By Michael J. Thomas
Buffalo Bills Training Camp Gallery – Monday, July 21, 2014
It was the second day of Buffalo Bills training camp and the players continued to spend extra time working on their fundamentals. They worked on several individual drills, 1-on-1 passing drills, 7-on-7 passing drills, 9-on-7 drills and of course the 11-on-11 full team drills. The team also took some time to work on special teams, this time their target was kickoffs and kickoff coverage.
The team went right to work at 2:00 on their individual drills, working with the units on certain things to help them with their game. They did this for about 20 minutes and then the entire team did some stretching out to get ready for all the work. The offense worked on some different passing drills, learning about assignments and things like that and then the quarterbacks spent more time working on their footwork. Following those drills, the quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends jogged over to Growney Stadium to work on more passing. They did this for about 5-10 minutes and then they came back onto the field to practice 1-on-1’s.
During the 1-on-1 drills, the plays are very fast paced. I noted a few things that caught my eye during the 1-on-1’s. Right off the ball, Da’Norris Searcy intercepted EJ Manuel. Thad Lewis had a pair of good plays in the drill. One of then was a nice 30-yard pass to Kevin Elliott. The other one was a beautiful 45-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Goodwin. Jeff Tuel had one play that looked like it was going to get picked off, however, Marcus Easley tipped the ball in the air and caught it for 25-yards. The best play was from EJ Manuel, who hit Sammy Watkins in stride for a 45-yard touchdown while burning Leodis McKelvin.
Following the 1-on-1 drills, the team finally got to work on the thing everyone is waiting for, the 7-on-7 drills. EJ Manuel started it off with a pass to CJ Spiller, who dropped it. Thad Lewis then came in and dumped the ball off to Fred Jackson for 4-yards. EJ Manuel came back and overthrew TJ Graham. On the next play, Thad Lewis felt some pressure from Brandon Spikes and ran with the ball for 8-yards. EJ Manuel then saw Chris Gragg, but he dropped the ball. Jeff Tuel came in next and overthrew TJ Graham. Manuel then hit Lee Smith for 7-yards. Jeff Tuel then got another shot and dumped the ball off to Anthony Dixon. for 5-yards. EJ Manuel then came back for his final time and overthrew Robert Woods. On the last play of the drill, Dennis Dixon connected with Scott Chandler for 6-yards.
The horn sounded and then the linemen came to join in the fun. EJ Manuel started it off by taking a sack from Jerry Hughes. CJ Spiller then ran up the middle for 5-yards. On the next play, EJ Manuel felt more pressure from Hughes, but this time got the ball out and connected with Sammy Watkins for 18-yards. Fred Jackson then ran around the right tackle for 4-yards. On the next play, Jerry Hughes was in the backfield again and would have had the sack. Anthony Dixon then exploded up the middle for 6-yards. He followed that up by getting stuffed at the line by Jarius Wynn. Jeff Tuel then connected with Tony Moeaki for 8-yards. On the next play, Bryce Brown came in and broke to the outside around the left tackle for a gain of about 15-yards. Jeff Tuel then hit Brown for 7-yards. Fred Jackson got his chance next and ran up the middle for 6-yards. EJ Manuel then threw a beautiful 70-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Watkins who continues to impress. Fred Jackson then ran up the middle for a short gain before being stopped by Preston Brown. On the next play, EJ Manuel threw a dangerous pass to Sammy Watkins, who made a great leaping grab in triple coverage and literally stole the ball out of the air. Manuel then hit Robert Woods for 12-yards. The offensive line then drew a false start penalty. Thad Lewis came back in and threw a screen to Evan Rodriguez for 4-yards. He followed that with a nice 13-yard pass to Kevin Elliott. Ronnie Wingo then got his chance to carry the ball and ran up the middle for 6-yards. Thad Lewis then saw Kevin Elliott again, but this time he dropped it. On the final play of the drill, Lewis connected with Bryce Brown for 18-yards. Following the 11-on-11 drills, the team went to work on some kickoff drills. The kick “returners” were TJ Graham, Fred Jackson, and Sammy Watkins. They only worked on the special teams drills for a short time and then did some 9-on-7 drills.
EJ Manuel started the drill off with a 10-yard pass to Scott Chandler. However on the next two plays, EJ was pressured to both Hughes and Kyle Williams. He chose to keep in on both plays. Jeff Tuel came in next and connected with Ronnie Wingo for 6-yards. He then threw a pass to Chris Hogan for 30-yards. On the final play of the series, Tuel would have been sacked by Manny Lawson and Stefan Charles who both got in there. Dennis Dixon then came in and connected with Tony Moeaki for 8-yards. However on the next play, Dixon was sacked by Ikponmwosa Igbinosun. Manuel came back on the field and connected with Bryce Brown for 9-yards. He then saw Marquise Goodwin, but Michaek Carter broke the play up. On the final play of the series, Manuel was intercepted by Kenny Ladler. Thad Lewis then came in and dumped the ball off to Frank Summers for 4-yards. He then hit Kevin Elliott, but he dropped the ball. On the final play of the series, Thad Lewis was sniffed out and intercepted by Derek Brim. Dennis Dixon then came back to finish off the drill and saw Chris Summers, but he dropped then ball. Then he ended the drill off with a 6-yard pass to CJ Spiller.
Following the 9-on-7, the team went back to work on more 11-on-11 drills. Mario Williams started it right off by sacking EJ Manuel. Fred Jackson then got the ball and ran around the right tackle for 9-yards. EJ Manuel then followed that with a 19-yard pass to his favorite target, Sammy Watkins. Following that play, there was a miscommunication on the handoff between EJ Manuel and Bryce Brown. EJ then threw a screen to Brown for 5-yards. Thad Lewis came onto the field and had no one open, so he ran with the ball for 6-yards. Bryce Brown then ran up the middle for 4-yards. On the next play, both Keith Rivers and Colby Way were in the backfield and would have sacked Thad Lewis. Jacquies Smith got a sack right after that. Lewis finished the series off by dumping the ball off to Bryce Brown for 4-yards. EJ Manuel came back onto the field and saw Sammy Watkins, but both Duke Williams and Deon Broomfield had blanket coverage on him. Manuel then connected with Lee Smith for a short gain. He followed that with a QB keeper for 5-yards. On the next play, EJ Manuel had his pass tipped at the line and it was batted high in the air with 5 or 6 guys there. Sammy Watkins leaped up in the air to a loud cheer and made an acrobatic catch, however he hit the ground hard and was slow to get up. There was definitely some worry from the stands. But he got up and eventually went back to the sideline with his unit after it turned out he just nicked his head a little bit. For the final play of the drill, Bryce Brown ran up the middle for 6-yards. Then team then had little break for a few minutes to cool off.
After the break, the team did some more kickoff practice. It’s way too early to see anything there, but I noticed that Fred Jackson, Marquise Goodwin and Ronnie Wingo were the kick returners. They only worked for about 5-minutes and then the did one last 11-on-11 drill. CJ Spiller started it off with a 5-yard run up the middle. EJ Manuel then made a nice move to avoid the sack and gained 6-yards. Spiller got another chance and ran up the middle for 8-yards. Following the run, Da’Norris Searcy and Robert Woods got into a little scrum after Searcy tried to drag Woods to the ground and Woods threw a punch. Then things got heated. They even had to pull Searcy away. On the next play, Manuel threw a screen to Anthony Dixon, who ran for 20-yards displaying some nice burst. He then ran up the middle for 4-yards. Jeff Tuel came onto the field and connected with Marquise Goodwin for 18-yards. He then hit Mike Williams who made a nice catch for 15-yards. On the final play of the series, Tuel overthrew Chris Hogan. EJ Manuel came back on the field and connected with Scott Chandler for 17-yards. On the next play, Bryce Brown was stuffed at the line. Manuel then threw a 7-yard pass to Brown. On the final play of the series, Manuel threw an 8-yard pass to Frank Summers. Thad Lewis then came in and saw Lee Smith, but Jimmy Gaines broke it up. Ronnie Wingo then had two carries in a row, one for 9-yards and one for 3-yards. On the final play of the day, Thad Lewis connected with Lee Smith for 5-yards.
Extra Points:
1. The best player on the field by far was Sammy Watkins. I don’t see anything with him that makes me think he wasn’t worth what the Bills gave up to get him. It looks like the Bills have finally found their #1 receiver for their first time in a while. Watkins looked like a man among boys and was toying with the DB’s. It was fun to watch!
2. I think people are going to be surprised with Mario Williams this year. He looked reborn out there. I’ve noticed him appearing in the backfield several times throughout the day and he’s making EJ Manuel nervous out there, just like Jerry Hughes is doing.
3. On the negative side, I don’t see anything that impresses with Tony Moeaki. I’m disappointed because I remember him at Kansas City and was looking forward to seeing what he can do. But so far, he looks very slow out there and is very low on my TE depth chart.
4. One interesting thing the team is doing this year, they are blasting music all throughout camp during the team drills. I don’t know if it’s so they can handle the crowd noise better or it’s just to get them relaxed, but it’s nice. They have quite a mixture of music playing throughout the day.
5. Props go to Head Coach Doug Marrone, DT Kyle Williams, LB Ty Powell, Marquise Goodwin, all the Special teams kickers and the different rookies that hung around after practice to sign autographs for the fans. It’s always nice to chat with the afterwards and to get the occasional autograph here and there.
Overall, it was another solid day at St John Fisher. The weather was perfect, the crowd was into it and the practice itself was run smoothly. However I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the difference in tempo once they put on the pads though.