While the Bills are still in the early stages of the offseason, offensive coordinator Turk Schonert is not going to be a patient man. On Thursday there were a few times when the offense was having problems lining up before the snap. It started early on just the fifth play from scrimmage in 11-on-11 and Schonert made his dissatisfaction obvious.
"We've got to know formation," Schonert shouted after uttering an expletive.
Seven plays later during a no huddle series after a shotgun snap went over Trent Edwards head Schonert canceled the hurry up series.
"We're going to huddle up every play," said Schonert to his offensive players. "We apparently can't handle no huddle right now."
Later on during practice when lining up properly before the snap was again an issue Schonert threatened to throw the group off the field.
Being professionals the offensive players understood why their coordinator was unhappy. Running back Dwayne Wright, who had a pretty solid day Thursday, said they're ready to get things straightened out to end the week on a good note Friday.
"As an offense it's early, but we have to be prepared," said Dwayne Wright. "It's up to us to go home and watch film and be prepared with our plays. I can understand him getting a little hot because this is his offense and we're the players in the offense so we have to perform well to win games. And that's good because we want to win this year. We're going to work hard so tomorrow is a better day."
Offensive highlights
Aside from a few hiccups there were some nice plays turned in by the offense, particularly during the red zone segment. During 7-on-7 inside the 20, Fred Jackson made a nice play down the right sideline to pull in a touchdown reception from Trent Edwards.
Felton Huggins sharply executed and inside out route to gain separation for a touchdown pulling in a pass from J.P. Losman who returned to OTAs. Steve Johnson scored on a similar route catching a throw from Matt Baker. Derek Schouman deftly positioned himself in between the linebacker and defensive back along the sideline and Edwards hit him for a touchdown.
Roscoe Parrish made perhaps the most difficult catch in practice. Parrish fell down at the top of his comeback route, but still managed to get to his feet and get to the end of his route to make a diving catch just as the ball arrived. The offensive line deserves credit on that play as well as they effectively picked up the blitz on that play.
Defensive highlights
Terrence McGee got things started for the defense with a pass breakup on a pass intended for Roscoe Parrish along the near sideline. Four plays later Ashton Youboty intercepted a J.P. Losman pass intended for Huggins. Youboty got on Huggins inside shoulder enabling him to step to the ball and make the play.
Chris Kelsay had a 'would be' sack on Edwards during 11-on-11 work. Defensive end Shawn Nua had a batted pass. Will James broke up a pass in the end zone intended for Roscoe Parrish.
Paul Posluszny "stuffed" an inside run play to Josh Reed which would have gone for no gain at best. The middle linebacker also had a 'would be' sack on a blitz.
"Poz is a guy that works extremely hard," said fellow linebacker Kawika Mitchell. "The more he gets comfortable the better he'll get. He'll be a big time player. It's just a matter of time."
Chris Ellis had a pressure coming off the left side during team work.
Call ups
Running back Dwayne Wright got some more snaps Thursday as Marshawn Lynch had a lighter workload. Wright ran hard as he had a few more carries than normal and earned the praise of running backs coach Eric Studesville for a great blitz pickup on Mitchell.
"I'm kind of used to this sort of offense with a fullback and feel like I'm ahead of the game," said Wright. "I understand all of the protections and when I get the ball I can just run with it without thinking so much like I was last year. I'm just going to put my head down, run hard, lift my knees and go."
Defensively, Reggie Corner again benefited with more reps as Leodis McKelvin was held out of practice as a precaution after experiencing tight hamstrings in practice Wednesday.
Not participating
Unable to participate were the aforementioned McKelvin, Spencer Johnson (hamstring) and Robert Royal (knee). Not in attendance Thursday were Darian Barnes, Melvin Fowler, Jason Peters and Aaron Schobel.
The Bills have one more OTA practice Friday before taking off for the weekend.
