WGR

‘The Buffalo Bills only had one quarterback at practice on Monday in Orchard Park after Mitch Trubisky was excused for personal reasons, and third-string quarterback Shane Buechele hurt his neck during Saturday’s preseason game against the Chicago Bears.’

‘McDermott revealed on Monday that third-string quarterback Shane Beuchele suffered a neck injury, which will put him out of the lineup for an “extended period of time.”‘

‘According to a report from ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler on Monday, the Bills are signing wide receiver Damiere Byrd, who was recently let go of by the Washington Commanders back on July 31.’

‘Bills quarterback Josh Allen played only two series completing two of three passes. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams led all quarterbacks in passing with 95 yards.’

‘”The standard is the standard. It’s the standard even in a preseason game, preseason week one,” McDermott said, adding “I don’t care who it is, where we’re playing, what time of day we play, or in this case preseason game number one, there is a standard and an expectation when you put the colors on of the Buffalo Bills to come out and play a lot better than we did and coach a lot better than we did.”‘

‘”The first first drive three. Now, got to get a good first down there, and then that second drive”. Allen said postgame. “It was only three plays until I got yanked. So whole lot of effort getting ready to play and getting those few snaps, but I understand the reasoning behind it.”‘

‘The Bills got stuffed most of the afternoon, gaining a total of 77 yards on the ground and averaging just 3.0 yards per carry. Outside of quarterback runs, they totaled 36 yards and 1.89 yards per run.’

‘”At first, it was a crash course, and I’m still learning as much as I can. But this is football, and sometimes you’ve just got to roll with the punches,” said Burgess following Thursday’s final practice of training camp at St. John Fisher University. “I’m just blessed to have another opportunity, and I just love playing football.”‘

‘Along with the starting offense will come several different wide receivers who should get a crack at playing with Allen. The top four seem pretty set. Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, and Mack Hollins. After that, Tyrell Shavers is making a really strong case to make the team. In addition, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, KJ Hamler, Andy Isabella, and several others will be looking to make an impression.’

‘When all was said and done, Howard picked the Bills to finish the 2024 campaign with a 10-7 record. However, he was rather uncertain as to if that would be enough to win the AFC East once again.’

‘With as hot as this summer has been, you can telling watching camp that these players are tired of hitting each other, McDermott said, “We’re looking forward to playing, we get to this point of training camp and some of the skirmishes start to break out, guys are getting a little ornery and it’s time to go against another opponent.”’

‘At safety, while there are injuries to both Mike Edwards and Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin is listed as a starter along with Taylor Rapp. Interestingly, although both Bishop and Edwards are considered week-to-week, Bishop is listed with the second team, along with Cam Lewis. But Edwards is behind him in the third pairing, with Kareem Jackson.’

‘“Yes and no, it doesn’t really make a difference for me at this point of my career, so to get things rolling would be nice, but I understand not getting out there making sure that we’re being healthy and being protective, so it’s a double edged sword any way you look at it, so if I’m asked to play, I’ll play and if I’m told not to play, I won’t play.”‘

‘”There’s always change, right? No teams the same. I would say this year there was probably more eye opening names that we lost, either due to the business side of it, people got paid, or we moved on, or just Father Time, or whatever it is, we knew what we were walking into. This year was a little bit bigger year of a cap number we were prepared for it. Is it fun? No, it stinks to lose a lot of the names that have helped you set your foundation and been here for a lot of the success that we’ve had. So you know, it is time, and I think transition is a fair word.”‘

‘On Monday, practice was moved up to start an hour earlier due to possible inclement weather later in the morning. The rain did come during the second half of practice, coming down pretty hard for about ten minutes. Players and coaches stayed on the field and worked through it.’