After a day off on Monday, Bills players were scheduled to have an 8am practice Tuesday morning.
But rain in the area forced a cancellation of the practice, so Buffalo will have two days off before beginning the first of two combined practice sessions in Pittsburgh with the Steelers, a team the Bills had huge issues with last season in a 23-10 loss at Heinz Field. Running back Fred Jackson thinks the extra time off the field will do the team some good against a physical Steelers squad.
“It’s huge when you’re out here banging and going through as much as we are,” said Jackson. “When you’re at training camp and you get these unexpected days off, you like it. But it’s on us now to take advantage of it when we come back on the field. We’ve had a couple of days off and then we get right back to work.
“It couldn’t come at a better time knowing that we’re about to go out there and it’s going to be pretty physical down. They’re a team that prides themselves on being physical and we’re going to go out there and match that. We get a good break going into that is going to make it that much better.”
One place where experience against a physical team needs to be beneficial is at the offensive line, as young players like rookie left tackle Seantrel Henderson (playing in place of still recovering Cordy Glenn), and fellow first-year players tackle Cyrus Kouandjio and guard Cyril Richardson could learn a lot. The Bills offensive line starts The veteran member of the front five, center Eric Wood, believes it will be a great opportunity to do combined practices with Pittsburgh, something even he hasn’t been a part of.
“It will be good test for us,” said Wood. “They have a lot of tradition; we have a lot of respect for their organization. It will be a good measuring stick, anytime you go against the Steelers you learn how tough you are and how fundamentally sound you are. Under Dick Lebeau they’ve traditionally be incredibly sound defensively.
“I’m not exactly sure how that will work out, I’ve never done this before. We generally practice against a look team, and obviously our look team is not as good as a starting lineup is going to be. In this case we’re going to be going up against a starting defense and then playing in a game against them. I have no idea, I’d say you’d probably be a little more comfortable and prepared before game time.”
Another area the team struggled against the Steelers last November was in the passing game, as E.J. Manuel was 22 of 39 for only 155 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Buffalo has made it a point of helping the second-year quarterback with weapons, adding rookie Sammy Watkins and veteran Mike Williams as explosive outside receivers to join an already talented young crop of receivers in Robert Woods, Chris Hogan, Marquise Goodwin, and T.J. Graham.
Hogan says that the receiving core is still “a young group again this year,” but the additions to it will be profound.
“We brought in a veteran, Mike Williams, and obviously Sammy Watkins is everything everyone expected him to be,” said Hogan. “I think that this group this year has a lot of down up and down the roster and there are a lot of playmakers on this team. I think this wide receiver group is eager to get on the field and be able to make some plays.”
Hogan has use his second year in the offense and with Manuel to establish chemistry with him from the slot receiver position, and believes that additional reps and time “can only help us.”
“I think we’re getting to that point right now in camp where we’re starting to build that chemistry and we’re starting to feel that and starting to click as a group and as a corps,” said Hogan.
Woods also enjoyed the rest, and sees the Steelers joint practices as opportunities to show how far the Bills have come as a team.
“New look, new defense,” said Woods. “It’s going to be physical I feel like, going against another team. Don’t know each other, trying to prove a point. We’ve just got to be prepared for everything.
“Just all the work that we’ve put in it’s really going to be like another game for us because there’s a new team and, like I said, everybody is going to be going hard. It’s just a good measuring stick for us going into the season.”
How the Bills measure up both physically in practices and on the scoreboard on Saturday could establish how the team feels about it’s ability to perform and compete against the big boys in the AFC.
