little/Salas, with Woods and Salas in the slot. The linebacker pecking order saw a bit of a shakeup, with Lorenzo Alexander replacing IK Enemkpali to begin. IK replaced him soon thereafter. As expected, we discovered what Brown could do for us with the first team defense, as Preston and Zach lined up together, with Zach continuing to fill in for Reggie Ragland.
- Offense ends on positive note: After struggling for the majority of practice, the offense began to roll a bit in late 11-on-11 work. Tyrod Taylor hit Sammy Watkins on a beautiful skinny post, and the best part of the play might have been watching him effortlessly plant, cut, and accelerate off that surgically-repaired left foot. Marquise Goodwin also continued to impress, burning Jonathon Dowling twice for touchdowns over the middle. Tyrod also hit Dez Lewis for a 4-yard score in red zone work.
- Individual player notes: Matthew Fairburn noted that Greg Little has had the dropsies...Jonathon Meeks ran with the first team for a bit, as did Robert Blanton, since Corey Graham had a scheduled rest day today...Reggie Bush is looking much better than expected...Kevon Seymour had a fantastic day...Rodak noted that Zach Brown was a good cover linebacker, Randell Johnson and Brandon Spikes are not good cover linebackers, and that water is wet (okay, not the last part...but he may as well have).