The Buffalo Bills held their ninth training camp practice on Sunday at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, with only three more sessions left at this location before the team returns to One Bills Drive for the remainder of camp.
Head coach Sean McDermott reported that 13 players missed Sunday’s practice due to injuries, including Alec Anderson, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Cole Bishop, Taylor Rapp, Maxwell Hairston, Dorian Williams, Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir, Joshua Palmer, Kaden Prather, Shaq Thomspon, Tyler Bass and Reggie Gilliam. McDermott identified Shakir and Hairston as week-to-week absences.
“Here’s a young player that is not only missing just the moving around but also the mental part of the experience you get through the reps,” McDermott said of Hairston. “So, there’s no way to avoid it, he’s going to be behind when he comes back.”
McDermott explained how the growing injury list has forced changes to practice routines: “What we’ve tried to do is pull back on some things in the hopes of getting some numbers back. That hasn’t helped, so we’re moving forward.” He added that despite earlier cuts in practice reps due to limited personnel, “It’s time for us to go. We got to get some work done and move this team forward… It’s not conducive, so we got to do what we need to do to move our team forward and get them ready to perform.”
Quarterback Josh Allen did not participate in team drills during Friday’s Return of the Blue & Red event. According to McDermott, Allen is healthy and the coaching staff wanted to evaluate other quarterbacks: “Just trying to take a look at these quarterbacks, Mitch (Trubisky), Mike (White) and Shane (Buechele). Give them the respect that they have earned and (see) what they look like, how they perform, how they lead our football team.” There has been no decision yet on whether Allen will play in Saturday’s preseason game against the Giants. “We’ll see,” McDermott said. “I’m still working through that. We’ll see where that goes.”
Linebacker Matt Milano has shown progress after missing last year’s camp with an injury. “He’s playing fast,” McDermott said about Milano. “He looks comfortable out there.” However, Terrel Bernard has missed some practices due to injury. McDermott emphasized the importance of both linebackers working together: “It is important that he gets next to TB as much as possible… that’s valuable for us and for Matt in this case.”
On Sunday’s field action, defensive end A.J. Epenesa stood out by intercepting a pass during a team period and returning it for a touchdown. He also batted down another pass later in practice. Afterward, Epenesa discussed technique improvements with left tackle Dion Dawkins: “We were just talking technique a little bit because there were two run plays in particular that I just have stuck in my brain right now,” Epenesa said. “My technique wasn’t very solid…” Reflecting on his interception return for a touchdown (pick six), Epenesa described it as instinctual: “It was just kind of one of those feeling things… The way it kind of developed as a play…” He graded his day as inconsistent but wants coaches to know he remains motivated: “My goal is to show the coaches that I’m not slowing down… I still play with that fire…”
This marks Epenesa’s sixth year in the league; over each of his last three seasons he has recorded at least six sacks and 10 quarterback hits.
The defense delivered three takeaways during Sunday’s session—Epenesa’s interception return led off followed by linebacker Baylon Spector recovering a near-incomplete pass before it hit the ground and defensive tackle Casey Rogers recovering a fumbled snap for another score. The defensive line contributed additional pressures and tackles for loss throughout practice; Ed Oliver was active on several key plays.
On offense, Josh Allen connected with Kristian Wilkerson on a 35-yard completion early in drills while Mike White found Zach Davidson during hurry-up offense leading into red zone territory before throwing a screen touchdown pass to Stephen Gosnell. Mitchell Trubisky also completed notable passes under pressure including gains by Laviska Shenault and Deon Cain.
The Bills’ first preseason game is scheduled less than a week from now as training camp enters its final phase.
