After more than three weeks on the campus of St. John Fisher, the Bills put a wrap on their 2009 training camp with a no pads workout Wednesday morning before heading back down the New York State Thruway to One Bills Drive in Orchard Park.
With a lot of new pieces to put together particularly on the offense, the players feel good about the progress that they made, but they're also glad to be heading home.
"I'll be happy to be back in my own bed," said Trent Edwards. "I love this area, I love Pittsford and I love St. John Fisher College. Our head coach runs a great camp and the facilities here are beautiful, the people here treat us very well, but there's no place like home. I'm happy to get back to Buffalo, get back in my own bed and get a couple home-cooked meals."
"It's good to end here and get to sleep in your own bed," said offensive lineman Seth McKinney. "But it ain't over yet. We've got three weeks before our first game."
The offensive side of the ball had a lot more new pieces to fit together than the defense in this camp, but Edwards like the way the unit is taking shape.
"I think all those guys, everyone knows their role and I feel like that all comes from our coaches," said Edwards. "Our coaches have done a great job of letting us know what our role is and those guys now need to fill that role. I think for the first couple weeks of camp here we've been able to do that.
"I feel like Andy and Eric have done a good job at guards for us, I think Terrell's (Owens) done a great job as well and a lot of that has to do with the way those guys have been coached. I'm very happy with where we're at right now, but we still have a long way to go."
Owens ruled out for Green Bay
Not practicing for a second straight day was veteran receiver Terrell Owens. After practicing on a limited basis Monday, Owens has been kept off his sprained toe the past two days, and head coach Dick Jauron officially ruled him out for Saturday's preseason game at Green Bay.
"We're just following the protocol that we use for that injury and then we assessed it," said Jauron. "We probably won't put him on the field again until next week some time."
Maybin never makes it to camp
The other noticeable absence was that of top pick Aaron Maybin. Expected to be a shot in the arm to Buffalo's pass rush this season, Maybin is still unsigned with contract talks making little progress of late.
"I coach the guys that are here," said Jauron. "I can't do anything about him not being here. We'd love to have him."
When asked if Maybin's prolonged absence is beginning to jeopardize how much his staff will be able to make use of the rookie's skills in their defensive scheme right away, Jauron openly wondered about what would and would not be realistic as well.
"I don't know the answer to that," said Jauron. "We only had him a brief time in the OTAs. We'll just see what we can do when he gets here. We drafted him high for a reason and hopefully they'll get that thing worked out soon."
Highlights
With a non-padded practice that ran less than two hours there weren't a ton of highlights, but Josh Reed had a shoestring catch early in 7-on-7 coming across the field.
Justin Jenkins got behind the defense to pull in a 40-yard bomb on a deep post from Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Roscoe Parrish caught a deep out along the sideline for first down yardage and more.
C.J. Hawthorne made a 25-yard catch down the far sideline from Gibran Hamdan.
Lee Evans had a well-timed play with Trent Edwards on a quick slant where Evans was able to get a chunk of yards after the catch.
And Steve Johnson made a tough catch along the far sideline from Fitzpatrick.
Defensively, rookie Lydell Sargeant broke up a pass intended for Hawthorne.
And Ryan Denney had a quarterback pressure on Fitzpatrick.
Practice resumes at One Bills Drive
Camp is over, but practice is not for the Bills as they move their operations back to One Bills Drive. The team has a practice scheduled for 11:35 am. All practices are now closed to the public, but our coverage will continue here at Buffalobills.com.
