The Buffalo Bills' preseason opener against the New York Giants ended in a loss on the scoreboard, but inside the Highmark Stadium locker room, players were quick to point out each other's best moments, from key blocks to rookie composure and even a surprise performance in the kicking game.
Offensive Sparks
Quarterback Mike White may have thrown two touchdowns, but his postgame thoughts were on the guys around him.
"Kendrick Green was awesome on the line of scrimmage," White said, leaning forward as if replaying the moment in his head. "On the touchdown to K.J. (Hamler) he made an unreal play. He blocked his man and then also got hands on the other free runner. That gave me a little more time to find a guy."
White also had his eye on a rookie who refused to look confused under the pressure.
"Chase Lundt ( rookie lineman) in the huddle never got that wide-eyed rookie look. I thought he handled himself well," White said.
Across the room, rookie safety Jordan Hancock was smiling about someone on offense too.
"Frank Gore Jr.—that's my dog right there," Hancock said, still shaking his head. "He was doing some good things out there. I'm excited for him."
Defensive Building Blocks
A few lockers down, rookie defensive end Landon Jackson summed up the defense's day with quiet optimism.
"We had a lot of positives. I know we didn't get the win, but there's definitely some things we got good out there," Jackson said.
Veteran edge rusher Joey Bosa took a big-picture approach.
"It's the time to make mistakes—it's preseason," Bosa said. "Learn from it, get some of the bad reps out of the way before the real thing starts. These games are helpful to see where we're at, and to have the young guys get a lot of reps. A lot of these guys, it's their first time out there on an NFL field. There's a lot to clean up, but that's why you play these games."
Defensive tackle Javon Solomon was quick to hand out his own game balls.
"(Deone (Walker), for sure—he went crazy off the rip," Solomon said. "And Te'Cory Couch, he balled out today too. There was some good stuff to see."
The defense knew they had shown flashes, but the message was clear, good isn't good enough yet. Every rep, every adjustment, every lesson from this game the team will look to translate to the next preseason game.
RB Ray Davis, Kicker? Believe It
In a corner of the locker room, running back Ray Davis was still smiling after pulling something off he never thought would happen. After nearly eight years of asking coaches to let him kick in a game, he finally got his shot.
"I've always been trying to kick," Davis said. "Every year in college I tried to convince somebody to let me. Finally, for somebody to say yes…"
With kicker Tyler Bass unavailable, Davis who kicked and punted in high school, jumped at it.
"I saw Dawson (Knox) and Dalton (Kincaid) trying to kick with their toes," Davis laughed. "I was like—oh, I won this job automatically."
After a test run at the "Return of Blue and Red" practice, McDermott gave Davis the green light in the second quarter. Following a touchdown from Mitchell Trubisky to Knox, Davis pulled on a special shoe, lined up, and drilled the extra point from 33 yards.
"After that I just thought, either I'm gonna have a great night tonight and get a bunch of Instagram followers, or my DMs are gonna be talking about how I can't kick a ball," Davis said.
Today, the ball sailed true and head coach Sean McDermott loved every second.
"I wanted to see what it would look like. It's different doing it in practice. We've always practiced it, but the transition, we were actually able to score.. I thought wow he actually did it,'' shared McDermott.
