The first injury that forced a player from practice unfortunately came about in practice on Wednesday as Terrence McGee was the victim at the end of a pass play down the far sideline. He was battling for the ball with Terrell Owens as the two players were running full tilt down the sideline when they got tangled up with Owens inadvertently falling on top of McGee.
"It was just a competitive play and what he was trying to do was break it up and I was trying to make a play on it," said Owens.
NFL teams do not have to disclose injury information during the offseason, so the team did not have an update on McGee's status.
Short-handed secondaryThe cornerback contingent for the Bills was pretty short-handed Wednesday. Leodis McKelvin was not participating for undisclosed reasons, but was in attendance. Reggie Corner was filling in for him with the first team defense on the right side.
After McGee left practice early with his injury, Drayton Florence stepped in for Buffalo's top corner.
The Buffalo secondary was also without rookie sixth-round pick Cary Harris, who is still not participating due to an undisclosed lower body ailment and Ashton Youboty (plantar fasciitis).
As a result seventh-round pick Ellis Lankster was rotated in a bit with the first team defense to give Florence a rest knowing he'd also be playing in the nickel packages. Lankster fared well with a pass breakup when he got underneath Lee Evans on a route in 11-on-11 work. Most of the time Lankster got work with the second team opposite Kyle Ward.
Extra work
Lee Evans and Terrell Owens spent a good half hour after practice working with Trent Edwards on passing routes. Edwards is glad that he has his top two wideouts on hand to nail things down in the offensive scheme.
"It's been great so far," said Edwards. "I think those sessions afterwards where you're seeing a guy running a route and seeing a guy coming out of his break and as a quarterback that's what you need to do over and over and over again. So any practice we can get on top of these OTAs is beneficial for all of us. Lee and Terrell and myself I feel are really communicating well and we have a majority of the offense in so we're trying to get all the routes and concepts figured out and it's going pretty well so far."
When Owens was asked how long it typically takes him and a quarterback to get acclimated to one another on the field, the veteran receiver said, 'Not long.' But Owens is doing what he can now to help develop the chemistry between him and Edwards.
"I think it's very, very important especially with me being new to the system," said Owens of putting in extra time after practice. "I have to get used to the way he throws a ball and he has to get used to my body language when I'm going in and out of cuts. We're just trying to get a sense of timing and some chemistry and just working through some routes that we're going to running through the course of the year."
Owens is also taking input from Evans, knowing he has been in the system for a full year and has a working knowledge of the hot routes and option reads in the scheme.
Blitz installationDefensive coordinator Perry Fewell was busy installing components of his blitz package Wednesday and it was getting the best of Buffalo's offense for most of the practice session. The number of incomplete passes and checkdown throws were greater in the Wednesday practice than there had been on previous days due to the added pressure coming from the linebackers and safeties.
"We had our normal meetings this morning and put in our normal plays and they came out and blitzed us I felt like every single team period we had," said Edwards. "And that's tough on an offense when you have a down the field pass called, and you've got to adjust to it, but that's what we're going to face during the season. So that's great. That's something that we need. We need a good defense to go up against us every day and that's really what we're getting right now."
Edwards admitted it does get frustrating when he's forced to check the ball down more than he would like, saying it's not exciting football, but realizes it's how he and his offensive teammates will have to adjust when those circumstances present themselves in the fall.
HighlightsEllis Lankster and Reggie Corner had pass breakups on back-to-back plays with blitz calls helping to get the ball out a bit faster.
Paul Posluszny had a batted pass as he shot the gap on a blitz and got pressure on Edwards.
Bryan Scott also had a pass breakup during 11-on-11 team work.
In 7-on-7 Derek Fine had his second touchdown reception in as many days as he pulled in a pass on a crossing route from Edwards. Fine has looked quick in space in the passing game, and has been getting good separation.
On the next play Edwards hooked up with Josh Reed for a 'would be' touchdown. That was later followed by another Edwards-Reed pass play that looked as if it could have been a touchdown under live football conditions as well.
Undrafted rookie Lydell Sargeant had a nice leaping pass breakup in the end zone to prevent a touchdown on a throw from Ryan Fitzpatrick, which earned the cornerback a salute from defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.
John McCargo had a batted pass during 11-on-11 team work on a throw by Gibran Hamdan.
Trent Edwards threw a well-placed fade pass to Lee Evans for a touchdown during red zone work.
Notable roles
Cornerbacks Lydell Sargeant and Ellis Lankster got some quality reps with each getting time with the second team defense.
Aaron Maybin continues to run with the second unit at left defensive end.
Rookie offensive linemen Eric Wood and Andy Levitre continue to rotate in and out with the first offensive line splitting time with veterans Seth McKinney and Kirk Chambers.
Nic Harris and Marcus Buggs were the second team nickel linebackers with Alvin Bowen seeing nickel work with the third unit.
In and outRoscoe Parrish was back at practice after missing Tuesday's voluntary session.
Not participating in practice was Leodis McKelvin, Cary Harris, John DiGiorgio, James Hardy, P.K. Sam (hamstring), C.J. Hawthorne and Ashton Youboty.
Aaron Schobel was not in attendance.
