Bills Training Camp Practice Day 9 (8/4)

[Forward Progress]

16 minutes ago, stevewin said:

The situations I was referring to weren't what you are describing - free shots from Offside etc.   They were dead plays where they whistled the play dead for sacks etc. - or plays that were completely blown up.  There were a lot of those plays/whistles (the defense being dominant), and from being there and seeing Josh multiple times just throw up brutal passes in those situations, it really didn't come off at all as a positive play  

 

That is a different scenario than I had in mind.  Thanks for the clarification. 

 

I’m sure the players are tired of practice and ready for some real football by now. 

[billspro]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

I was at camp today. I don't go most years, so being there gave me a new perspective on training camp reports. I guess the narrative of the beat reporters was that Allen was off today. I didn't feel that way at all. Not that he was consistently on fire or anything, and he definitely started off slow, but by the time final team drills rolled around he was more than fine.

 

Just as an example, in one 11-on-11 drill, Allen threw a beautiful dime about 35 yards down field to John Brown in very tight coverage running a post to the sideline. It was really a spectacular throw and catch. I didn't see any of the usual reporters on Twitter mention that throw, which I thought was weird.

 

Another example - there was a lot of negativity on Twitter around a pick that Allen threw to Poyer where he supposedly underthrew McKenzie. Unless I was seeing things, the defense jumped Offside and Allen was just throwing it up for grabs. I clearly saw a d-lineman jump before the snap on a hard count. After Poyer intercepted the ball Allen still made a "move the chains" motion with his arm. I check Twitter and the beat reporters are talking about an underthrown interception. Weird.

 

In the final 2 team drills Allen was mostly throwing short passes and I thought he looked very sharp on those. I actually don't remember a single short pass that he was off target on. That was one of his weaknesses last year so I was happy to see that. Again, I didn't see anyone on Twitter talking about those drills at all. Beasley is going to be a stud in this offense. He catches everything.

 

And being at camp gave me a new level of disrespect for tracking completion percentage at practices. The offense isn't getting in any kind of rhythm, they're running around to different drills that cover different game situations. At one point Allen and Barkley were alternating reps with the 1st team offense. Thad Brown might just be more astute than me, but tracking completion percentage for that drill is nonsense.

 

Anyways I'm no expert at watching football drills but I was surprised by how different my perceptions were.

 

A few other notes:

-I didn't see Zay Jones at all after the 1-on-1s. I think he was standing on the sideline for most of the team drills. If he was ever playing in the drills, I didn't see him make any plays.

-Barkley looked sharp with the 2nd team. I feel very comfortable with him as the backup.

-I thought Tyree Jackson showed some good signs today. Clearly a work in progress but he made some nice short throws. He had a brutal interception early on but nothing else that was shockingly bad.

-The wide receiver combos are all over the place. After Beasley and Brown I couldn't tell you who #3 is. I saw Roberts get a bunch of reps, but Phillips did as well. Both had a few nice plays with the 1st team offense.

-You don't need to see 91 on his jersey to pick out Ed Oliver. The guy is so quick off the snap. He appears to be a full time starter at this point, with Phillips getting rotated in a fair amount.

 

Thanks for the review. It’s so hard to get a feel from practice on Twitter.

[BobChalmers]

3 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

Singletary

 

 

More to the point  </Castillo>    

 

The whole stable of RB's will look amazing by comparison this year.

 

 

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, JaCrispy said:

hear...starting to wonder if some of the journalists reporting at camp are seeing things through a negative light, with regards to JA- similar to the analytics crowd

 

I don't know if it's intentionally negative or not. In a way I respect what the reporters are trying to do because it's hard watching these plays live and making concrete judgments. That's why even the practices have coaches film. But nothing they say is gospel and by my own eyes they missed a bunch of stuff that offset a lot of the negativity.

 

Another thing I realized is there were no red zone drills tonight. I don't think a single TD was scored in team drills. It seemed like the drives were automatically ended if the offense got inside the 10. Not sure what the purpose behind that was.

[Warcodered]

 

[eball]

36 minutes ago, billspro said:

Thad Brown might just be more astute than me

He’s not. Trust me. 

[stinky finger]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

I was at camp today. I don't go most years, so being there gave me a new perspective on training camp reports. I guess the narrative of the beat reporters was that Allen was off today. I didn't feel that way at all. Not that he was consistently on fire or anything, and he definitely started off slow, but by the time final team drills rolled around he was more than fine.

 

Just as an example, in one 11-on-11 drill, Allen threw a beautiful dime about 35 yards down field to John Brown in very tight coverage running a post to the sideline. It was really a spectacular throw and catch. I didn't see any of the usual reporters on Twitter mention that throw, which I thought was weird.

 

Another example - there was a lot of negativity on Twitter around a pick that Allen threw to Poyer where he supposedly underthrew McKenzie. Unless I was seeing things, the defense jumped Offside and Allen was just throwing it up for grabs. I clearly saw a d-lineman jump before the snap on a hard count. After Poyer intercepted the ball Allen still made a "move the chains" motion with his arm. I check Twitter and the beat reporters are talking about an underthrown interception. Weird.

 

In the final 2 team drills Allen was mostly throwing short passes and I thought he looked very sharp on those. I actually don't remember a single short pass that he was off target on. That was one of his weaknesses last year so I was happy to see that. Again, I didn't see anyone on Twitter talking about those drills at all. Beasley is going to be a stud in this offense. He catches everything.

 

And being at camp gave me a new level of disrespect for tracking completion percentage at practices. The offense isn't getting in any kind of rhythm, they're running around to different drills that cover different game situations. At one point Allen and Barkley were alternating reps with the 1st team offense. Thad Brown might just be more astute than me, but tracking completion percentage for that drill is nonsense.

 

Anyways I'm no expert at watching football drills but I was surprised by how different my perceptions were.

 

A few other notes:

-I didn't see Zay Jones at all after the 1-on-1s. I think he was standing on the sideline for most of the team drills. If he was ever playing in the drills, I didn't see him make any plays.

-Barkley looked sharp with the 2nd team. I feel very comfortable with him as the backup.

-I thought Tyree Jackson showed some good signs today. Clearly a work in progress but he made some nice short throws. He had a brutal interception early on but nothing else that was shockingly bad.

-The wide receiver combos are all over the place. After Beasley and Brown I couldn't tell you who #3 is. I saw Roberts get a bunch of reps, but Phillips did as well. Both had a few nice plays with the 1st team offense.

-You don't need to see 91 on his jersey to pick out Ed Oliver. The guy is so quick off the snap. He appears to be a full time starter at this point, with Phillips getting rotated in a fair amount.

 

Love hearing this. Good post HD.

 

Thanks 

[Warcodered]

http://billsmafia.com/2019/8/04/astro-notes-bills-practice-7/

[HappyDays]

9 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

 

 

That's the exact play I mentioned in my report. Really nice ball placement and good work by Brown getting both feet down. That was really the only deep attempt that Josh took today.

[TroutDog]

I agree with @Happy Days: I was there today and it was clear they were working on short throws for Josh and he was hitting them. I recall ONE poorly thrown short pass. 

 

I left early since they were in shells and I really wanted to see Oliver against the 1 OL but Josh looked fine to me. His game has improved and that’s all I needed to see. 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

I was at camp today. I don't go most years, so being there gave me a new perspective on training camp reports. I guess the narrative of the beat reporters was that Allen was off today. I didn't feel that way at all. Not that he was consistently on fire or anything, and he definitely started off slow, but by the time final team drills rolled around he was more than fine.

 

Just as an example, in one 11-on-11 drill, Allen threw a beautiful dime about 35 yards down field to John Brown in very tight coverage running a post to the sideline. It was really a spectacular throw and catch. I didn't see any of the usual reporters on Twitter mention that throw, which I thought was weird.

 

Another example - there was a lot of negativity on Twitter around a pick that Allen threw to Poyer where he supposedly underthrew McKenzie. Unless I was seeing things, the defense jumped Offside and Allen was just throwing it up for grabs. I clearly saw a d-lineman jump before the snap on a hard count. After Poyer intercepted the ball Allen still made a "move the chains" motion with his arm. I check Twitter and the beat reporters are talking about an underthrown interception. Weird.

 

In the final 2 team drills Allen was mostly throwing short passes and I thought he looked very sharp on those. I actually don't remember a single short pass that he was off target on. That was one of his weaknesses last year so I was happy to see that. Again, I didn't see anyone on Twitter talking about those drills at all. Beasley is going to be a stud in this offense. He catches everything.

 

And being at camp gave me a new level of disrespect for tracking completion percentage at practices. The offense isn't getting in any kind of rhythm, they're running around to different drills that cover different game situations. At one point Allen and Barkley were alternating reps with the 1st team offense. Thad Brown might just be more astute than me, but tracking completion percentage for that drill is nonsense.

 

Anyways I'm no expert at watching football drills but I was surprised by how different my perceptions were.

 

A few other notes:

-I didn't see Zay Jones at all after the 1-on-1s. I think he was standing on the sideline for most of the team drills. If he was ever playing in the drills, I didn't see him make any plays.

-Barkley looked sharp with the 2nd team. I feel very comfortable with him as the backup.

-I thought Tyree Jackson showed some good signs today. Clearly a work in progress but he made some nice short throws. He had a brutal interception early on but nothing else that was shockingly bad.

-The wide receiver combos are all over the place. After Beasley and Brown I couldn't tell you who #3 is. I saw Roberts get a bunch of reps, but Phillips did as well. Both had a few nice plays with the 1st team offense.

-You don't need to see 91 on his jersey to pick out Ed Oliver. The guy is so quick off the snap. He appears to be a full time starter at this point, with Phillips getting rotated in a fair amount.

Wait, are you saying we’re not doomed?? 

 

 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Allen is a gamer not worried.

 

 

[BADOLBILZ]

7 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

 

Just as an example, in one 11-on-11 drill, Allen threw a beautiful dime about 35 yards down field to John Brown in very tight coverage running a post to the sideline. It was really a spectacular throw and catch. I didn't see any of the usual reporters on Twitter mention that throw, which I thought was weird.

 

 

 

Did Hauscha attempt any sideways field goals while you were there Fonzarelli?  

 

 

[Big Blitz]

This was Joe Bs take on Allen at practice tonight:

 

Tough day for Josh Allen

Josh Allen and the offense showed some rust after a day off. Allen started the day 2-for-7 passing with an interception to Jordan Poyer. Allen was trying to throw to Isaiah McKenzie, who was covered. Poyer read the play easily to make the interception. Two plays later, Allen threw into double coverage again and the pass was broken up.

 

The second-year quarterback settled down a bit after that, finishing the day 7-for-12. He settled for higher-percentage throws after his rocky start. This is now the third consecutive practice in which Allen has been underwhelming. This is a good time to note that these practices aren’t to be taken as a strong indicator of Allen’s future success. The offense has been without center Mitch Morse, and the defense has been taking full advantage. Still, after Allen’s hot start to camp, the past few practices have been sobering for Bills fans.

 

https://theathletic.com/1116916/2019/08/04/new-roles-for-cody-ford-and-ed-oliver-and-other-notes-from-day-9-of-bills-camp/#click=https://t.co/PuhMKrMYFK

 

 

Sobering?  What the heck is he talking about?  I'm quite good so far thanks.  7-12 and settling for high percentage throws?  All with constant pressure over our cone for a center...that "the D is taking full advantage of."  Sounds ok to me vs a likely top 3 D in the league.  He went 5-5 after that "rocky start."  

 

I don't know what Joe is expecting, or what we are working on in these sessions, but apparently he thinks it should be all money shots 20-30 yards down field. 

 

One last thing......As to the "settling for higher completion throws" (and saying this as a negative Trent Edward's development)----- did Joe forget what he wrote after his day 4 observations:

 

 

"He’s still showing some growing pains, whether on shorter throws to Cole Beasley or in the flat to running backs..."  

 

 

 

So based on what he saw today---Josh has actually IMPROVED on what he thought was a weakness early in camp.  Accurate short throws.  Of course he didn't specify what those were but I'm betting that weren't dump offs to RBs or he would have said so.

 

Good work Joe.  Keep it real with those Josh Allen sucks goggles on.  And are you still hoping they "free" Eddie Yarbrough?

 

.  

Edited August 5, 2019 by Big Blitz

[NickelCity]

Context is so important for these practices, and we rarely get it save for some fine folks on here and Astro. My biggest takeaway is just how bad our backup centers are. Would have been good to see Feliciano not get injured and continue to grow there. Ah well. Have to hope Morse all of a sudden ends what seems to be a scary trend. 

[YoloinOhio]

Good stuff in here 

 

https://twitter.com/joebuscaglia/status/1158225256374517767?s=21

[Figster]

22 hours ago, ganesh said:

Kelly had that luxury because he had Thurman Thomas running the football.   JA needs a similar compliment 

 Also catching the football. (as good as anyone on the team) 

[Da webster guy]

On 8/5/2019 at 2:11 AM, NickelCity said:

Context is so important for these practices, and we rarely get it save for some fine folks on here and Astro. My biggest takeaway is just how bad our backup centers are. Would have been good to see Feliciano not get injured and continue to grow there. Ah well. Have to hope Morse all of a sudden ends what seems to be a scary trend. 

 

Yeah I think Morse will start against the Jets, but we need this cat to come through the protocol ready to play.   

If I'm Beane, I sit down with my scouts, Oline coach and I find the best backup center in the league and trade for the guy immediately.  We gambled on a guy who has a history of injuries and 3 prior concussions, choosing him over Paradis and paying him more.  We now have to double down on that bet and invest in a backup because the goddamn opener is 6 weeks away and we already know what its gonna look like with Bodine in there.