Recapping Day 2 of Bills Training Camp | One Bills Live | Buffalo Bills

Recapping Day 2 of Bills Training Camp | One Bills Live | Buffalo Bills

We knew it was going to be a hot one, Maddie. It didn’t. Fortunately, practice is in the morning because it’s getting toasty now, but everybody’s off the field. Uh, you could feel a difference from yesterday. It wasn’t oppressive, but it was definitely warmer. You felt it out there. And you wisely went with the veteran sleeveless move today to stay cool. I was going white shirt and I went white bottom, so I’m not I’m not touching the color black on a day like today. Yeah. Don’t want to retain any of that extra heat. Um, on the field, I would say that there were stretches where the Bills passing game looked crisp, particularly in the intermediate areas, which is where Josh typically went with the ball for most of the practice today. That didn’t last throughout the practice, but I think it it took a step forward from where it was yesterday when Christian Benford was knocking everything out of the air. Yeah, yesterday they did so much work in the red zone. Those windows are so much tighter. your first defense kind of took the day and the offense had their spots but it was trading it with defensive plays. It never seemed like the offense got in a good rhythm yesterday. Today not in the red zone as much so you have a lot more of the field to work with and I saw some good stuff from wide receivers like Keon Coleman, Khil Shakir, Elijah Moore had a nice catch near the sideline extending his body out to make the catch. But the defense did have some notable plays as well. Yeah, Jack Thompson got some more time because Dorian Williams left practice early. Also leaving practice early was AJ Epanessa, which led to Michael Hoy getting some more practice time because of that. And we probably won’t know the nature of the ailments suffered by Epanessa and Williams until maybe as late as Monday because that’s the next scheduled time that Coach McDermott is set to address the media. Maybe it’s maybe it’s revealed, you know, um through the PR department if one of the media members asks. So, we’ll see if that trickles out in the next day or so. Hopefully, it’s not serious for either of those players. But Hoy took advantage. He blew up one play on a misdirection. You know, Josh fakes the handoff to the left and then rolls out to his right and he ran right. Michael Hoy standing there waiting for him. He had an advantageous matchup because he was matched up one-on-one with rookie tight end Jackson Haw. And that’s Michael’s like, “Hello, Josh. I’m not going to touch you, but you know what happens here.” I would have sacked you. Um, so he had that play and Shaq Thompson had a couple of pass breakups. Yeah. toward the end of practice. I keep seeing this 45 jersey running around and one of new players, Shaq Thompson, who did spend some time in Carolina with Shawn McDermott for a little bit. And it was great to see him on the field because he spent most of OTAAS’s out. He was a late addition to the team during OTAAS, was kind of rehabbing back from an injury, getting accustomed to the playbook, and here he is tipping two passes that almost turned into an interception for him. Yeah. And for our listeners or viewers that don’t know his history, he’s coming off an Achilles injury, which he’s now more than a year removed from, if I remember right. So, I think the hope is if he can just recapture close to what he was as a difference playmaking linebacker for Carolina for all those years, he could find a depth role, I think, on this roster because I think we saw what happened in the 2023 season. You know, we didn’t have Milano most of the year. Bernard gets hurt in the playoffs. Dorian Williams is a rookie and Balen Spectre even gets hurt and now you’re down to AJ Klein coming off the couch to play for you against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional playoff. It’s not an ideal scenario. I think there was a concerted effort to get deeper there. I think Joe Andre has helped in that regard and I think Shaq Thompson is here to see if he can serve in a depth role as well and I would say today was an encouraging sign. We’ll see where it goes. one of the spots on the roster before Shaq Thompson got added to the linebacker’s room. A lot of people had talked about maybe a veteran linebacker, a presence in that room, somebody who has spent a lot of time in the league could be beneficial because you do still have younger players there in Joe Andre and Eddie Olafosio. And yes, Terrell Bernard is a captain, but he can still learn things from older players. So, the Bills go out and they get somebody like Shaq Thompson. And I think that answered a question. I remember it was a a One Bill’s Live topic one of the days that you guys, you and Steve were kind of picking apart the roster. What is still needed? Yeah. And I think a depth, if you can get a veteran that can be a depth piece for you, that’s a valuable thing to have. Before we go any further, we should tell you we have a jampacked show for you today. We’ll have the governor Kathy Hokll on with us in a little bit. Uh she was visiting training camp here today. She also had an initiative with some kids. So, we’ll talk to her about that along with the signing of DEA’s law, which has a tie-in with AED equipment being in schools. It represents the emergency response plan that is going to be mandated for all K to2 schools going forward. So, we’ll talk to her about that as well. And then bottom of the hour, about 25 minutes time, we’re going to catch up with everybody’s MVP, Josh Allen. and he answered a lot of the football questions yesterday in his press conference which we aired here on One Bills Live. So, we’re going to have a a little bit of a lighter conversation, maybe talk to him about his golf game a little bit, how he spent his off season, which as we know was full of an important one important activity, a wedding and a honeymoon among other things. So, we’ll catch up with Josh on some of the lighter things uh going on in his life. See where maybe he traveled a little bit here in the offse. So, we’ll check that out with Josh at the bottom of the hour. And then second hour of the show, we’ll have some press conference commentary from Dion Dawkins and James Cook. Be interested to hear how James is feeling after two days on the practice field. He arguably had the biggest play of practice today. It looked like a very simple Mhm. harmless swing pass out on the left side of the formation. Uh they used misdirection on that play. Threw it out to to Cook and he got a great open field block from Reggie Gilliam on the only defender on that side of the field and he was gone down the sideline. I kind of lost sight of him cuz he ran behind a bunch of people along the sideline but I thought he had a shot at the end zone. It would have been a 50 plus yard touchdown. I was standing right where the play kind of broke apart and he ran open after Reggie Gillian blocked for him. And it seems like James Cook would have made it to the end zone. It’s always tough to tell right now. You’re not in pads, you’re not tackling, you’re not even really doing any thud. So, it was great to see him get out there and have that play. He’s also had some nice vision in the first two days of training camp practices. Has hit some nice holes. Uh he looks smooth. Brandon Bean talked about what he’s seen out of James Cook thus far. And Bean said Cook looks strong. He is here to work. That’s what Cook has done in the last two days. Yeah. So, encouraging signs from him. So, we’ll hear from him in the second hour of the show as he answers questions of the media. Here’s one other observation I’ve had, Matty, and it’s it’s due mainly to the absence of Dawson Knox because of the hamstring injury, but we’re seeing Zack Davidson featured in the passing game more because Knox is out, and we’re seeing rookie Jackson Haw more as the tight end up on the line, the traditional tight end position. He’s getting a lot of blocking assignments. The Michael Hoy one didn’t go so well, but I think he’s held his own for the most part through the first two days. He’s literally learning on the fly, going against the best competition this roster has to offer on the defensive side of the ball. It It’s The reason I find it interesting is because the coaching staff is throwing him in the deep end of the pool and say, “Let’s see you swim.” They don’t do that with everybody. Um they try to get an assessment through the course of the spring. Hey, what can this guy handle? Let’s see if he can handle a little bit more. Clearly, he’s an intelligent player. That guy went to Yale for God’s sakes. and then he went to Georgia Tech for a masters after that. So, he’s a smart guy. I I think they want to see how much can he handle and how quickly can he adjust to it. So, it’s a it’s a player to keep an eye on if you’re coming to training camp because he’s getting a lot of opportunities for a rookie fifth round pick. That spot is a sneaky competition in training camp and and we’ll see how it evolves throughout training camp. But you have Zack Davidson who’s been here for a while and had a really good training camp last year. There are some catches that he had and yes, Zack Davidson and Jackson Haw a little bit different body type. Uh doing some different things on the field, but Jackson Haw has has gotten his opportunities already through camp. Joe Brady, our offensive coordinator, spoke to media earlier today. One thing that he mentioned was a lot of these rookies, they’re not getting a lot of reps. And so when they get reps, I don’t want them to be afraid. I want them to go out there and try their best. I know they’re going to make mistakes. It’s about correcting those mistakes once we’re in the meeting room and getting back onto the practice field. So him kind of getting thrown into the deep end like you said that means they’ve already seen something in Haw that says we trust you to have more than just a couple of reps during practices. Right. And and we should also remind ourselves Quinton Morris is no longer here. A guy who manned the quote unquote third tight end position for the last three seasons. He’s no longer part of the equation. I think it’s one of the main reasons they drafted Jackson Haw to serve in a similar role. So, in many ways, they kind of have to get him ready. Yes. For regular season football as soon as possible because, you know, it’s a little over a month away, and you got to get him as many reps as you possibly can because as talented as Zack Davidson is as a pass catcher, I don’t think he has rounded his full game into form. Like, his blocking ability and his work at the line of scrimmage has not yet reached his level of ability as a pass catcher. So, he’s still working on that. I think they want Haw to prove he can be the inline blocking guy, a player you got on the field in 12 personnel or even 13 personnel to do some of that dirty work. And Haw, you speak to him, you hear his press conference after he got drafted doing the dirty works. It’s something that you think goes hand in hand based on what he said. I He enjoys it. He enjoys the the violence in the game of football. I spoke with someone I can’t remember who who knows Jackson Haw and knew him in college football and said, “You guys got a really impressive player when it comes to the mentality that you need to play with to play this game at a high level.” And some of the some of the draft gurus were even saying he’s the best blocking tight end in the draft class. We’ll see if that proves to be the case. He’s certainly getting more than his fair share of opportunities. [Music]

Chris Brown and Maddy Glab recapped the team’s second day of training camp practice at St. John Fisher University. The two discussed the impact of the heat, the offensive improvement today, and the top plays on the field. They went on to share their observations of James Cook and the TE usage with Dawson Knox’s absence early in camp.

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