Pittsford, N.Y. (WGR 550/WBEN) – One of the things Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott has talked about improving this season is his defensive pass rush. It has been an emphasis of his both in workouts this past spring and at training camp at St. John Fisher University.
"I think overall as a whole team, we've got a lot of work to do yet, and no different in that position," said McDermott during his visit with the media on Monday before practice. "There has been flashes of it, whether it'd be from an individual player or the group overall, but that has to continue to develop.
"Pivotal pieces play a part in that also in their development. So there's pivotal pieces on our roster that need to step up in order for us to have a good season, and that's some of the work that's got to get put in."
LISTEN LIVE TO WBEN:
One player that's trying to improve his game is 2020 second-round pick A.J. Epenesa. McDermott says he’s noticed a difference in the defensive end this training camp.
"He’s dialed in, and he’s a pivotal piece to our success this year," McDermott said. "You could tell in the spring he put a lot of work in in the weight room, and he looks like he’s in a good spot and continues to grow every practice."
Being the head coach and the defensive coordinator this upcoming season is new to McDermott after Leslie Frazier decided to take the 2023 season away from coaching. He admits he's been finding his way through it during camp.
"It's been interesting trying to find just where I need to be at the right time, and then just being self-aware is important enough to know, 'OK, I haven't spent time here in some time,' so I need to get around, say, the offense a little bit or special teams," McDermott said. "It's just hard to leave even the follow up film meeting with the defense, because of the details that we need to have. But it's important that I do spend the time outside of the defense with set pieces of our offense or special teams as well."
Khalil Shakir is in his second training camp with the Bills after being a fifth-round pick (148th overall) of the team in 2022. His improvement this offseason has been obvious to a number of personnel with the Bills, including the head coach.
"The thing I love about Khalil is he’s so consistent, and he’s consistent from a personality standpoint and from a performance standpoint," McDermott said. "You saw him in the stadium, where maybe a lot of people forgot about him, and then he shows up. That’s his consistency, in terms of his preparation and the standard he holds himself to."
The Bills have three preseason games this year, with the first one coming up in Orchard Park on Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts. McDermott says there’s a definite plan to how much guys will play.
"We try and look at that, honestly, in the offseason. As we plan training camp, the schedule and, at least, a vision then as to what we want training camp to be in all those different areas. Now we're in a position where we take it one day at a time, because we've got to continue to zig and zag, at times, and just go by the cadence of the team and where the team's at, and what they need in order to get us to the right spot come Week 1," he said.
McDermott admits his team won’t spend a lot of time on the Colts this week.
"It's important, we have felt over the years, to focus on ourselves and our development, and again, having the right players out there with the right amount of time and the right dosages of who do we want to see, and how much do we want to see them. I think that's important that we manage that the right way," McDermott said.
The Bills will have Tuesday off before returning to the practice field at St. John Fisher University on Wednesday at 9:45 a.m. ET.