What’s the Recent News from the Buffalo Bills Training Camp?
By Ryan Brennan
A lot happened during Day 14 of training camp and it was a healthy mix of good and bad.
Let’s start with the offense because that’s where most of the bad happened.
For starters, after his impressive performance against the Colts, Cardale Jones had quite an ugly practice on Wednesday. The team set up for two-minute drills and only had two of them. The first was given to Tyrod Taylor, but the second was given to Jones instead of E.J. Manuel.
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When Jones took the field, a whole-lotta-nothin’ happened. It started with an incomplete pass to Boykin, followed by a delay of game, another incompletion, a false start penalty and finally a sack on fourth down. After that, E.J. Manuel took over the 2nd team reps for the remaining of team drills.
The other “con” to Day 14 was when a scuffle broke out between WR Walter Powell and CB Ronald Darby off a McCoy-catch play. Powell was blocking for the running back, but quickly got physical and led to flared tempers. Eric Wood was fast to break it up and voice his opinions. This wasn’t a good play for a wide receiver that has been impressing the coaches lately.
Here’s a good story on the offense..
With Cordy Glenn still out with an injury, Cyrus Kouandjio is getting a lot of valuable time to prove his worth to the team. Lately, he’s been taking good advantage of that time and has even earned praise from GM Doug Whaley. At the beginning of training camp, he was having a hard time staying balanced and playing consistently. However, he had a great outing for Day 14 — despite one play where Bryson Albright completely blew by him.
He will bring good depth to the Bills on the left side of the offensive line. Now if we can only figure out that right side.
Now, let’s get to the defense.
Stephon Gilmore is still a beast. With yet another dominating practice, Gilmore continues to do what he needs to do to get that hefty contract. Now, he just needs to put that into a full season. He grabbed his fourth interception since training camp started and almost grabbed his fifth when guarding Robert Woods — an interception that easily could’ve been turned to a pick-six.
Also, Manny Lawson is looking really good since coming back from injury on Tuesday. Biermann was seen with the 2nd-team defense and was picked ahead of Eric Striker, Bryson Albright and Max Valles. He is showing that he could be a great piece for the Bills, especially early in the season.
One more player on the defense that has began to dominate in wake of a teammate’s injury is Duke Williams. With Aaron Williams going through concussion protocol, one of our safeties would have to step up and Duke has been that guy. He showed what he can do in-game vs. the Colts and had his third straight impressive practice on Wednesday. The Bills will likely keep 4 cornerbacks. With Aaron and Corey Graham locked as of now — and adding Duke if he can remain consistent — that leaves one spot between Robert Blanton, Jonathan Meeks and Colt Anderson.
Lastly, Dan Carpenter is continuing his hot streak. The Bills did give him some competition and gave Jordan Gay some chances, though. Both kickers started the day 3/3, but that’s when Carpenter took over. Gay would end up making just two of his next five kicks, while Carpenter hit 5 of his next 6. His only miss was from 45 yards out.
Lastly, let’s get to Day 15.
Next: Buffalo Bills Training Camp: Day 15