The Bills were back in Rochester on Sunday for their ninth practice of training camp. The team has three practices left at St. John Fisher University before finishing up the rest of camp at One Bills Drive.
Here are three things to know from Sunday's practice.
1. How injuries are affecting the practice schedule
Head coach Sean McDermott listed 13 players as non-participants in Sunday's practice due to injuries (OL Alec Anderson, OL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, S Cole Bishop, S Taylor Rapp, CB Maxwell Hairston, LB Dorian Williams, WR Curtis Samuel, WR Khalil Shakir, WR Joshua Palmer, WR Kaden Prather, LB Shaq Thomspon, K Tyler Bass and FB Reggie Gilliam).
McDermott also listed Shakir and Hairston as week-to-week.
"Here's a young player that is not only missing just the moving around but also the mental part of the experience you get through the reps," McDermott said of Hairston. "So, there's no way to avoid it, he's going to be behind when he comes back."
While the list has continued to grow, McDermott has unfortunately had to alter the practice schedule in hopes of keeping players healthy.
"What we've tried to do is pull back on some things in the hopes of getting some numbers back," McDermott said. "That hasn't helped, so we're moving forward."
With two weeks of training camp already in the rearview, the coaching staff must move forward because their first preseason game is less than a week away.
"It's time for us to go. We got to get some work done and move this team forward," McDermott said. "So, the reps that we had cut last week, we're still only working with two groups. Last week, we were down to a group and a half. It's not conducive, so we got to do what we need to do to move our team forward and get them ready to perform."
Quarterback Josh Allen did not take any reps during the team period of Friday's Return of the Blue & Red practice. McDermott said Allen is not dealing with an injury and the decision was made to give others more reps.
"Just trying to take a look at these quarterbacks, Mitch (Trubisky), Mike (White) and Shane (Buechele)," McDermott shared. "Give them the respect that they have earned and (see) what they look like, how they perform, how they lead our football team."
When asked if Allen would participate in Saturday's preseason game against the Giants, McDermott said there is no decision yet.
"We'll see," McDermott shared. "I'm still working through that. We'll see where that goes."
One player who didn't finish training camp last year due to injury was linebacker Matt Milano. This training camp, the linebacker has consistently shown he's back to full speed and ready to make an impact.
"He's playing fast," McDermott said of Milano. "He looks comfortable out there."
Milano unfortunately hasn't had his running mate in Terrel Bernard next to him during every practice due to injury. McDermott believes it's an important piece to the equation of them being on the same page come Week 1.
"It is important that he gets next to TB as much as possible," McDermott explained. "And that's some of the things that someone was asking about the injuries that you lose when you're not working alongside of someone, getting reps, talking about a play after the play unfolds and saying, `Hey, how did you see that? Oh yeah, this is what I was thinking. Oh, I thought you were thinking that too.' So that's valuable for us and for Matt in this case."
2. "Not slowing down" – DE A.J. Epenesa grabs a pick six in Sunday's practice
While many position groups are dealing with injuries, the defensive line unit remains healthy, and it's showing based on their play. Defensive end A.J. Epenesa had a practice to remember on Sunday.
During the first team period, Epenesa muscled his way into a passing lane and came away with an interception, which he returned for a touchdown. The DE also batted a pass at the line of scrimmage later in practice.
Instead of walking off the practice field feeling good about his day once practice concluded, Epenesa found left tackle Dion Dawkins to discuss a few reps he wasn't proud of.
"We were just talking technique a little bit because there were two run plays in particular that I just have stuck in my brain right now," Epenesa said. "My technique wasn't very solid, and I allowed Dion to get underneath my pads a little bit."
Dawkins walked through how he got the upper hand by showing his hand placement on Epenesa's jersey, and Epenesa talked through how it can be avoided next time.
"I'm thinking about what do I need to tighten up to not allow him to do that to me, or to be able to displace me a couple yards, which is all the world for the offense," Epenesa added.
After talking through his missteps, Epenesa addressed his best play of practice.
"It was just kind of one of those feeling things," Epenesa said of why he came away with the INT. "They didn't block me. The way it kind of developed as a play, I kind of felt someone fly across my face."
Epenesa graded his practice as inconsistent and wants to focus on showing his coaches he can be dependable.
"My goal is to show the coaches that I'm not slowing down," Epenesa said. "I still play with that fire. I still play with that chip on my shoulder."
This season marks Epenesa's sixth year as a pro. The DE has registered at last six sacks and 10 quarterback hits in each of the last three seasons.
3. Defense shines with multiple takeaways
Sunday's practice featured three takeaways by the defense. The first one was the best play of the day. The Bills were at the beginning of their team period when A.J. Epenesa made a big play.
The DE followed the quarterback as he rolled to his right, and Epenesa got his hands into the passing lane as the quarterback released the ball. Epenesa got his hands on the ball and quickly secured the interception and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown.
The second takeaway of the day came from linebacker Baylon Spector. Spector found himself near a pass that was heading towards the ground, but the LB managed to scoop it before it went incomplete.
The last takeaway came when one of the quarterbacks fumbled a snap. Defensive tackle Casey Rogers was there to grab the fumble recovery and run it into the end zone for six. The defensive line also flashed in addition to the takeaways with pressures, sacks and tackles for loss on multiple plays. DT Ed Oliver was in the mix on several of the plays.
The offense also connected on multiple notable plays throughout the day. During the beginning of team drills, Josh Allen threw wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson open with a beautiful ball 35-yards down the field. Later, during a hurry-up portion of practice, quarterback Mike White connected with tight end Zach Davidson who made a nice play to move the offense into the red zone. Then, White found wide receiver Stephen Gosnell on a screen play for a touchdown.
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky had a nice practice as well. Early on, the QB felt pressure but stuck with the play and stepped up in the pocket to find wide receiver Laviska Shenault on a nice gain. Later, Trubisky found wide receiver Deon Cain down the sideline for a 30-yard play. The QB did a great job with ball placement to make sure Cain came down with it before going out of bounds.
