During team work on a hot and sticky Friday afternoon the Bills did extensive work in the red zone, but also lost another player to an injury in practice as defensive tackle John McCargo left the workout early.
"John McCargo left practice before it ended and strained an oblique (muscle)," said head coach Dick Jauron. "Hopefully that won't be long, but he couldn't finish practice. We'll just have to see how that is."
Earlier in practice McCargo had a couple of good reps during two-on-twos and one-on-ones between the offensive and defensive linemen, but left during a team portion of practice.
O-line, D-line matchups
Rookie free agent Corey Davis showed some progress Friday as he had some good reps. He stood his ground well against Jason Jefferson and was able to slide and mirror Daniel Watts. Davis appears to be moving his feet a bit better after a week of camp practices.
Jason Whittle and Langston Walker had a couple of good snaps working against some end-tackle stunts by defensive linemen. Robert Royal jumped in for some work and split a pair of reps with Ryan Denney as each of them won a snap.
John McCargo did a good job on one rep slipping past a guard's outside shoulder in an effort to get penetration upfield.
The defensive ends and defensive tackles looked to be effective on some inside moves. Chris Kelsay and Larry Tripplett each had some well executed maneuvers inside and Jefferson pulled off a good inside spin move.
7-on-7
The red zone work began with 7-on-7 and there were a good number of plays turned in by both sides of the ball. The defense was heard from first as Mario Haggan and Paul Posluszny broke up a pass intended for Peerless Price over the middle. George Wilson also defended a pass.
Touchdowns in the red zone went from Craig Nall to Jonathan Smith on a slant, from Trent Edwards to Lee Evans on a post and from J.P. Losman to Roscoe Parrish on a post pattern. Nall also had a touchdown throw to Kevin Everett.
Losman tried to force a ball into the end zone, but it was picked off by Jim Leonhard.
11-on-11
The run game was a focus in red zone work during this period as every able back on the roster got carries during this segment. Marshawn Lynch proved particularly elusive and was impressive in the way he was able to keep his balance despite taking some shots here and there. He also gave a good shoulder fake to juke a defender and get extra yardage upfield.
Jason Whittle had a nice looking block when he drove Jason Jefferson out of the way on a running play to create a big lane inside.
J.P. Losman executed a nice play fake on a misdirection play and hit Ryan Neufeld in the front corner of the end zone for a touchdown. He rolled out on another play later in the series and hit Peerless Price in the front right corner of the end zone too.
Defensively Donte Whitner foiled a receiver screen by leaping and batting a pass out of the air. Eric Powell had a quarterback pressure. Rookie free agent safety Jon Corto had a tackle for loss.
"We spent a lot of time in the red zone," said Jauron. "We had team, 7-on-7, our four-minute drill and our two-minute drill. It was good."
Play of the day
With Jason Webster still sitting out with a hamstring pull, Jabari Greer is taking advantage of the added playing time. While covering Lee Evans, Greer read the route perfectly and got inside position on Evans on a slant pattern and intercepted Losman's pass taking it the other way for a long touchdown.
Greer also had another interception on the last play of practice, but the coaches ruled that Jason Jefferson had already recorded a "sack" on Trent Edwards.
Hit of the day
There are two candidates for this honor from Friday's practice.
Early on in the workout Dwayne Wright lowered the boom on Jim Leonhard. Leonhard got caught broadside at the second level as Wright had his pads low after coming through the hole knocking Leonhard off his feet.
Later in practice rookie free agent guard Corey Davis flattened Jon Corto on an outside run play. Davis got up under Corto's left shoulder pad to clear him out of the way for Shaud Williams.
Position shuffles
Mario Haggan, Kevin Harrison and Roy Manning all enjoyed extra snaps Friday as starters Angelo Crowell and Keith Ellison had their workload scaled back for the day. Manning read one play very well getting good penetration into the offensive backfield.
With Brad Butler still hurting Aaron Merz flipped over from left guard to right guard with the second unit and Corey Davis got time at left guard with the twos.
The starting right guard spot is still being swapped by Duke Preston and Jason Whittle every three plays.
Injury update
John DiGiorgio and Christian Gaddis (knee) may be the closest in returning from injury. Both were doing rehab work on the field off to the side with the training staff during practice Friday.
Brad Butler, Anthony Hargrove, Josh Scobey and Jason Webster were also held out.
"All of the other injuries are about the same," said Jauron. "We hope to get some of them back soon."
