Pittsford, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – The Buffalo Bills held their final practice of training camp at St. John Fisher University on Thursday.
The team will probably have a walkthrough in Orchard Park on Friday to get ready for their first preseason game on Saturday against the Chicago Bears.
Before practice, head coach Sean McDermott announced that Josh Allen and the starters will play against the Bears.
"The ones will play a quarter, give or take," said McDermott with the assembled media. "For me, it’s getting them wrapped up and ready for the season.
"It’s an important step. It’s hard to simulate the speed of the game, so getting that in preseason is important."
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With as hot as this summer has been, you can tell watching camp that these players are tired of hitting each other.
"We’re looking forward to playing," McDermott said. "We get to this point of training camp and some of the skirmishes start to break out, guys are getting a little ornery. It’s time to go against another opponent."
Bills linebacker Matt Milano has participated in all of training camp. He only played a little more than four games last year before suffering a season-ending leg injury. McDermott says Milano is at the pace he should be.
"With Matt, it reminds me of you’re around injuries where it takes a year to really get themselves back. I’m not saying it’s going to take him a year, but I do think it’s him getting re-acclimated to moving at full speed, and then trusting that he’s back. So there’s more than a physical component that goes into it, and he’s working through that. And every day, he’s getting a little bit better," McDermott said.
Bills pass rusher Von Miller isn’t sure if he’s playing on Saturday, but says he’s had a good camp and is coming along.
"The body is going to do what it’s going to do, but mentally, you’ve got to be in a great spot," said Miller following Thursday's final practice. "Your perception has got to be in a great spot, and this camp had been good for me. You just want to build on this, and with the types of practices I’ve had in this camp, hopefully it will lead me into into having big time games this season."
As far as playing in the preseason, he says he will be ready no matter what.
"I don’t know, I’m waiting on coach McDermott. Whatever coach has got for me, he’s got for me. If he wants me to play, I’ll play. But if he don’t want me to play, I won’t."
McDermott says defensive coordinator Bobby Babich will call the defense in Saturday’s game, and they'll take things from there.
Once again, a number of players did not practice on Thursday:
- S - Mike Edwards (hamstring)
- S - Cole Bishop (shoulder)
- LB - Nick Morrow (groin)
- WR - Chase Claypool (toe)
- RB - Ty Johnson (hamstring)
- OL - Travis Clayton (shoulder)
- DT - DaQuan Jones (groin)
Meanwhile, pass rusher Casey Toohill tweaked his groin on Wednesday, while Justin Shorter is dealing with a knee ailment.
McDermott also said Thursday morning that wide receiver Mack Hollins has a leg that is sore. He added that wideout K.J. Hamler is being evaluated for an undisclosed injury.
A majority of those players will not play in Saturday's game.
The Bills practiced for just over an hour on Thursday, and there really wasn’t much to talk about. The players had been here for two-and-a-half weeks, and they had to be anxious to get back to Orchard Park and their own beds.
Every day there’s been a lot of cheering and celebrating on the field, and a lot of intensity. Some of the plays looked like they were just above walkthrough speed.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a really nice play during 11-on-11, where he turned Christian Bedford inside out, went to the inside and caught a long touchdown pass from Allen.
Later, he got ahead of three different defenders and dropped a long touchdown.
Kaiir Elam got an opportunity in practice this week to start with Rasul Douglas, but on Thursday it was Benford again.
For the third time in this camp, running back Darrynton Evans got loose for a long gain. This time, it occurred on two-consecutive swing passes to the flat where he was open and took off.
Other than that, the defense pretty much kept almost all the plays in front of them for short gains.
When the offense got near the end zone, Allen hit Dalton Kincaid on a slant for a touchdown, and then he, once again, found Keon Coleman on an end zone crossing route for an open touchdown. That has been a favorite play of theirs throughout camp.
Training camp technically doesn’t end on Thursday, as the team will just change venues by returning to Orchard Park.
