The defense had the headline plays as they recorded five interceptions in Monday’s afternoon practice, but the offense had their share of plays as well. That balance of play left head coach Chan Gailey pleased with what his coaching staff got from the the two units.
“Both sides made plays,” said Gailey. “That was a positive in some respects. Offensively you want to eliminate the turnovers and defensively you can’t allow them to get into the end zone, but there were plays on both sides. We had some guys that went out and did a good job today. I felt there was a bit more pep in their step today after a day off.”
“We had a good day,” said McKelvin of the secondary’s opportunistic play. “We came back and tried to straighten things up before we get into this week for this game. Straighten up missed alignments and try to get everything perfect going into this week’s game.”
McKelvin is referring to Thursday night’s preseason opener against Washington, which kicks off at 7 pm at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Though the offense had some quality plays of their own including six touchdowns during red zone work,
“It was one of those days looking at it offensively, a lot of it was feast or famine,” he said. “We did make a lot of plays, but we had some turnovers too. That’s the kind of stuff that we’re trying to avoid. We need to have the consistency to come out and make some of those big plays and avoid the bad ones obviously. That’s what football is about, but that’s something we’re continuing to work on.”
Buffalo’s offensive players that recorded touchdowns included
“We are going back and forth,” said Jones. “Some days the defense will win and some days the offense will win. It really should be like that. In this league we are all getting paid, so we shouldn’t be a lopsided team and we should be going back and forth, which is the way it is right now.”
For all the highlights just go to the Media Center at Buffalobills.com to watch some of the best from the day’s action in our daily Bills Roundup report.
Injured players return
Coach Gailey indicated on Saturday that he anticipated getting a few injured players back in the fold Monday and that proved to be the case.
“It was nice to get all those guys out,” said Gailey. “I thought they pushed through well. The only one we really didn’t get for any prolonged time I think was David Nelson. I think most everybody else had come out and stayed maybe even longer than we thought they would.”
Lineup notes
At left tackle
Glenn is taking small steps forward at the position. He held his own in one-on-one pass rush drills against Buffalo’s defensive ends including
With Nelson still out of the lineup duties in the slot for the first team offense were split by Donald Jones and Ruvell Martin. When Jones was in the slot, it was Johnson and
Backup QB update
Buffalo’s sideline boss was anything but impressed with the accuracy of his backup quarterback candidates in the first week of camp as both
The last couple of days of practice however, both have improved.
“The installation has gone slower the last couple of days so we’re getting to repeat some things, so when you get to repeat them they get sharper and crisper on their reads and it has paid dividends,” said Gailey. “They’re seeing things and doing some things with the football that are a lot better than the first few days. That’s for sure.”
Among Young’s better throws was a 20-yard strike to
Thigpen’s best throw was a well-timed dart to Dorin Dickerson on a post in the end zone for a touchdown during red zone work.
2 minute drill
Fitting the balance of the play on the day, the two-minute drill series that were run by the first and second team units were split by the offense and defense as well. The situation was the offense had the ball at their own 30-yard line with one timeout and one minute on the clock needing a field goal to win.
The second string got the first series and the defense got the better of it. After
The starting offense came out to try to answer. The first play however, was intercepted deep in the secondary as Jairus Byrd made a diving play to end the drive. With the drive lasting just one play, the offense was given a second crack at it.
On first down, Fitzpatrick hit Scott Chandler for a gain short of the first down marker. On second down, Fitzpatrick tried to hit Stevie Johnson deep down the right sideline, but
That brought up third down, which the offense converted on a quick slant to Johnson. That was followed by a completion to Donald Jones. After a spike stopped the clock with seven seconds left the offense had to take the chance and run a play in the hopes of getting in field goal range.
Fitzpatrick through a pass into double coverage, but Derek Hagan went up the ladder to pull the ball down with two seconds remaining at the defense’s 26-yard line. The offense called timeout with 1.9 seconds left on the clock.
Schedule
The Bills have their final full scale practice before Thursday night’s preseason game on Tuesday. The session is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.
Fan Tweets of the Day
The raw picture of
— joshua koester (@cocoa_blanco) August 6, 2012@dajones19 at@buffalobills#BillsCamp Off of#instagram! twitter.com/cocoa_blanco/s…
In case anyone is wondering it's almost 80 degrees but Chan has his vest on
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) August 6, 2012#BillsCamp
McKelvin int for TD
— Taylor Wold (@taylorwold) August 6, 2012#BillsCamp
Never felt so small
— Kevin Sanna (@kevinsannasays) August 6, 2012#billscamp#mariowilliams
