stevewin

The grain silos actually came to mind 😛 A couple grain silo towers at one end of the stadum, the 'Labbatt Blue Grain Silo Suites'

I am interested if they put some rust-belt/blue-collar vibe into it - vs some hyper sleek thing which soesn't really fit the image of the city

In past years I've seen this work successfully at the tunnel out to the practice field at camp - a smaller, more intimate setting where there are less people, you can make eye contact with a player, and it is closer and easier to throw it back. A number of years ago my son threw his hat down to Beane (got his attention yelling "Go Seahawks" b/c they both went to UNCW), Taiwan Jones and some one else who all signed and threw it back. It obviously is not going to be as successful at the Highmark stadium tunnel. One thing that always strikes me is the large majority of kids seem to scream player's last name when pleading vs what I would consider a more friendly first name. "Diggs! Diggs! Diggs!" - just comes off as rude to me

I was joking with my brother - last week at camp every day my Dad was so interested in the punters "I hope they kick today" A couple times he was hesitant to leave at the end like a disappointed kid "Maybe the kickers will still come out" WGR and BN heavily influence his opinions so I can only assume they've fed his newfound interest in punters

I was at SJF all 3 practices this week, and while the offense had some flashes, the D won each day - sometimes just overall domination. Last night it was like the field was bigger for the offense, they just looked a whole level better. Granted there was no Von, but all three O units looked better - stringing plays together. Wondering if they opened the playbook up a bit - I also wouldn't be surprised if they had the D play more vanilla. I think the Bills wanted to put on a show for the fans, and generate some excitement by showcasing the offense more. It was definitely entertaining.

All 3 units this is the best I've seen the offense all week. Both keenum and Barkley even look good

I'm here and didn't even notice my son texted me I said all the uniform nerds are going to go crazy 😛

There was a guy in my neighborhood years ago who was always gesturing and giving dirty looks and yelling slow down seemingly whenever you drove past his house. So many times I had to stifle the urge to go out and confront him - I was always driving 25-30! He actually had the town come and put a speed limit sign in front of his house. After his kids got older he stopped doing it. There was this one time in my neighborhood though I may have been going a bit over the speed limit - was late for a high level appt. In this instance I had just turned the corner and was accelerating quickly, I actually don't think I was going much over 30 at the moment, but my engine was revved very high as I accelerated. I see a guy on the sidewalk walking his dog and like a dream sequence I see this object growing bigger slow motion in my field of view then splat. The guy threw a bag of dog sh!t at my windshield! Luckily it didn't break - instinctively I jumped out of the car, grabbed the bag and was ready to smear it all over his face, but as he was going on and on I realized I had to get going, and it wasn't even worth my time. I didn't even call the guy any bad names, maybe dropped a few JFCs are u f'ing nuts. Funny thing is I never remember what the guy looked like, just knew he had a black dog, so every time I see a guy walking a black dog in or around my neighborhood I think is that the guy who threw dog sh!t at me Whenever i think about that incident too, I think about how very different that morning likely would have went if that bag broke on my windshield

You need a VIP pass I doubt you would have any luck talking to your rep - VIP is more about rewarding corporate sponsors. If you know anyone from SJF that might be an angle. They've been having alumni and other functions- not sure if even they can get into the VIP

Random thoughts on today's practice - Cloudy and drizzly to start - was afraid for a bit we were going to get wet, but turned out to be another perfect cloudy day for watching - Maddy Glab making the walk from the building to the tunnel again with McKenzie - Dion and Groot walked from the building to practice field together - Hells Bells to start practice - Nice - Before practice the kickers were at midfield throwing balls 10-15 yds to each other - Araiza and Bass, and Haack, first with a staff guy, then Ferguson. Bass probably has the best ball - a nice spiral, but could work on his mechanics throws very sidearm - FWIW - I noticed today that Araiza and Bass spent a lot of time together hanging out and talking - many times with Haack either off to the side or with Ferguson. That was not how it was earlier this week - Another long ST session, another session Knox and Howard subjected to 'focused instruction' from TE coach. OL was doing a drill for a while where they hit the sled straight ahead then released to block another guy to the side - Before practice started Singletary went over and hugged one of the refs. Not sure if these are NFL game refs, but if they are every bit helps - Von throwing ball into stands got the crowd going. Most noteworhty part of that activity was the same dude caught it from him two times in a row - Black Sabbath - War Pigs! 🤘 - The defense went to the side field a lot this week - Before one drill started Beane was standing on the sideline talking to someone and Josh was at midfield and skipped a ball at him - just to keep him on his toes - The next section of practice, the 2 QBs were throwing routes to TE's on either side, very quick pace - then when everyone went through the QBs would run 20 yds to meet the guys who already ran the routes do it again the other way. Later they repeated it with WRs. During this time the TEs or WRs (whoever wasn't working with the QBs at the time) were working together, and the OL was in the far EZ running drills. I have to say, this was the best 15 minutes I ever witnessed at camp. The pace, the focus, the attention, the efficiency - it was so impressive - I was kind of blown away. Every guy in every drill was just dialed in - guys that weren't in on reps were still paying attention. There was no music, dancing or goofing or staring off - it was just all business, all across the field - to a man. Crisp. Everything was just running like clockwork - may sound stupid but it was like when they say a choregraphed ballet - it was really something - Yesterday I listened to the Sirius Movin the Chains broadcast from the other day and Kirwin noted how far ahead the Bills are than the teams of many of the camps they've visited so far. He was mostly talking about installatons and packages, but overall they really seem extremely organized and on their game at this stage - At the end of the drill Josh and McKenzie talked for at least a minute on some route - there is so much of that that goes on - Diggs one handed catch was ridiculous - Receivers seemed very physical today - when you see all the clips of them going over releases with Hall - that's a real thing they use - lot of contact and handfighting getting into routes - very physical, seems like they prob also like the oppty to get some shots at DBs too - There's a real hard core battle between WRs and DBs. Each one love to celebrate when they get over on the other. On the long Shakir TD the whole WR corps actually ran down the field to celebrate with him - some I'm sure to rub in the D's face - 11-11 started with O on own goal line. 1st team D was tenacious - man that was some tough sledding for the O to try to get out of the shadow - One play Shaq ended up on his back (didn't see how), and Van Roten (sounds like a wrestling name) jumped on Shaq's chest and did a 3 count - Von was on left side more today. They were moving guys around the front. One time Von was on left side w/ Reousseau next to him - two other times I saw Von on left side with Oliver next to him. Saw a couple stunts too where Von crossed and crashed the middle - Running up the middle on the first team D - forget about it. Just a wall. There was one play, however, where Duke J did bust through the line for 10-15 yds - but then he paid the price for this boldness when Neal came over and just rocked the dude to the ground. I guess Neal was following the rules of practice and didn't technically tackle him - he killed him - There was one other play that Singletary got outside for a gain but they called a hold. There were just no answers running against the D - after getting stonewalled up the middle they tried to get to the edge a few times but the pursuit of the D was too much there - Oh - Tremaine two plays in a row busts up the gut and smothers the ball carrier TFL - I saw Benford run some with the 1st team opposite Elam - I think "scuffles" are the most overhyped thing - just someone reacting in the moment, then it's done and forgotten - but some people will try to make more of it - While the 11-11 was still going on /w 3rd string, Von walked over to the VIP tent and held his baby for a bit - that's when you know you're a superstar - Goal line session - D stout again, but Singletary did have a nice cut back for TD. For 2nd team Duke scored on roll out pass nice catch and finish and also powered up the middle. He had a good day with the twos - I caught a T-shirt on the way out - On way back listening to OBL they had Baldy on who said he talked to Von before practice about Rousseau. Von said he's not as focused about trying to teach Rousseau technique or effort - but rather the mental aspect. With that context it was interesting to then see Von's comment in PC about feeding Rousseau "gunpowder and gasoline" That's it for my time at St John Fisher this year - so glad I got to spend some more days at camp with my Dad. Next week back to the real world.

- I personally get there at least an hour early - if you are taking a shuttle from one of the high school's maybe even earlier. - Usually 2 hrs - When you enter first is the stadium straight ahead - there is a bathroom there - have everyone empty their bladders there before proceding to the practice field on the other side of the stadium. I believe there's another bathroom under the practice field bleachers but now that I think of it I've never used the bathroom once I got there - You can stand by the tunnel as the players come from the building and walk out to practice field - if you are on the not-VIP side pretty much the best you can hope for is a fleeting high five as they walk by. On the VIP side there's a fence that faces the players as they walk from the building and sometimes those people get lucky and get some guys to sign if it is early and they are not in a rush

Welcome to QB purgatory, Cheaters. Burn in hell

Pat Kirwin said on OBL today that he's impressed with what Beane has done to replace lost players this year - and is especially impressed with what he has done with OL. Said you could sit every starter and still have an OL with starting experience at every position. Said basically there is no other team like that. Said they just came from NE and after the starting five OL there, there was (his emphasis) "nothing"

It's cheaper than giving away his shoes

Agreed - the main thing that I took away from that was that the success Josh had was due to “[Brian] Daboll and [Ken] Dorsey allowed Josh the freedom, if something else is there, to improvise, and make plays and basically play free,” and "they allow Josh to go out there and play his game" Ie - a lot of the success Josh had was him analyzing things real time and making decisions - sometimes beyond what the normal rules/progressions called for. In a lot of ways it's saying Josh is even better than most people think he is - not only the physical attributes everyone sees, but the mental aspects most probably don't (yet) realize - or probably give enough credit for. It's remarkable really when you put the two together. It's like the opposite of a system QB - the system is think and act freely outside the box of the system.

Yeah, but I feel like they purposely did it as the last play of practice with intent to give the fans a thrill with Josh catching the TD Maddy wasn't wearing cleats Back of EZ

Random observations from today's practice - Mercifully cloudy today and much cooler - perfect weather - Looking into the stadium field as players walked in - when I first looked Araiza was doing the jugs, and Haack was hanging around him. When Araiza finished they both started walking in together talking, I was struck by the weird dynamic that they are competing for one spot and always together - many times away from the rest of the team. Someone at the tunnel called Haack over for autographs and he came over the Araiza awkwardly followed - Was surprised seeing him up close that Haack is pretty solidly built - right now in a fight between any other teams top two punters and ours - I'll take ours every time - Maddy Glab walked the entire length of the walk on the track from the building to the tunnel with McKenzie - didn't look like she was recording or doing an interview - just looked like a casual conversation - Sweeney, Poyer, Cook, Singletary and Pau'u did the jugs before going to the practice field - Without a helmet Hodgkins has a very muppet vibe - McD was in all black sweatsuit - with big white hat. If it was a western not sure if he's be the good guy or bad guy. Maybe the message was - tough but fair? - Before warm-ups DJ played Jailhouse Rock, and immediately Diggs did a little jig in front of Allan - who then pointed at him and said something - I can only imagine it was something to the effect "I told you this s#($ was good!" - Shortly after that was when Josh did the bounce of Phillips and fake fight with Hyde. Last two days Josh was very loose and sometimes even goofy at the start - but then gets very serious once the real work begins - DJ mixed it up a bit today - when Jumping Jack Flash started I immediately scanned for player reactions and - none. Different generation I guess. When a country song came on Knox was hype - dancing and more animated than I ever saw him Von was dancing a lot today - Tim Settle is not necessarily an intimidating physical figure with no pads. From the back 'rotund' is a word I would use - Lots of ST work - even more than yesterday. In the "which of these don't belong file": they were doing a ST drill on both sides where one guy would try to block another from getting a "ball carrier". One one side the ball carriers were four random staff members, on the other they were Araiza, Haack, Ferguson, and ...Tavon Austin? He was not with the returners so I guess they just threw him there since he had no place to go - Just like yesterday poor Knox and Howard were stuck with the TE coach during the ST period doing the same routes over and over - at least this time they changed up some of the routes. Maybe should have thrown Austin in with those guys instead to spice it up a bit - Austin did have a couple nice catches today - I didn't realize Crowder was so small - McKittrick fun-size - During ST coverage reps each time #59 was in he would whoop and yell at the end of the play. Had to look that one up - #59 is Kingsley Johnathon on your Bills roster web page accessed from your phone - and no that is not backwards. I guess showing enthusiasm is one way to try to get noticed - They did a punt block drill where guys would come in and get the ball at a point just off the kicker's foot - it was pretty half speed but the intent was there - Chad Hall has a lot of energy - Receivers were doing drills for a while running different patterns around cones for 10-15 yd passes. Kudos to the Bills staff member in the red shirt who was throwing darts in that drill - just throwing one high velocity accurate rope after another - dude was a machine - non-stop for like 10-15 minutes. One of the many nameless unsung heroes of camp - McCloud seems to play with a real edge - I watched Elam closely. He definitely likes to get his hands all over guys, but I didn't see any holds. Will be interesting to see what refs think of his style of play - They tried a jet sweep to McKittrick that he fumbled and failed. I assume he's just really trying to prove he's not a gadget guy - Von played some on the left side today - Lots of red zone and goal line. The D was just a brick wall against runs - no chance. There were multiple TDs that Josh made out of nothing. He had one beautful throw while running full speed after play broke down to Davis in the corner - another nice one to Diggs in the back of the EZ after scrambling around - Josh did one QB keeper near goal line, he went through the line and Elam was coming full speed and before he got within 2 yds of Josh he threw up his hands dramatically like "I ain't gonna touch him!" - On a related note - near the end of practice they were doing more STs drills leaving the others to just do random stuff. One drill for the others was a gauntlet of staff with pads and sticks with boxing gloves to try to hit the ball out. There were two groups - one QBS and RBs, the other WRs. I see Josh is going to be the first one through in his group and my first thought is "Don't touch Josh!" - and Josh runs through and they all gave him these little baby taps it was humerous. When Diggs went through once he actually fumbled - and the staff member who caused it with the boxing glove stick was so happy - so him and Diggs were good-naturedly talking trash and Diggs threw a ball at him at the end of the drill - Keenum looked sharp to me today - They did a 2-2, 1-1 WR/DB drill for a while in the RZ. Josh had some nisfires, but overall was accurate - esp dropped multiple dimes on fade routes - receivers in general were doing a nice job on those routes too attacking the ball and controlling their body to land in bounds. Actually all three QBs did a nice job on the touch passes during that drill putting the ball where the recievers then made the play - Sweeney had a chance to make a couple difficult catches but couldn't quite haul them in (the 2nd a defender ripped it out on a good play) - both were like you couldn't kill him for not catching, but if he had just been able to finish would have been very good for him - When Poyer came off the way he and the trainer was holding his arm didn't look good - he was in real pain - Towards the end, the offense was on one side and defense on the other with some ST stuff in middle - Diggs came over to the defense side to talk to Hyde and Dane Jackson - he was animated (again) discussing something involving some route. Diggs is very engaged throughout - The last play was a trick play where Knox got the ball and looked like he was supposed to throw to Josh running into EZ (who was open) but for some reason didn't throw it and ran it instead. Him and Josh had some back/forth after - crowd would have loved practice ending with Josh catching a TD. Thanks for nothing Knox - After practice, met one of my best friends since HS who now lives in Fairport for lunch at a local establishment - and a member of the local sports media was at the table next to us. So today on my bday (LAMP), I went to camp practice with my Dad with perfect weather, had a great lunch after with him and my best friend, and shook the hand of Coach Sal

Yeah rather than going through all the trouble of manipulating screen shots (especially with all the space and ridiculous font used on the website roster page) would prob be more efficient to just make your own doc. The point is it would be an easy/obvious thing for them to at least provide a printable pdf as part of the camp information

Especially now lined up next to Von

Random observations from today - Saw Astro at the top of the stands before practice and went over to introduce myself and say hi. Such a nice guy and great fan - There's a jugs machine set up on the stadium field for players to use before they enter the practice fiels. Elam was on it for a long time, then Pa'ua, then Cook. Astro said Blackshear is always the first out to use it before he goes out as one of the first players on the practice field - On the way into practice field Dion looked to be in a good mood, was smiling and chatting with fans before the tunnel and taking selfies with them - Before practice started Bass was just booming kicks. He made a 60 yder that swear would have easily gone in from 70 - In person eye tests - AJ looks trim but SOLID - sometimes pics make him look slim but he is big. Rousseau (as we all know) is ridiculously large - like almost comically. Von looks like a TE standing to him. Basham looks BIG and ATHLETIC - standing next to Rousseau he holds his own (granted that was with his helmet on and Rousseau with his off, but still). I don't know if part of it is an illusion with his black socks and shoes - but Shakir has two of the shortest stumpiest legs in ratio to his body that I've ever seen on an NFL WR - or maybe on any person - Funny with the couple scrums one might get the impression from tweets that this was some hotly contested practice, but it was honestly one of the least exciting practices I've ever attended. There's always lulls - but this practice had LONG periods of ST work, play walkthroughs, whole units going over to the the side field for a long time. I think the scrums were from players getting frustrated with the boring content of practice - While they were doing ST work (for a long time) Knox and Howard were stuck doing the same in route over and over and over on the sideline, with the TE coach constantly correcting or pointing something out each rep. It was almost like the coach was like well we've got to do something while we wait, and I need to at least look like I'm coaching them up. I'm thinking how many thousands of times have they run that route and what can he possibly be telling them they haven't heard hundreds of times before. Can only imagine what they were thinking - For one WR drill they brought out a square made of PVC around 3-4 ft tall and WRs. had to run under it just before cutting on their route to make them stay low - The 1-1s with receivers and DBs were battles. Every one hotly contested - with receivers celebrating when they made catches, and DBs celebrating with stops. Could also see many times DBs pissed if they allowed a reception. The DBs were ridiculously physical - was funny to see a DB push/grab/pull/maul/rape a WR then celebrate with the 'no good' sign when the pass was incomplete. Will be really interesting to see what happens when they bring refs in - McKenzie (sry, McKittrick - keep it alive) made some real hard contested catches - impressive. Seems like DBs always like to give him an extra shot or push after a reception - On one incomplete route to Davis, Josh immediately ran over to him to talk about it - the next time Davis was up he ran the exact same route for a completion, and Josh was very animated pointing to him and fist pumping - he was very pleased that whatever they talked about worked - After the 1-1 battles, Davis went over and fist bumped each DB. Respect - At one point during one of the walk-through sessions I noticed in the middle Diggs talking really animated with McD about some route or leverage or whatever for at least a couple minutes - I felt like McD was trying to watch the run-through and had to wonder as Diggs was going on if McD was really listening or after a while was thinking OK Diggs I get it 😛 - I decided I would try to watch Von in 11-11 and see if I could witness some of his magical bendy elastism in person. The very first play I watch, at the snap he hesitated for a second, Dion lunged at him, and he just efortlessly shot by him into the backfield for what would have been a TFL. So much experience and tools in his set, doesn't always have to be an unbelievable physical play, sometimes it's a mental one - I decided to watch my (solidly built) guy AJ for a couple plays and two in a row he ended up on his butt - Then a little later two plays in a row an edge rusher just bursts into the backfield, like shot out of a cannon - on the first my immediate thought was "Wow Jerry!" - then oh yeah, 55, Basham. Man - Basham looked good standing on the sideline and great on the field - DLine was just dominant - all units. There were many many plays that could have been whistled for sacks but they just let it play out - the guys on OBL on way home said they do that for obvious benefit of letting everyone else get a full rep in. I know the OL is scattershot right now but the Dline, wow - Seemed like after every reception receivers were paying a price with 5 guys coming in mauling and punching at them them for the ball. At one point I had a thought it might be less physical for the receivers if the D was just allowed to tackle them to the ground 😛 - Keenum defnitely is not shy about chucking the ball away when a play is not there - he did it at least 4 times I saw - It was HOT in the bleachers. Also last time I was at camp the far side of the bleachers was roped off for VIP, but this year the whole of the main stands are avail for the common folk Side Note - It would be really nice if they made available a roster sheet with numbers to hand out - nothing elaborate, even if it's just a plain sheet of paper from an intern running copies in the library. With all the fringe players and so many players changing numbers is it hard to identify everyone. Add in that the roster on the Bills website isn't in printable form, and it's next to impossible to see your phone in the sun.

Stef's baby holding form is almost as bad as Mike Rob's table jumping form. Support the head! 😛

Do any of the bars/restaurants in proximity have outdoor seating?

This is my favorite part of the article

Also, another report mentioning another good day from Epenesa - he's stacking them

As it was, is, and always shall be