My first ever training camp report!

[Beerball]

Great. So you've been drinking, AND you're sleep-deprived? And we're supposed to trust you?

 

Kidding. Fine job, my good man.

Sleep deprived no more. We gotta send someone on a search & rescue for OC.

[Lori]

Hmm. Yeah, the afternoon session was supposed to begin at 2:15. Perhaps he's still enjoying "lunch" ...

[scribo]

Hmm. Yeah, the afternoon session was supposed to begin at 2:15. Perhaps he's still enjoying "lunch" ...

Either that, or the whole sleep deprivation, drinking his breakfast and lunch and having not driven in half a decade caught up with him. Really, I hope he is safe and posting updates soon.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

how could I forget hamdan? no bs he looked great out there. he is very tall. its like he is throwing down to people. he hit 2 passes to schouman and one to #15?

 

Man, what if hamdan is really that good?

[flomoe]

Man, what if hamdan is really that good?

 

 

If he is that good, JP will probably have a new address the first weekend of September barring injuries to anyone else.

[OCinBuffalo]

here's something cool....its hot as hell here and poz is insisting on sigining every piece of crap put in front of him. I got my jersey signed 20 minutes ago and he's still here.

 

also, sorry about the rest of my report. I have been surprised/best by 4 year old cousins and I kinda missed a lot

[AKC]

Not a single mention of our newly "remodeled" DT rotation- I wonder if it's a sign that Melvin Fowler is going to have a huge year for us?

[Turn Down For Watkins]

ok I'm here. I bs'd my way into parking right at the school....no faggy shuttle buses for OC.

 

So far its been reallt great. As I got here hardy caught a 15 yard pass.

 

so yeah they doing 11 v11 right now. Lynch looks great they kust ran 2 in arow that wouldhave gone for 5 plus ...make that 3.

Yeah, those buses suck.

[billrooter]

Jason Peters -- one of the top 10 tackles in the NFL.

 

Lee Evans -- NOT one of the top 10 receivers in the NFL.

I will reword that for you jason peters one of the top ten ots in the league, ot is a position you can totally prove your worth with less dependence on other players and positions in my opinion! Lee Evans possibly one of the top ten receivers in the league, get him quaterback play and i think your statement is highly debatable, evans has put up very good numbers with very sh------- qb play, care to disagree?

[OCinBuffalo]

So I got home and crashed yesterday and I just got up. My mom is guilty for tipping off some of my family that I was at camp and of course, not to be outdone as Bills fans, they had to come too. So, I spent the afternoon practice explaining what was going to on to all the kids and their moms, and the rest of the time I spent on trying to get the kids' stuff signed. I managed to get my Poz jersey signed. What a cool guy he is.

 

Anyway, on to what I didn't post yesterday:

 

1. James hardy is going to be huge for us this year. It seemed no matter what the defensive back did, and there was some excellent coverage on him a few times, he still caught the ball. I did not see him drop one. He truly is "always open". He bends well, like they said, and his arms are long as hell. On many routes the best the d back could do was cover his "center" and/or get on his back but then he'd just reach out, and make the catch anyway. I don't know if I'm making sense but in terms of covering Hardy as an "area", the "area" you have to cover is twice the size of any other WR out there. It's practically impossible to cover 10 sq. ft. all at the same time. They were running him on crossing routes and the only thing the DBs could really do was contain him. And, he was in single coverage a lot with Lee Evans on the other side, after a while it became blatantly clear that this is simply not fair to the poor DB trying to cover him. Of course, unfair is just fine with me I think the only way DBs are going to be able to stop him is if they jump the route and/or try to guess where he will catch it and lunge at the ball. Lunging and guessing wrong = 6 points, especially in a 3 WR set. In fact after a while, the DBs seemed content to simply let him have all of the 7 -10 yard routes, and Trent Edwards was happy to cash those in, more on that later.

 

2. Marcus Stroud is everything as advertised....and/or Melvin Fowler is going to be a problem again. Stroud was in the backfield on many occasions. Edit: I mean he would have sacked Edwards about 3-4 times by himself. It's kinda hard to tell if some of those were just allowed to happen because they weren't hitting and had no pads, but there is no doubt in my mind that he is very quick. For example, they ran one play behind Brad Butler and it looked like Stroud would be trapped. He was quick enough to where it was 50/50 on whether he could have got Lynch at the line.

 

3. Lee Evans is worth whatever they end up paying him. But, it's also clear that the defense was respecting the other WRs as well. Lee ran some great routes and made some plays. In fact the only one I didn't see him get was the one I mentioned above = Edwards put too much air under the ball.

 

4. Trent Edwards performed like we expect, smart, conservative, take what the D gives you, move the chains. He did try to go down the field to Josh Reed right when I first got there in the morning and the timing/air under the ball/Reed wasn't quite right. Reed got a diving hand on it, but IMO, if he had kept running he would have caught it. It looked like he expected it to get there faster. He threw one pick, but that play was screwed up from the get go, his body looked like he wasn't sure what he was doing, his feet were all over the place, and then he threw it and hit(I thought Whitner but gr said) McGee right in the chest. Other than that one play, he looked consistent all day.

 

5. THIS IS A NEW OFFENSE. There is no doubt about it. On multiple occasions, especially in the afternoon they ran shift after shift. Example: At one point they started in a split backfield, with Reed lined up as a flanker on the right and I think Lynch and Jackson in the backfield, with Lee Evans lined up as a WR on the left and I want to say Shouman as a TE on the left. Then they shifted, Lynch lined up in the slot on the left, Jackson stayed put, and Reed went out in motion on the right. The overload to the left worked as the D tried to adjust and get people over there when they snapped the ball. This left Josh Reed in single coverage to the right, Edwards hits him, 1st down, great play. It was quick, efficient, and the defense's only chance would have been if somebody made a mistake.

 

6. And, JP looked like JP, he threw some pretty down field passes, but he really stunk when I first got there. He threw a pick on his first play, and right after that one he threw one that bounced of every hand in the D but no int Then, later he looked great. Typical JP outing.

 

7. Stroud/Poz...the middle is looking much better than what I saw at the Altanta pre-season last year. Stroud is really gonna benefit Poz. On about 1/4 of the run plays, it was one of the two of them that would have stopped it for 1-2 yards. Of course, on the other 3/4 Lynch was being Lynch, and he had some excellent runs to the right side.

 

8. LT, there was a constantly changing platoon at LT all day. It looked like they were giving everybody a chance there.

 

I might be able to go back on Monday as well, we'll see.

[eball]

Jason Peters -- one of the top 10 tackles in the NFL.

 

Lee Evans -- NOT one of the top 10 receivers in the NFL.

Which is relevant why? In no other industry would a "holdout" be acceptable behavior for an employee. I believe it's only acceptable in pro sports as a last resort, if the team absolutely refuses to talk. There is NO evidence the Bills have taken such a position, which is why Peters' ass should be in camp while his agent talks to the Bills and presents a rational argument for a new deal. It's so freaking simple, yet so many people don't get it.

 

It's very difficult for the Average Joe fan to feel sympathy for a 20-something year old athlete who was undrafted out of college and is SO unhappy with his $3.3M deal he has abandoned team activities as he attempts to hold the team hostage.

 

Talk about lack of perspective. The fact a good number of you believe the Bills should go crawling to Peters' agent astounds me.

[obie_wan]

Which is relevant why? In no other industry would a "holdout" be acceptable behavior for an employee. I believe it's only acceptable in pro sports as a last resort, if the team absolutely refuses to talk. There is NO evidence the Bills have taken such a position, which is why Peters' ass should be in camp while his agent talks to the Bills and presents a rational argument for a new deal. It's so freaking simple, yet so many people don't get it.

 

It's very difficult for the Average Joe fan to feel sympathy for a 20-something year old athlete who was undrafted out of college and is SO unhappy with his $3.3M deal he has abandoned team activities as he attempts to hold the team hostage.

 

Talk about lack of perspective. The fact a good number of you believe the Bills should go crawling to Peters' agent astounds me.

 

Contrary to the Bills recent spin, it is more likely the Bills clearly laid out their position to the Peters camp back in January that they would not re-do his contract with 3 years left.

 

Peters actions have been in response to that Bills denial.

 

The root of this problem can be traced back to the deal done 2 years ago with Marv. Peters wanted an escalator to reward him if he was moved to LT. The Bills only agreed to a $1 mil addition. Both parties knew this was a bare bones compromise and it would become an issue if Peters was successful at LT. If Marv was still GM, this would not have been an issue - but Brandon is playing junior GM and changed the rules.

 

Pretty stupid to try to make an example out of your best player.

[Beerball]

So I got home and crashed yesterday and I just got up. My mom is guilty for tipping off some of my family that I was at camp and of course, not to be outdone as Bills fans, they had to come too. So, I spent the afternoon practice explaining what was going to on to all the kids and their moms, and the rest of the time I spent on trying to get the kids' stuff signed. I managed to get my Poz jersey signed. What a cool guy he is.

 

Anyway, on to what I didn't post yesterday:

I might be able to go back on Monday as well, we'll see.

Thanks again OC! It was great being able to read a bit of what was going on during the session. Many to you.

[scribo]

Thanks, OC. Good report. Glad you made it home safely.

[The Big Cat]

Contrary to the Bills recent spin, it is more likely the Bills clearly laid out their position to the Peters camp back in January that they would not re-do his contract with 3 years left.

 

Peters actions have been in response to that Bills denial.

 

The root of this problem can be traced back to the deal done 2 years ago with Marv. Peters wanted an escalator to reward him if he was moved to LT. The Bills only agreed to a $1 mil addition. Both parties knew this was a bare bones compromise and it would become an issue if Peters was successful at LT. If Marv was still GM, this would not have been an issue - but Brandon is playing junior GM and changed the rules.

 

Pretty stupid to try to make an example out of your best player.

 

you the man

[Kelly the Dog]

So I got home and crashed yesterday and I just got up. My mom is guilty for tipping off some of my family that I was at camp and of course, not to be outdone as Bills fans, they had to come too. So, I spent the afternoon practice explaining what was going to on to all the kids and their moms, and the rest of the time I spent on trying to get the kids' stuff signed. I managed to get my Poz jersey signed. What a cool guy he is.

 

Anyway, on to what I didn't post yesterday:

Thanks again, OC. That was excellent. I think Hardy could be an immediate factor in the pass game, and that Edwards' strengths could mesh quite well. In fact, I hate to say this, but even Trent's deficiencies could work with Hardy. Edwards has a habit of putting too much air under the ball, as well as slightly under-throwing the long ball. That's perfect for a guy like Hardy who has very good timing on his jumps and the obvious long arms.

 

Stroud, if he's good, is going to help Poz tremendously. I look for Poz to have double digit tackles on a regular basis. The hope is that they are near the LOS instead of 4-5 yards into the defensive backfield.

 

I don't have a lot of confidence in Turk at all, not yet anyway. But just installing an NFL offense could help substantially. We have some play-makers. Reed and Parrish at #3 and #4 is a LOT better than those two at #2 and #3.

[VOR]

Contrary to the Bills recent spin, it is more likely the Bills clearly laid out their position to the Peters camp back in January that they would not re-do his contract with 3 years left.

 

Peters actions have been in response to that Bills denial.

 

The root of this problem can be traced back to the deal done 2 years ago with Marv. Peters wanted an escalator to reward him if he was moved to LT. The Bills only agreed to a $1 mil addition. Both parties knew this was a bare bones compromise and it would become an issue if Peters was successful at LT. If Marv was still GM, this would not have been an issue - but Brandon is playing junior GM and changed the rules.

 

Pretty stupid to try to make an example out of your best player.

Where'd you get the (inside) info on the 'escalator to reward him if he was moved to LT' thing?

[VOR]

I went to camp as well. I can't give nearly the detailed information Mike can, but I also thought that Hardy looked great catching everything and that he'll be a factor/weapon for the Bills who needs to be the #2 WR immediately. Jason Jones and Steve Johnson also caught my eye.

[Guest dog14787]

Awesome report, thanks so much