26CornerBlitz Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) @JonahJavad 9 on 9s at #Bills practice. EJ throws one up to Sammy in single coverage. Watkins can't hang on. Not the best toss tho. Rookie DB Ross Cockrell breaks up former Duke teammate's pass (Thad Lewis). Cockrell beat WR to spot. #Bills EJ Manuel picked off in endzone. Looked like miscommunication on route by Mike Williams. Good grief. #Bills Edited June 4, 2014 by 26CornerBlitz
26CornerBlitz Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 @JonahJavad Bills coordinators talking today. First up: Def. Coord. Jim Schwartz. #Bills
Dorkington Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Is it me, or does that Jonah guy seem to focus on the negative plays? Or all the plays negative?
26CornerBlitz Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 @JonahJavad Schwartz: "We're judging them more on technique than wins and losses (in team drills)." Says no pads or tackling isn't real football. #Bills @mikerodak Jim Schwartz on Nickell Robey: "He'll certainly have a role for us. He's been one of our best players in OTAs."
FluffHead Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Jonah Javad @JonahJavad 2m Teammates were razzin Hughes about speeding when I approached him to comment. Way to take the incident seriously, fellas. #Bills Jonah Javad @JonahJavad · 8m Didn't say "stupid" or "dumb" or "regretful." Said "Facts are the facts." Geez. #Hughes #Bills Jonah Javad @JonahJavad · 9m I asked Hughes what he thought of his decision, in hindsight: "Facts are the facts. It's a Hamburg police matter now:" #Bills
Cash Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Is it me, or does that Jonah guy seem to focus on the negative plays? Or all the plays negative? In practice, pretty much every play could be negative or positive. Example: we've heard about a bunch of long "TD" throws by Manuel so far -- that's good! But most of them have come on blown coverages where the deep WR was wide open -- that's bad! Nickell Robey got a sack -- that's good! But that means that the offense couldn't pick up a corner blitz -- that's bad! Given that Chris Brown will look at the positive side every time and Joe Buscaglia will about 90% of the time, I have no problem with someone consistently taking the negative approach. Of course, it's possible for a play to be all bad -- blown coverage, but an uncatchable throw or dropped pass. It's harder, but still possible, for a play to be all good -- really good coverage, but a great back-shoulder throw and tremendous catch by WR, maybe? If they don't have to keep a guy who's only position is long snapper, that's what they'll do. Opens up a roster spot somewhere else. I doubt it. There's a reason long snapper is its own dedicated position on basically every NFL team. If your LS is also your blocking TE, what happens when he gets rolled up on during a 1st quarter run play? You now can't punt or attempt place kicks. I think it's more likely that they're looking at guys who could potentially fill in in case Sanborn got hurt covering a punt or something. That's not to say that Sanborn's job is safe; I could definitely see him being replaced. I could even see his replacement being MacPherson, if Macky does a great job. But in that scenario, (my guess is) Macky would only come in to play C in a true emergency scenario, and wouldn't be considered as one of the regular 7 O-linemen active on game day.
26CornerBlitz Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 Bills OTA observations: Day 5 The Bills have now reached the halfway point during their annual Organized Team Activities. After completing five practices out of the scheduled 10, there were some glaring takeaways from the day of practice. Who stood out with superb play, and who stood out for all the wrong reasons? Here are some observations from the most recent day of practice in Orchard Park
26CornerBlitz Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 OTA 5 - Red zone a focus The Bills saw their most extensive work in the red zone in Wednesday's OTA session with quality plays turned in on both sides of the ball. EJ, Kiko getting some second-year pub Two Bills second-year players are part of a highly-touted list of NFL sophomores.SB Nation put together their list of second-year players to watch in 2014 and EJ Manuel and Kiko Alonso both made the list. Here’s their assessment.
YoloinOhio Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Chris Brown @ChrisBrownBills 3m Hughes a pass rushing force Wednesday http://wp.me/plmrg-a9w #speed
Braedenstearns Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Why Is there not been highlights? Did anyone see highlights of Mondays OTA practice? The video they put on Buffalobills.com didnt have any highlights in it.
WhitewalkerInPhilly Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Chris Brown @ChrisBrownBills 3m Hughes a pass rushing force Wednesday http://wp.me/plmrg-a9w #speed Well, he's spent a lot of time here cultivating a reputation a speed rusher...and he's a pretty good situational Defensive End too.
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted June 4, 2014 Posted June 4, 2014 Chris Brown @ChrisBrownBills 3m Hughes a pass rushing force Wednesday http://wp.me/plmrg-a9w #speed well-played, sir.
26CornerBlitz Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 (edited) Jim Schwartz Talks about Defensive Strengths <14:49> Bills Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz discusses which defensive unit excites him the most and how the first five organized team activities have gone for the defense. Nathaniel Hackett: "Just be great at what we do" <14:43> Bills offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett discusses OTAs so far including Wednesday's redzone work. He also gives his reaction to rookie WR Sammy Watkins and the progression of quarterback EJ Manuel. Bills Roundup: OTA 5 - Coordinator Evaluations <4:38> The Bills are halfway through their OTA sessions. Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz discussed the evaluation of their respected units. Edited June 4, 2014 by 26CornerBlitz
26CornerBlitz Posted June 5, 2014 Author Posted June 5, 2014 6/4 Nathaniel Hackett talks EJ Manuel's progression this season with John Murphy <12:18> 6/4 Bills Lead Journalist Chris Brown chimes in his thoughs on the OTA's with John Murphy <26:07>
Deranged Rhino Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 6/4 Nathaniel Hackett talks EJ Manuel's progression this season with John Murphy <12:18> 6/4 Bills Lead Journalist Chris Brown chimes in his thoughs on the OTA's with John Murphy <26:07> Thanks for these (and all the rest). Hackett said something interesting near the end of the interview, a point I hadn't considered before regarding Schwartz's impact. Around the 11 minute mark Hackett mentioned that having Schwartz "it's a lot more realistic than what we'll face each week," in comparison to last year's defense which "was all over the place... and most of the teams we play are more traditional". He capped it with relating how that will specifically help EJ and gave the example how EJ didn't get to see an NFL cover 2 defense (still the majority scheme, or at least the base scheme of most teams) until his first game. Hackett seemed convinced that having that daily exposure to a more traditional defense will help both the WRs and the EJ tremendously. It's an interesting point and one I guess I had never really considered. I think like many I assume a QB, even a young QB, would have plenty of experience against cover 2 from high school through college. And I'm sure EJ had plenty. But it is a different beast when it's run by NFL level secondaries. The speed can't be replicated in practice and seeing it live, only while under live fire while having to adjust to every other thing rookies are forced to adapt to is probably pretty daunting. Everything in cover two is about finding the seams and timing -- that timing can only come with repetition and familiarity against that look. I'm sure they ran scout D for the first team O to mimic the week's opponent but that's a limited number of snaps on Wednesday of game weeks and maybe some during the walk through. Not a lot of time to develop the timing and patience needed to beat the cover 2 with the athletes team's have on the boundaries. The front office is all in on EJ already, but I wonder if this notion played any role in how quickly Marrone and Whaley pounced on Schwartz. Probably not much, but it's something that kinda jumped out at me during that interview.
Deranged Rhino Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 Also, after listening to the Chris Brown segment the one thing that stood out was that TJ Graham isn't getting any reps in the team portion of OTAs thus far. Not one, even when Sammy was gone. TJ might not want to buy a house in the next few months... Yikes.
Dragonborn10 Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 Do TJ Graham and Lee Smith make it to training camp?
YoloinOhio Posted June 5, 2014 Posted June 5, 2014 Also, after listening to the Chris Brown segment the one thing that stood out was that TJ Graham isn't getting any reps in the team portion of OTAs thus far. Not one, even when Sammy was gone. TJ might not want to buy a house in the next few months... Yikes. I thought I read that Graham was being held out because of offseason surgery, but could be wrong.
26CornerBlitz Posted June 5, 2014 Author Posted June 5, 2014 5 ways Schwartz's defense is taking shape It's very early in the process, but coordinator Jim Schwartz's defensive unit is beginning to come together.
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