Terrence McGee apparently bounces well. A day after falling awkwardly on his right shoulder with Terrell Owens landing on top of him, McGee was a spectator at practice with nothing more than a bruised shoulder as x-rays came back negative.
"I'm just a little sore, but I feel alright," said McGee after practice Thursday. "We were going stride for stride and just trying to make a play on the ball. When I came down I just kind of landed wrong. I'm alright, but the way I landed kind of had me scared."
McGee joined Leodis McKelvin and Ashton Youboty on the sidelines Thursday with rookie cornerback Cary Harris as the Buffalo cornerback contingent remained very short-handed on the field. McKelvin has a finger ailment and had his right hand wrapped in an ace bandage.
Lynch bulked upMarshawn Lynch has looked quick in and out of his cuts in the OTA setting thus far, which is even more impressive after he informed the media that he's added more than 10 pounds of muscle to his frame.
"I bulked up to about 230 and put some mass on," Lynch said. "We'll see how that's going to work. I haven't lost a step. I feel pretty much the same."
The Bills feature back was listed at 215 pounds last season, so 15 pounds is a significant gain even for a well put together back like Lynch. But even he's not sure he'll be able to maintain it coming out of training camp in August.
"Probably during the season it'll be pretty hot so it probably won't stay on," said Lynch. "I don't know if you put on weight to add years to your career, but it was something different for me."
Lynch admits that his weight does fluctuate somewhat during the season. His training regimen still includes a good deal of work in the pool, which he feels has helped strengthen his frame as well.
"Shoulders got a little bit wider," said Lynch smiling. "But I'm still a young man so I've still got some growing to do."
HighlightsA day after being forced to check passes down and hurry throws, the quarterbacks collectively had one of their best days thus far in the OTA sessions. During red zone work their fade passes to the end zone were particularly sharp.
Trent Edwards threw a well placed fade pass to Lee Evans for a touchdown. Evans had two scoring plays on the day. Edwards also put nice touch on another fade pass for six to Terrell Owens. Owens had three touchdown receptions in practice.
Ryan Fitzpatrick put one on the money to Justin Jenkins who deftly dragged the back foot to get two feet inbounds for another scoring play.
Gibran Hamdan may have had the best looking deep ball on the day as he hit Steve Johnson in stride, but the second-year wideout couldn't hang onto it. Johnson did make up for it however, pulling in a big gainer deep over the middle two plays later.
Matt Baker didn't get enough reps under center to really make a big impact.
Derek Fine had another solid day. He effectively got off the jam during 7-on-7 red zone work to pull in a touchdown pass from Edwards. Fine also had another scoring reception later in the series. Fellow tight end Jonathan Stupar got in on the act as well with a touchdown catch.
Buffalo's defense was shorthanded again at cornerback with rookies Ellis Lankster and Lydell Sargeant along with Kyle Ward forced to move up on the depth chart to fill the void behind Reggie Corner and Drayton Florence.
Still Perry Fewell's unit made some plays.
Donte Whitner and Reggie Corner both had interceptions. Corner has been getting a ton of reps with the three other cornerbacks sidelined playing outside and in the slot, but he's been making plays consistently.
"He's been making plays every day," said McGee. "Coach points it out every day. During film today they made like a little Reggie highlight film with all the plays he's been making during practice. He's been amazing out there and you kind of look forward to see how he does during the season and hopefully he can make the same plays."
Corner also had a forced fumble in practice Thursday.
Keith Ellison had a pass breakup on an Edwards pass intended for Fine. Ellison also would have lit up Fred Jackson on a reception out of the backfield had it been live football conditions.
Sargeant has a pass breakup in the end zone to prevent a touchdown, and Lankster had an interception on a pass intended for Felton Huggins from Baker.
Ryan Denney and Chris Kelsay fared well in 11-on-11 work in the red zone. Both had 'would be' sacks on back-to-back plays. John McCargo also got good penetration as he flushed Fitzpatrick out of the pocket forcing him to pull the ball down and run.
Aaron Maybin had a 'would be' pursuit sack on another play when Fitzpatrick was again forced to leave the pocket. Undrafted rookie Gerald Washington had a batted pass.
Notable rolesRookie fifth-round pick Nic Harris got some reps with the second team defense. Fellow linebacker Alvin Bowen saw some snaps in the second team nickel package.
Chris Ellis was the second team right defensive end opposite Aaron Maybin.
With all the cornerbacks sidelined Drayton Florence and Reggie Corner were the top two corners, but when they went to the nickel package, Corner went to the slot with rookie Ellis Lankster stepping on the field. Lankster has made more plays than one might expect from a seventh-round pick.
Shawn Nelson was mixed in a bit with the first team offense to get some reps, but he still needs time to get acclimated to a pro-style offense.
"There's a whole lot more involved here than college," said Nelson. "When you're learning and you mess up and my coach is on me, that doesn't bother me because I can take constructive criticism. My coaches only want me to get better and I want to get better too so we're all on the same page."
In and outNot in attendance Thursday were Josh Reed and Aaron Schobel.
Not participating were Terrence McGee, Ashton Youboty, Leodis McKelvin, Bruce Hall, Cary Harris, Jonathan Scott, Derek Schouman, James Hardy, John DiGiorgio, C.J. Hawthorne and P.K. Sam.
