1. Bills aim to stay grounded after fast start
The Bills won back-to-back road games to start the season for the first time in team history. Week 1 was a nail biter and Week 2 was a more convincing win. Regardless of the early season success, head coach Sean McDermott is making sure his players stay humble and stay hungry.
"I've been around this league long enough to know that we have to continue to grow," said McDermott. "We're not where we need to be, and we've got a lot of work to do. The penalties, I thought we lost our edge a little bit in Sunday's game particularly in the third quarter. And the way we finished the game I didn't think was done the right way, so I was not happy with that.
The pre-snap penalties were of particular concern to McDermott after Sunday's game. Seven of Buffalo's nine penalties in the game came before the play against the Giants.
2. Devin Singletary day-to-day, Kroft closer to returning
Bills rookie RB Devin Singletary left Sunday's game late with a hamstring injury. Head coach Sean McDermott however, didn't have much of an update on Monday.
"We're still gathering information on Devin so we'll list him as day-to-day," said McDermott. "There are just some question marks with regard to the evaluation. We just don't know definitively at this point with what's going on there."
Meanwhile TE Tyler Kroft, who is working his way back from foot surgery in the spring, seems to be getting close to a return. He was listed as doubtful in Week 1 and was inactive, then questionable in Week 2, but again inactive.
Could this be the week he makes his Bills debut?
"He's put in a couple of good weeks," McDermott said. "We just want to see how he does this week. Same situation, we'll take his case day to day and I know he's anxious to get out there. I thought he had a good week last week. I'm looking for him to build on that this week."
Kroft has been limited in practice. Perhaps if he can successfully take on a full workload he will get the green light. Making his Bills debut against his former team, the Bengals on Sunday would certainly add another layer to the storyline.
McDermott also said Taron Johnson (hamstring) and Andre Roberts (quad) are progressing in their hopes of returning from injury as well.
3. Harrison Phillips raises game
Second-year defensive tackle, Harrison Phillips got 24 of the 72 snaps on defense in the Week 1 win over the Jets and posted no tackles in the game. This past Sunday however, his playing time increased by only four snaps, but he had a much larger impact on the game.
Phillips had three tackles, a half sack, a quarterback hit and a pair of batted passes to force incompletions.
"Really good to see," said McDermott. "Harrison from the minute he's walked in the door he's maxed his job out. This week he got a little bit more volume in his job and rushed the passer better than he's done before. He was in his gap against the run and very active Sunday and played a really good game."
