The signing of was clearly the headline of the day, but the team got some good work done in the morning practice before the team's top draft choice arrived.
Head coach Chan Gailey was on the offensive unit right at the beginning during walk through after there was an improper alignment pre-snap.
"C'mon men," Gailey shouted. "There were too many mistakes on this yesterday. It's time to focus!"
Byrd is heardThrough the first week of practice Bills free safety Jairus Byrd has been around the ball at times, but it wasn't until Friday morning that he pulled one in for an interception during team work.
In 7-on-7 Byrd read the quarterback's eyes and dove to make an interception on a ball that was intended for Naaman Roosevelt, but was overthrown.
Byrd would follow up with another in 7-on-7 red zone work a short time later as he snared a deflected pass in the end zone for an INT.
For Byrd they were his first two takeaways in camp. Byrd knows interceptions are the eye-catching stat, but he's focused on broadening his game in year two.
"It was taking a long time, I hadn't gotten any this camp but it is what it is," he said. "They'll come. I'm just trying to make sure I know what I'm doing at my position, make sure I'm in the right place, tackles and angles. To me, that's what's important."
Kelsay practicesOutside linebacker Chris Kelsay had missed the past week of practices with a shoulder injury, but was back working on Friday. However, he did not participate fully.
"It was difficult and frustrating last week," he said. "It seemed like forever because of the two-a-days and it seemed a lot longer than it was, but it was good. We're gradually getting into it, but hopefully by Monday I'll go full bore."
While Kelsay returned Eric Wood did not now making it three straight practices that he has been sidelined. Prior to this point Wood had been practicing in every other practice. Gailey insisted that there is no change in the approach with Wood.
"We're continuing to give him rest. He's a guy that's pushed hard to get to where he is and we want to be smart about how we handle that," Gailey said.
Demetrius Bell also was a spectator at practice after participating the day before. Also not practicing were Kawika Mitchell and Marcus Stroud in addition to the injured players, which led to some lineup shuffling.
Lineup changesOn the offensive line Jamon Meredith largely manned the starting left tackle position in place of Bell, while Andre Ramsey sat in at right guard for Wood. Kirk Chambers played left tackle with the second unit .
On the defensive side the starting defensive line consisted of Dwan Edwards, Torell Troup and Alex Carrington with both Kyle Williams and Stroud sidelined.
At inside linebacker with Kawika Mitchell out Arthur Moats got snaps with the ones alongside Andra Davis. Reggie Torbor, who has played exclusively outside linebacker since his arrival, got a few reps here and there inside, likely in an effort to give some of the other inside backers a break.
"Those decisions are over my head, I do what I'm told to do," said Torbor. "The more you can do, the better it is, looking at it from an individual standpoint. Right now, I'm outside. They tell me to do something else, I will do something else."
Torbor played mainly inside linebacker the past two seasons in Miami's 3-4 defense.
HighlightsLee Evans saw a couple of passes come his way early in 7-on-7. His best play was his catch deep over the middle from Ryan Fitzpatrick after running a perfect dig route that left two defenders in his wake.
Steve Johnson was also busy catching three passes in 7-on-7 work including one deep over the middle from Trent Edwards.
Donald Jones also pulled in a deep ball from Edwards down the middle of the field for a 35-yard play.
In 7-on-7 red zone work, Fred Jackson zipped through a good hole provided by the offensive line to reach the end zone untouched on a 10-yard run.
Chad Jackson had a well-timed slant route with Brian Brohm.
Roscoe Parrish pulled in a touchdown pass from Brohm on a crossing pattern.
And Chad Simpson burst through a good hole by the line for a touchdown as well.
Defensively in addition to the Byrd interceptions, Drayton Florence broke up a pass intended for Chad Jackson.
Terrence McGee forced an incompletion on a throw to Felton Huggins.
NIGHT PRACTICE NOTESC.J. Spiller's debut at training camp was well received by the Bills fans in attendance as he got a rousing ovation as he took to the field.
"It was a great feeling," said Spiller. "I was ready to get back on the football field and start practicing again and get ready for the season. It felt good to get a warm reception from the fans. We're definitely going to need them come Sundays."
Spiller took reps in the run game behind Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch, caught some passes out of the backfield in one-on-one drills and returned punts in special teams. But the coaching staff made sure not to have him overdo it his first time out.
"We didn't a lot with him," said head coach Chan Gailey. "We've got to break him in slowly. These other guys have been in camp for quite a few days, a week almost so he's got a lot of catching up to do, not only mentally, but physically and so we're going to work him in slow. But you can see the explosiveness that he's always had."
Big plays in passing gameThe offense has had its share of troubles connecting on the big hitters in the passing game, but they had good success with the deep ball Friday night. Lee Evans was a big part of the explosive downfield plays.
Evans pulled in a pass deep down the near sideline from Trent Edwards, who dropped it right over his shoulder for a touchdown as the receiver ran the remaining 30 yards to the end zone for a 60-yard score.
Felton Huggins ran down the same sideline a series later where Ryan Fitzpatrick hit him in stride for a 35-yard pass play.
But Evans had the offensive play of the day beating his defender on a deep post and Edwards hit his outstretched hands perfectly with a 50-yard pass on a 65-yard touchdown that brought the fans in attendance to their feet.
"It was good to see some big plays," said Gailey. "We've got to eliminate the bad plays, but it was good to see some big plays. There were some positives out there on both sides of the ball and that's what you're searching for is positives in each and every practice."
The reason Gailey saw positives on the defensive side of the ball was because once again the defense was logging takeaways.
Donte Whitner had his best practice of camp. He jumped an underneath route in 11-on-11 to intercept a pass intended for Steve Johnson that he returned 30 yards for a touchdown.
He also had an interception in the end zone to thwart a scoring attempt by the offense in a two-minute drill picking off the pass on a 3rd-and-goal from the nine-yard line.
Bryan Scott was also around the ball a lot Friday night. After Arthur Moats forced his third fumble of training camp following a catch by Chad Jackson, Scott made the fumble recovery.
At the very end of practice Scott intercepted a 3rd-and-6 pass that was deflected and designed to go to Donald Jones ending the offense's second two-minute drill series.
Other defensive plays were turned in by George Wilson, Andra Davis and Ellis Lankster all of whom registered pass breakups. Marcus Stroud had a batted pass.
Parrish nicked upRoscoe Parrish was forced to leave practice early Friday night after sustaining an undisclosed injury. Head coach Chan Gailey said it was not believed to be serious.
"It's not bad," Gailey said. "He'll be back in a couple of days at the worst I think."
In and outThe only other new non-participant at practice was Chad Simpson. He was nicked up in the morning practice and did not participate in the evening session. He had a wrap on his right knee.
Eric Wood and Demetrius Bell were back on the starting offensive line after sitting for the morning session. Offensive lineman Cordaro Howard also returned to the lineup after missing the last few days after taking a blow to the head in practice.
ScheduleThe Bills have a single practice on Saturday scheduled for 3 pm.
