Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – When the Buffalo Bills play their final preseason game on Saturday against the Carolina Panthers, they will have two quarterbacks playing that will have been in Western New York for about 1-to-2 weeks.
Ben DiNucci signed last week after Shane Buechele was lost for the season with a neck injury following the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears.
Meanwhile, Anthony Brown practiced for the first time with the team on Tuesday after Mitch Trubisky will be out for multiple weeks due to a knee injury.
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady says with Josh Allen not playing on Saturday, both DiNucci and Brown will be ready to go.
"Last week, Ben DiNucci did an incredible job as it was all hands on deck of just going out there to operate. He felt confident going out there, and if he had to throw the ball, we would’ve been fine. Anthony will do the same thing this week," said Brady on Tuesday during his meeting with the media ahead of practice. "If it’s one play they feel confident or if it’s 10, I’ll make sure I’m giving them the opportunity to put their best football out there."
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DiNucci played the whole second half and a few plays in the first half last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He completed 3-of-5 passes for just 20 yards.
There’s a lot of pressure on Brady getting two new quarterbacks in the middle of preseason. He says you play with what you have.
"This is why we coach. You’ve got to find ways to get your guys ready to go," Brady said. "We have a lot of great coaches on staff, but it’s good. It’s finding ways to get these guys ready to play, and then getting them ready to play for [events] like this practice. So you’re balancing a bunch of different things. The two guys that we brought in, they have the right mindsets and the right approach. They understand what’s important, and they just focus on today’s practice. Tonight, we’ll crank out more of the things that will be in for this week for you, and what are you comfortable with, because we have to get the team ready to go. But we need them to be able to play good football."
Rookie running back Ray Davis had a good day carrying the ball against the Steelers. He had eight carries for 58 yards, which is 7.3 yards per-rush. Brady liked the progress he saw after a tough game against the Chicago Bears.
"You could see a different comfort level from Week 1 to Week 2," Brady noted. "I liked how he ran behind his pads. I liked he wasn't running out of bounds, he was trying to be physical and seeing the holes. I thought his patience was good. You could see the experience just from getting live reps."
If you take away the three final kneel downs by DiNucci at the end of the game, the Bills ran the ball 31 times for 168 yards, which is 5.4 yards per-carry. Brady says a big part of the success was the wide receivers blocking.
One of those contributing receivers on Saturday was rookie Keon Coleman.
"I love where Keon’s at as a football player. It’s understanding where expectations are, and I’m not always focused on what the production is in a preseason game as opposed to seeing it every day in practice," Brady said of the 2024 second-round pick.
"There’s certain things we’ve asked other receivers to do, and it’s everybody in a little different role, in terms of the run game. But if you remember Keon coming out, he was one of the best blockers in the draft. Having guys that can do a little bit of everything, they can make plays as a receiver, they can block, it makes it a little harder on defenses knowing where guys are and what they’re going to do."
Allen has only had one quarter of game action with his wide receivers this preseason, but Brady isn’t worried about that at all.
"I haven’t had questions about the receiver room since we’ve gotten them," he said. "I love how they’re working, how they’re gelling and playing together, and the communication they have with Josh, and just trying to get some guys healthy and figure that stuff out as the season goes. But Josh has confidence in that room, and they’re on the same page with each other."
Bills head coach Sean McDermott said Monday he had originally planned on playing the starters on Saturday about a quarter-and-a-half, but with all the injuries, he decided not to do that.
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