1 – Cassel wins the day, will start FridayIn a training camp when one quarterback has a good day, followed by a different QB the next day, veteran Matt Cassel appeared to do the most in Monday's practice.
His day started early with a nice 20-yard strike to Charles Clay down the left side of the field in 11-on-11. He also hit Clay for a touchdown on a corner route as the defense appeared to have a blown coverage. Percy Harvin also made a leaping grab in the back corner of the end zone on a throw by Cassel.
"(Cassel) looked good today," said head coach Rex Ryan. "Matt looked good."
Cassel's best throw came on a shot he took deep down the sideline to Sammy Watkins for a 44-yard touchdown on the third-play of a two-minute drill.
Ryan also confirmed that Cassel will start at quarterback Friday in the team's preseason opener.
"We'll start him on Friday and how much work he gets, we'll see," Ryan said of Cassel. "We're going to get all those guys work through these preseason games. He'll get the first shot just like EJ (Manuel) got in the scrimmage."
Though Ryan said it's still early, the Bills head coach said he's looking for that consistent guy day in and day out at the quarterback spot and to this point it hasn't happened.
2 – Two minute drill goes to offenseIn a camp that's largely been dominated by the defense, Monday was a good day for the guys in the white jerseys. Buffalo's offense fared well overall in practice making good plays primarily in the passing game. Cassel's aforementioned touchdown pass to Watkins was the highlight.
"I thought our offense looked pretty good," said Ryan. "I liked the fact that we really got Sammy involved. I figured this correlation. When Sammy gets involved good things happen. So Cassel that's a good ball by him, that deep ball to Sammy in that two minute for a touchdown. So I was really pleased with that. I think our protection with that first offensive line, I think our protection has been holding up pretty good."
Tyrod Taylor moved the second unit into makeable field goal range on his drive, with his best throw coming a 4th-and-1 conversion as he hit Marcus Easley on a slant for a 10-yard gain. EJ Manuel was the victim of a wrong route being run by a receiver as his throw on 2nd-and-5 from the 45 was picked off by undrafted rookie safety Wes Miller.
3 – Nicked up BillsA couple of big name Bills are already sidelined in Bobbie Dixon, Fred Jackson, Leodis McKelvin and Aaron Williams. They were joined by a few others.
"On the injury front Kyle (Williams) went out with a quad bruise. Just when Marcell (Dareus) made a play he threw the ball carrier to him and he got hit on the side. But he's going to be okay. Probably a three or four-day type (injury). We had Alex Carrington out with a bruised rotator cuff. It's not serious he should be fine. And Goodwin just wasn't feeling well. He threw up in front of everybody so that was my first indication that he wasn't feeling good."
TE Chris Manhertz (ribs) and WR Caleb Holley (hamstring) were also injured during practice.
Bonus Notes Seantrel Henderson appears to be making a move at right tackle as he has been lining up with the starting unit for almost a week now with challenger Cyrus Kouandjio not rotating in with the ones much at all.
Robert Woodslost his helmet at the tail end of a broken play and then started throwing haymakers. Woods was blocking up field for Matt Cassel, who was scrambling out to the sideline on the play. Woods was blocking Stephon Gilmore and after Woods lost his helmet, he just started swinging. Gilmore just tried to keep him at arm's length before teammates stepped in.
Karlos Williamsappeared to get more work with the first unit with Dixon and Jackson injured than Bryce Brown.
"We wanted to see Karlos," said Ryan. "He's starting to do a lot of good things out there. That doesn't mean Bryce won't be given another opportunity."
