Buffalo Bills vs. Cleveland Browns: video preview

Buffalo Bills fans will get their second look at the 2018 team on Friday when they face the Cleveland Browns. Fans and players will recognize some familiar faces on both teams with Tyrod Taylor now quarterbacking the Browns and Corey Coleman potentially working in at wide receiver for the Bills. Here’s what the top three headlines for Friday’s preseason match up are.

QB Competition

This will continue to be the biggest headline until an opening day starter is named by head coach Sean McDermott. Nathan Peterman was surprisingly named the starter for last week’s preseason game (and we didn’t know about it until an hour before the game). He flourished in the opportunity, going nine for ten with one touchdown and one interception. AJ McCarron was no slouch either. He was seven for ten, but no touchdowns or interceptions. Josh Allen wowed the crowd with some deep balls and fit a rocket of a throw through small window for his first NFL (preseason) touchdown. Sean McDermott made some waves on Wednesday when he said the Bills were “considering” starting Allen in a preseason game. It will be interesting to see who the Bills name as the starter and how the others perform with different lineups surrounding them if there’s a shakeup. He’s told the QBs the plan, but word hasn’t made it to the public yet.

The Emergence of Shaq Lawson

Former first round pick Shaq Lawson had been mentioned as someone the Bills may be looking to trade this offseason. He had not produced much since coming into the league in 2016 and the Bills signed DE Trent Murphy in free agency. Unfortunately for Muprhy, who has been dealing with a groin injury, Lawson has been making the most of the snaps he’s taking while Murphy is hurt. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier spoke well of Shaq this week saying, “I thought he did a really good job with the snaps that he had in the first preseason game.” If Shaq can continue to play well he may win the starting job, even if Murphy gets healthy.

Competition at Wide Receiver

Early on in training camp and the preseason it looked like Zay Jones had lost his hold on the second wide receiver position due to his injury and the hotel incident. Competing for that second spot were the likes of Andre Holmes and Rod Streater. Some even speculated if Corey Coleman could come in and compete for that spot immediately. However, this week Zay returned as a full participant in practices and immediately was working with the starters. Jones looks like he’s back in the lead, but he’ll have to fend off the others over the rest of the preseason.