stevewin

Yeah - I'm old enough to remember when the media narrative was how "unfair" it was that the Dolphins had so much team speed and they were guaranteed to just run past everyone to greatness

I went to last two practices, and one thing that was kind of strange was tues was way more physical a practice but they seemed to be letting almost all contact go - for a while it seemed the refs were there as props just for the ambiance. Today was way less energy and physicality and they threw way more flags. Not sure if there are different crews and they call it different, if they decide beforehand to have the refs call a certain way etc.. I said in the tues camp thread that it was definitely the most physical i ever saw Tre - he was really going after guys in coverage.

Random observations today's practice: - Beautiful mercifully cloudy and cool morning. Quite the contrast from the scorching heat last practice. Slight drizzle that stopped and rain never came (didn't need the zubaz poncho my wife randomly bought recently) - Potential future WR1 Gosnell on JUGS before practice - didn't drop one -Josh walks out of clubhouse with Buechele and White - Trubisky nowhere to be seen - maybe his fate is sealed - Shenault might have the thickest lower body of any receiver I've ever seen - Tre with the exercise band around his knees again when he came out - including even when he was playing D on the first walk thrus plays before stretching - During STs Cook with the TEs again with Boras firing passes at them - WRS going against air at goal line. Sadly no WR-DB 1-1 today - not sure if wet field had something to do with it - 7-7 end zone 1st team - Keon tough contested catch back corner vs Tre - Josh fires a missle bounces off receiver rapp might have got a piece - Josh threads td to Davidson at goal line - 11-11 at 35 yardline 1st team - Cook run up the middle 3 yds - Quick out Gilliam 5 yds - Davis stuff middle no where to go - Keon wide open TD left side - someone messed up, Damar closest and looking around at teammates after - Cook up middle short gain - D whistle sack multiple players in backfield - Davis nice cut back middle for long gain maybe td even live action - Gore stuffed rt side short gain - notable 2nd/3rd team reps - Wilkerson nice diving sideline catch - White held ground big pressure from Hoecht - Buff Joe bursts into gap and thumps Evans hard tfl - Haven't really focused on linemen but can confirm even unfocused Walker is huge - Offense and Defense separate walk thru / installation on opposite sides of field. One interesting thing was Williams took some reps even though he wasn't dressed - shouting and communicating as if he were playing - 11-11 rz start at 20, 1st team - Cook up mid short gain - Cook pitch left stymied by Epenesa - Davis middle run stuffed - Josh scramble - Kincaid didn't turn fast enough ball bounced off pads - Next set 1st team reps: - Coverage sack - Dump Shakir 5 yds - scuffle after play Rapp threw a punch at Wilkerson - 5 yd line Shakir sneaks off right side easy td - 3rd set 1st team reps - Cook middle short gain - Cook nice bounce out from clogged middle and rbeats D to right pylon - flag thrown not sure if hold - From 5 yd line Josh throws up for Keon corner ez Tre called for PI and talked to ref for a bit after - From 5 yd line Josh finds Wilkerson middle of field at goal line for td - Next set 1st team - from 5 yd line - Cook short gain middle - Hawes wide open td crossing to left pylon - Nice dump by Josh under pressure to Kincaid left side for TD - Notable reps 2nd/3rd team - Gosnell td from Buechele - Strong nice pbu in ez on Davidson - Buechele patient in pocket went thru reads eventually found found Cain back ez - Gore td right side from Buechele - Didn't notice anything particularly notable either Trubisky or White this practice - While punt teams on field,, Oliver, Epenesa and Larry O trading dance moves while Jackson stood there with them not participating in the dance portion. Jackson has freakish long arms and legs - Half speed 11-11 for a while to end practice - Bishop on sideline in street clothes spent a lot of time with Rapp - seemed to be talking with him every time I noticed them. Lines up with reports they worked together all offseason - they seem pretty tight - He may fade into obscurity when everone comes back, but for a complete unknown, Wilkerson really was noticeable in a good way last two practices - Lot more runs this practice. Without full contact hard to really guage how well a lot of them would have fared live action - This practice was much more low energy and laid back (borderline boring) compared to Tues. Assume it was combination of wet field affecting what they did, break after recent hard practices in the heat,, and stadium practice tmrw.

Does this mean they get rid of the ring-around-the-rosie drill now?

Who needs that when you have internet doctors making diagnoses based on video clips

That's funny - never actually thought about it but it's kinda crazy how many times this is true

That's the game I was talking about

I was at the game prior to the game he broke the record. I was 9 yrs old and a neighborhood friend had an extra ticket - my brother and I flipped a coin and I won. He ran for over 200 yds in a snowstorm that game. Without that game he prob doesn't break 2000 or maybe even the record the last week. I remember the day after he broke the record my friend and I saving the newspaper. If you are not of that age you can't imagine what an absolute hero OJ was to all of us who were kids then

Random observations from today's practice - Tre came out on the field with exercise band aroung both knees and walked around and warmed up with it on for a while - never seen that before - During ST drills Hairston and Damar were dancing then talking for a while - Damar then gave some tips to Hairston when he went in on ST coverage. Noticed Damar talking up a lot of DBs throughout on the sidelines - seems to be a guy people gravitate to at this stage - For a short period during ST drills Keon, Shakir and Shenault were off to the side fielding punts from the JUGs - started each one with back turned then had to turn around and pick up flight of the ball - Also during STs, TE coach Boras was firing passes to Cook and Kincaid I guess to pass time. At one point they were half speed 'guarding' each other as one ran a 'route' across the field and Cook got nailed in the back of the helmet playing 'defense' (Cook no Travis Hunter) - For some reason my Dad LOVES watching punting (maybe bc he punted in HS in the 50's 😛 ) He was disappointed when I broke it to him there was no punt competition this year - First routes against air included a 5 yd hook and ladder WR in route to RB coming from middle - 1-1s I recorded (typing blind in sun I typed a bunch of numbers that didn't make sense so just putting ?) - Tre nice int - Virgil catch vs ? - Gosnell drop vs Ingraham - Keon catch vs Tre (battle) - Palmer nice catch from Josh over shoulder corner EZ but ruled oob - Shakir beats Bishop - Tre manhandles Cain no chance for catch - ? nice catch with Tre draped all over - Cain nice catch with Hancock holding the whole way - First team 11-11s - Groot batted pass - Josh engulfed - Josh fake pitch right then bootleg to left side - would have gotten at least 10 - Nice screen to left side with Bosa coming like a freight train from other side - Josh int to Milano - had to be a miscommunication, threw it right into his belly with no receiver within 10 yds - Quick out Shakir 5-10 yds - Run stuffed by Hoecht - impressive burst and thump - Bishop pbu on Wilkerson - Fake pitch and dump off - D coming - Middle screen Cook 10-15 yds - Taron pbu Kincaid - Josh under a lot of pressure to get rid of it and tried to thread it - Tre all over Palmer who was looking for flag - Johnson nice burst for 10 yds - Palmer hook and ladder to Johnson (same play they ran at beginning of practice against air) - Keon catch over middle no one within 5 yds - Virgil nice 15 yd catch come back route - At one point Johnson was coming up the sideline and Buffalo Joe smoked him - sent him back 5 yds. He was down for a bit but eventually returned to practice - Josh sidearm dump off to Gosnell under heavy pressure - Wilkerson nice 15 yd catch coming over middle on ball slightly behind - Shakir 10 yd short middle - Gosnell bomb TD (think Damar in coverage) - Tre great pbu sideline route - There was a big scrum on other side of field didn't see who was involved - it was entertaining though to see about 50 guys on near sideline run across the field toward it 😛 - 2's (or 3's) ran same hook and ladder Wilkerson to Gore - Trubusky had a bomb to Cain - think Strong got beat - Refs are there but "letting them play" is an understatement - would think they would ask them to call plays close but seems to be the opposite - Trubisky got more reps than White this practice - but have to say White looked very in command to me the small amt he was in - good ball handling with fakes and pitches, moves with confidence - qick throws. Trubisky had the one bomb, but otherwise not impressive IMO. White did have an overthrow int though - 1 hr in, Tre took his shoes and socks off and walked around barefoot for about 10-15 mins (guess he knew he wouldn't be participating for a bit), then eventually put his shoes back on and resumed practice (and he wasn't even here with Hollins last year) - Hawes has stocky tree trunk legs and looks country strong - he looks like someone who would block well. Driving back on WGR they were interviewing McGovern and they asked what new guy impressed him the most and without hesitation he said Hawes. Said he plays like a 3 yr vet and was effusive about his blocking - Caught a shirt - I counted 5 Hard Knocks camera/boom crews. When the whole field was being used they were pretty unobtrusive - would approach if some drills were near the sideline/boundary - but seemed to purposely stay off and away from the main field during live practice. As soon as there was a water break tthough hey would scramble onto the field to get close to the players - they were especially drawn to any semblance of a huddle - if there was a a group of players in a circle there was bound to be a boom mic hanging over the centter. - Who knew a Gosnell was a thing - Defense was really bringing pressure today - and playing with an edge with hard thumping to end plays. One thing to note is in this setting Josh especially knows that he won't be touched as the pocket is collpsing around him, so he more just stands his ground and throws (and maybe a whistle is blown for a 'sack') vs looking to scramble out of harms way - in live action I think he would have been forced to do a lot more to successfully get passess off with the way the D was getting to him today - Lots of quick hitters and short throws by offense - assume dictated by the pressure the D was bringing - Tre was all over the place to day - jumped out more than any other player to me. Was way more physical than I ever remember and just playing with a super high level of energy and confidence. I totally missed the Hairston injury until I got back - on the way back I was thinking how much Tre stood out and was thinking I didn't notice Hairston at all 😛 - Was scorching hot - one of the hottest camp days I remember. A lady went down walking down the aisle in the stands right in front of us. EMT/responders came and put ice packs all over her and gave her water - they eventually wheeled her out on a stretcher (I imagine more as a precaution). There were lots of long water breaks one the field - one at 1.5 hr mark of practice was the longest I ever saw at camp - some people left thinking it was over. They were about to start the last 11-11 at the end of practice - then stopped and huddled up, and came back out and just went down field half speed. I have to imagine they changed it because of the heat

His body wasn't right that day and he's taking some time to get it back to 100%. Would be more concerning if he was fully healthy when he missed fhem

For sure they did wind tunnel tests - has been shown in some of the videos about the stadium design/construction

Luckily our QB can also play with a broken hand

.He's also passed Van Demark at swing tackle and possibly made him expendable - while also proven versatile enough to possibly move inside. If he pans out, a great under the radar (so far) late round draft pick

- Keon during the bball competition was legit - Did I see Kincaid in the tug-of-war? They picked the skinniest guy on the team? - Who knew AJ had such a bubbly personality

Tim Grahan had a good article in the Athletic interviewing the exec producer (subscription) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6503697/2025/07/21/hard-knocks-buffalo-bills-training-camp/ Some takaways: - Many times the show has been about teams trying to right the ship, this will be about a good team trying to take that little extra step to take them over the top - Ultimately a team that is chosen just needs to understand in terms of 'routine' it is just part of being in the league and accept and deal with it - They try not to force narratives, and try to stay flexible to let the storylines develop organically. The nature of TC itself lnarurally leads to interesting stories with stakes (My favorite quotes from the story is below:"Steve Sabol used to say, “Training camp is a crucible of emotions.” There’s just not enough spots on the team. " One thing I have been thinking is if they will find a way to include Josh's work with Oshei. It would have to include some kind of existing footage since he obviously wouldn't be visiting during TC - but would really be a great example of what is mentioned about "an audience outside the Buffalo Bills’ fandom knowing the Bills, but not knowing enough about the Bills". Outside Buffalo people have heard the stories about the donations to create the wing - but I doubt most have seen the level of Josh's involvement and have seen the videos we've seen (in very dusty rooms) with him interacting with the kids.

Been here since '93 . Yeah when an area is on the best place places to live for like 30 yrs running there's gonna always be people coming - sometimes too fast to keep up. But there are plenty of reasons why it is on those best places lists and continues to be.

My Dad is active and mobile but long walks wear on him - a while back he had an accident and needed the wheelchair for a bit - he recovered but a few years ago I convinced him to let me use the wheelchair to make it easier on him for TC and games just to get to/from the stands (he initially was resistant but now I think appreciates it making life a little easier) . We actually park in the houses across the street now - he can walk across the road and on the grass along, then I put him in the wheelchair at the bus entrance

Escalators will make the fan base soft. Should have gone with endless zig-zagging ramps as a tribute to The Aud

Going 7/29 and 7/31 That's awesome about your Dad. I go every year with my Dad who's 91 this year. One thing to note, if your Dad needs a wheelchair or any special handicap provision my experience has been they expect handicap people to take the bus from one of the High Schools - and don't allow any parking on the handicap spots on campus, and there really isn't a good option either to drop someone off close.

Never realized Bob Barker was such a horn dog. 😛

OK - go ahead and tell the Carlton story

Or Macauley Culkin playing Christian Bale in "American Psycho"

Was funny, while she was sitting there, over the course of the practice at least 4 boys came up to her at separate times awkwardly asking for a selfie with her 😛

Saw this video yesterday - WKBW tour - at the end, the project guy says regarding people being impressed with the current state "Knowing what we know - this is like a 1 out of 10. Like it's cool, this stadium looks big, but you haven't seen anything yet. That's the excitement I get - this is like bare bones in terms of awe... Everything else that we're doing it's just going to really blow people away" https://youtu.be/9YblnsHKDto

Agree with all this. Goff comes off as a genuine dude - and he and his wife truly seem to love and enjoy each other's company (ah young love). I actually had no idea Burrow broke up with his gf, was wondering where she was and had to Google to find out they broke up a while back. For Cousins I kept thinking how he comes off exactly how he did in the first season. Sometimes it seems too corny to be true but he absolutely has appeared consistent throughout both seasons. I still have 2 episodes left so maybe he reveals his dark secret is stealing baseball cards one time from the convenience store when he was 9 yrs old