The call was made on Bills fifth-round pick Ed Wang as he was scheduled to have surgery Tuesday, but head coach Chan Gailey never got an update on how things went for his rookie offensive lineman and as a result could not provide many details about the results.
Gailey did confirm that it was a hand injury and that Wang will miss a significant amount of time, though no specific timetable was provided. When asked how big a setback this would be for the rookie offensive tackle, Gailey was blunt.
"Huge, for any guy that misses time as a rookie," Gailey said. "The only guy that can kind of weather that storm is a vet, a guy that's been around five or six years and has his position firmly entrenched. It's hard."
Wang had worked with the second unit at left tackle and was even given some extra reps at the same spot with the third unit at times. The Virginia Tech product had already missed a good portion of the spring workouts after suffering an ankle injury in early June. This latest injury only delays his progress at a position where the Bills are not deep to begin with.
The 2010 draft class will also see sixth-round pick Danny Batten sidelined for the foreseeable future. Gailey provided a prognosis for the outside linebacker, who suffered a shoulder injury Sunday.
"We're still in the decision making process on the direction for him," said Gailey. "It could be as little as two weeks, it could be as long as six weeks."
Meanwhile fourth-round pick Marcus Easley was also sidelined Tuesday with a sore knee. The rookie receiver landed on his left knee hard after a pass play Monday night. No word on how long he might be out of action.
Heat and humidityTuesday afternoon was arguably the hottest practice of camp thus far with temperatures in the high 80's and the humidity even higher. After the two and a half hour practice in full pads, players were visibly tired coming off the field.
"It was expected, but unexpected as far as this humidity," said Steve Johnson. "It was real humid, that's all I can say. But this is the time we've got to fight through it, fight through practice and see what we've got."
Almost a week into camp is about the time when players suffer from heavy legs, where they don't feel like they have as much spring in their step. Veteran Andra Davis admitted the heavy-legged feeling is upon them, but isn't making excuses.
"Yeah, but every team that's in camp, everybody is going through the same thing," said Davis. "It's not just us, it's all 32 teams around the league. It's the nature of our business."
Fitting up the runThrough the course of the past three or four practices, the defensive front has appeared to improve their consistency in plugging up holes in the run game portion of practice. Defensive coordinator George Edwards has handed out more praise than criticism during practice of late, but Davis knows they don't have everything nailed down tight just yet.
"It's a daily grind and we have good plays and bad plays, but the thing is in this defense or any defense you can't continue to make the same mistakes more than once," he said. "There are only so many plays that you can run, but you have be able to come out here and do it and go into the film room and learn from your mistakes and when you get that play again you fit it up right. So we can move on to the next play and make progress."
Buffalo's run front was particularly effective in clogging the rush lanes Tuesday as Edwards was heard shouting, 'Way to plug it up men! Way to plug it up!'
Returner updateThe special teams units worked on kick returns and punt formations Tuesday with the returner pairings working out as follows.
The first grouping was Leodis McKelvin and Roscoe Parrish. The second grouping was Fred Jackson and Chad Jackson. The third grouping was very interesting as Marshawn Lynch was the lone returner. He took one rep in the drill. Obviously, when C.J. Spiller arrives at camp, he'll likely take that spot being occupied by Lynch.
On punt return it was just McKelvin and Parrish fielding punts, with Parrish more consistent in securing the ball.
Brian Moorman was hanging several punts very high. His longest was a 60-yarder with an unofficial hang time of 4.8 seconds. Moorman's form looked consistent throughout.
Some jawingThere was some minor jawing going on out on the field late in practice during 11-on-11 red zone work. Michael Matthews made a catch in the end zone in traffic and took one shot high and another low as he hit the ground. Matthews did hold onto the football, but did not appreciate the second hit by George Wilson and promptly tossed the ball up at Wilson.
Wilson did not appreciate this and started yelling at him. Matthews went back to his side of the line of scrimmage and stepped back behind the offensive set as he was subbed out for the next play. Wilson came across the line of scrimmage to make sure that Matthews heard what he had to say, but it was not audible to us on the sidelines. Matthews didn't pay much mind to Wilson's comments.
Bell progressDemetrius Bell continues to do a bit more with each passing day. After being sprinkled in with the first unit at left tackle during team work the past couple of days, Bell was in the lineup during run game work when the blocking is often at its most intense.
Though Bell only got a few reps he held up well. Less than a week into camp the only thing Bell has not done yet is one-on-one pass rush drills against a defensive lineman.
HighlightsIn 7-on-7 the defense made the first couple of noteworthy plays. Ashton Youboty had a nice pass break up on a throw intended for Naaman Roosevelt along the near sideline.
On the next play Donovan Woods forced a fumble stripping Derek Schouman of the ball shortly after a reception over the middle with Bryan Scott recovering the loose ball.
The offense had an answer however, as Ryan Fitzpatrick unloaded a 40-yard pass that he dropped over the shoulder of James Hardy who out positioned his defender for the touchdown.
In 7-on-7 red zone work, Trent Edwards again hooked up with Roscoe Parrish for a touchdown on the far side of the field
That was followed by an Edwards touchdown strike to Felton Huggins on a post pattern.
Marshawn Lynch caught a swing pass from Brian Brohm and got the end zone before the defense was able to close in on him.
Shawn Nelson pulled in a touchdown reception from Levi Brown.
Woods also had a nice looking pass breakup as he worked across the back of the end zone to prevent a touchdown pass from Levi Brown to Jonathan Stupar.
Arthur Moats had a pass breakup on a pass intended for Joique Bell.
And Donte Whitner had a tackle for loss as he got good penetration to get a hold of Fred Jackson's jersey in the offensive backfield.
Live goal lineFor the second time in camp the Bills had a live tackle to the ground goal line drill. Again they ran six plays. On the first play Fred Jackson was held short of the goal line by the defense. On the second snap Torell Troup blew up the run play, which appeared designed to go up the middle and wound up being a carry for loss.
On the third play the defense got good penetration again as three tacklers brought Marshawn Lynch down before he got back to the line of scrimmage.
The offense turned things around a bit on the fourth play as Joique Bell again made the most of a stretch play out racing the defense to the front left corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
Brian Brohm then hit Jonathan Stupar for a touchdown on a designed rollout.
And Chad Simpson closed the goal line drill with a sprint to the front right corner of the end zone for a score with no one within a yard of him to make a play.
In and outArthur Moats and Ryan Manalac continue to run as the second team inside linebackers with the likes of Paul Posluszny and Keith Ellison still sidelined.
With the linebacking corps so shorthanded, Donovan Woods even saw some second team reps, while Manalac moved up to the first unit to give veteran Andra Davis a break at times.
Terrence McGee was given a rest day Tuesday and was replaced by Leodis McKelvin at the left cornerback spot. What was interesting was when the team went to the nickel package, Florence stayed outside with Reggie Corner coming in to play the slot. Corner has been the second team slot corner for the most part in camp. Obviously they feel Florence is the better option outside.
Jamon Meredith continues to get snaps at left tackle with the first unit when Demetrius Bell is not in there and saw some snaps at right tackle with the second unit.
ScheduleThe Bills have another two-a-day Wednesday with the first practice set for 9:30, but it's closed to the public. They also have a night practice at 7pm.
