The two minute drill was a focus in Saturday's workout at St. John Fisher for the Bills as was some full live hitting at the end of the practice by a lot of the reserve players.
Trent Edwards led the offense out for the first two-minute drill series. After an incomplete pass on first down, Edwards completed his next five passes to Donovan Morgan, Josh Reed, Marshawn Lynch and his last two to Jemalle Cornelius. But once the offense entered the red zone Edwards put too much air under a pass over the middle and it was intercepted by Coy Wire ending the drive.
J.P. Losman led the second two-minute series. Losman went 7-9 passing on the drive with two completions each to Josh Reed and Roscoe Parrish. Lee Evans and Peerless Price also had receptions as did Shaud Williams. On the last play of the series Losman threw a high arcing pass into the back of the end zone, but Kiwaukee Thomas had good coverage on Parrish. One of the NFL officials on hand (for training) threw the flag for pass interference, but both Parrish and Thomas were over the end line of the end zone.
Live hitting
For the first time in camp there was live tackle-to-the-ground hitting. It came at the end of practice and only the rookies and reserve players took part. Head coach Dick Jauron said it was done in an effort to evaluate players that they haven't seen much of in a live football setting.
"With a lot of the guys we need to see them and see where they are," said Jauron. "So for them it was time. It's not a deep group so you can't run a lot of plays. We ran about 14 or 15 plays. Now we'll look at the tape and at least it helps us evaluate them under live conditions. It's not like a game, but at least it gives us another look at them."
Fred Jackson had some good carries during the series on offense. Defensively strong safety George Wilson was very active in the run front as he was in on a handful of tackles.
"He's tough physically, but he's also a tough-minded guy," said Jauron. "You might beat him on a play, but he's never going to quit on you. It's just one of a lot of things I like about George. I'm looking forward to seeing him play in preseason."
Dwayne Wright ran hard, but had a fumble on one of his carries.
Short yardage
There was also some good pops during the short yardage segment of practice. There were a handful of pileups at the line between offensive and defensive linemen, but Donte Whitner had a good hit on Kevin Everett after a short completion. Whitner lowered his pads right into Everett's midsection which knocked him off balance and onto his seat.
Rookie free agent safety Jon Corto had a solid hit on Dwayne Wright as he came through the hole, knocking him off stride.
Team work
During 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 there were some entertaining plays. Josh Reed drew some 'oohs' from the crowd with a one-handed grab along the left sideline for a big gain from Losman. Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson also made some quick, darting runs to the second level.
Defensively Mario Haggan made a nice play leaping high to pull down an interception on a throw from Trent Edwards. Coy Wire had a nice pass breakup as he ran from the middle linebacker position he was playing on that rep and raced all the way to the flat to keep Dwayne Wright from pulling in the reception.
Injury update
Ryan Neufeld joined the list of injured players when he suffered a knee injury during 11-on-11 on a running play.
"Ryan Neufeld injured a knee," said Jauron. "I don't think it's severe. Hopefully it's not. A hyperextension is what they said about it so we'll just have to see how that progresses."
Jason Peters was limited in practice Saturday as Terrance Pennington filled in for the majority of his reps.
"We held Jason Peters out of most of practice," said Jauron. "He had a sore calf that he hurt in the practice the other night in the stadium, so we just pulled him out and gave some other guys the work."
John DiGiorgio returned to practice after missing a few practices with a hip flexor injury, but he's still not full go.
"John was back, but he was limited," said Jauron. "Our plan for John was to get him warmed up and get him back into 7-on-7 and some individual. Hopefully after this day and a half off and he'll be alright for Monday to start up."
Not participating in practice were Brad Butler, Anthony Hargrove, John McCargo, Josh Scobey and Jason Webster.
Brian Moorman was excused from practice for personal reasons.
The Bills are off Sunday and have a pads practice Monday night.
