Cleveland, Ohio (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard made it clear what he wants to see from his unit when they take the field for a joint practice Thursday against the Cleveland Browns.
“No. 1 is the physicality,” Leonhard said Tuesday before the team's open practice at the new Highmark Stadium. "You’re going against somebody else, that always lifts the intensity of a practice. You get sick of beating up your own guys. They know what you’re doing, you know what they’re doing. In some ways, you’re game-planning them. You’re watching them a little bit, but it’s a little bit more of you don’t exactly know what you’re going to get. So just play ball.”
The Bills and Browns will hold a joint practice Thursday at 1:20 p.m. at the Browns' training facility in Berea, about 16 miles West of the city. Then the two teams will play a preseason game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Downtown Cleveland on Saturday.
Leonhard would love to see his group build on their excellent performance in last Saturday's 29-14 preseason win over the Carolina Panthers, when the defensive starters began the game with three-consecutive three-and-outs. The unit, as a whole, also gave up just 201 total yards in the game.
"Any time that you have a new system and you get guys that have to react on the fly a little bit, because in a practice setting you're going to see more things than you're going to get in a preseason game, for instance, that's the biggest thing," Leonhard said. "Can our guys just go out there and play with confidence? React to certain things that they have't studied, they haven't seen, or they haven't repped for a couple weeks? That's the biggest thing. Just seeing if we can get through our adjustments and be clean with our communication, and still play physical and confident."
Bills head coach Joe Brady is scheduled to speak with the media at 12:50 p.m., prior to the two teams taking the field.
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