Here's the Bills news of note for June 16th.
1 - Andre Holmes reflects on minicamp
The Bills signed wide receiver, Andre Holmes, in the offseason previously from the Oakland Raiders. Holmes recently appeared on the John Murphy Show to talk about how the OTAs and Minicamp has been going so far.
"Aw man it's been going great. We're getting a lot of hard work in. We're building as a team and as a family. We're putting in that work to become a winning organization. Get that playoff caliber like coach McDermott says." Holmes said.
The Bills just completed the last part of the spring practice work Thursday and though it was intense in terms of tempo it is still very limited in terms of contact. As competitive as the work on the field was, Holmes valued the classroom time after practice when they could immediately review their work.
"One of the things is that we've been able to get into the classroom a lot more and been able to watch the film," said Holmes. "Right on the same day of doing it and that's kind of helped a lot. Really, exponentially as far as trying to understand just the system and that really has helped a lot."
2 - Rosenfels breaks down Bills offense
When the Bills hired head coach, Sean McDermott, they also added offensive coordinator Rick Dennison from the Denver Broncos. Dennison has a proven record success in the NFL, but it will be an adjustment for the players on offense.
Former NFL quarterback, Sage Rosenfels, recently wrote an article where he goes in depth on why the Bills will need to improve their passing game in order to end the playoff drought.
Here is what Rosenfels had to say:
In the NFL, it's hard to drop back and heave the ball deep down the field. Defensive lines have become so athletic that no NFL offensive line can protect consistently for the time it takes to throw it deep. But in Dennison's offense, the precision in the zone running game sets up multiple ways to throw the ball, as well.
Defenses will undoubtedly be keying on McCoy, who had over 1,200 yards rushing last year. Dennison will design a wide variety of bootleg and play-action schemes to take advantage of the attention McCoy will receive. These concepts allow the quarterback much more time in and out of the pocket as the defensive line must play the run first.
This style of offense also minimizes quarterback sacks, something the Bills struggled with in 2016. You would think that having one of the NFL's best rushing attacks - as well as one of the league's most athletic quarterbacks - would mean very few quarterback sacks. But Taylor was sacked 46 times last year, fourth-highest in the NFL.
3 - Fred Jackson: You play for the fansFormer Buffalo Bills running back, Fred Jackson, recently appeared on Bills flagship radio station WGR SportsRadio 550. Jackson played with Buffalo from 2006 – 2014 and was often regarded as a fan favorite.
Fred Jackson ended his career third on the Bills all-time rushing list behind Thurman Thomas and O.J. Simpson, with 5,646 yards. In 2010, Jackson won the Bills "Walter Payton Man of the Year" award which, says a lot about his character.
Jackson talked about his legacy with the organization.
"The Wall of Fame would be a huge accomplishment to me. I tried to give everything I could to this fan-base and they definitely show me love," Jackson said. "Being in Buffalo, people tell me all the time how much they loved to watch me play the game. That's what you play for. You play for fans to embrace you and treat you like they're one of your own whenever they see you.
"You do start to reflect on that. You start to think 'Man, it'd be great to get up on that Wall of Fame with some of the greats up there.' To really have your legacy cemented in an organization. If it were to happen, it would be the icing on the cake."
