The two-minute drill at the end was dominated by the defense.
By Paul Hamilton / wgr550.radio.com
Pittsford, N.Y. — The Bills’ quarterbacks had a great day during Tuesday’s practice, but Wednesday morning was the exact opposite at St. John Fisher.
At the end of practice, the first, second and third team offenses got dominated by a ferocious pass rush.
AJ McCarron went with the ones and had defensive linemen in his lap unblocked. Lorenzo Alexander sacked him twice and Kyle Williams forced McCarron into a quick incompletion. On fourth down, rookie first round pick Tremaine Edmunds intercepted the pass to end the drive.
Despite the chaos, McCarron was unfazed, “That happens sometimes, its part of the game. That’s what I try to tell the guys, that it’s not always going to be perfect and you win some and you lose some and today, we just lost that opportunity, but it’s also an opportunity to learn from it and then get better.
“I try to be the same guy every day. I’m always having energy, I’m, always pumping guys up, I feel like I’ll always get the best out of the guys that I’m playing with.”
Nathan Peterman went with the second team. He was sacked on third down by Shaq Lawson and threw two poor balls that couldn’t be caught. The fourth down pass was severely over-thrown to Malachi Dupre. Peterman said, “It could’ve been a little bit better, but there’s always going to be days like that, so we’ve just got to take this day in stride and be ready.”
Peterman gets reps with different players every day. He said that’s fine and he’s is never surprised, “It’s all about the next rep and having that next rep mentality, just trying to move the team down the field.
“I like to coach myself, I think you should be the hardest on yourself, with a little balance to that as well, but I have extremely high expectations for myself.”
Josh Allen was the only one that got points and Stephen Hauschka booted a 52-yard field goal. Allen had the best pass of the drill, hitting Cam Phillips for a 26-yard completion down the sideline. Allen hit Ray-Ray McCloud in the hands on third and 10, but the receiver dropped the ball. Allen never got sacked, but he felt the pressure, “They were pinning their ears back, we like to call it, ‘Playing the drill,’ but hey, that’s what we’re going to need, iron sharpens iron, so as much as they’re going like that, we’ve got to be better as an offense, we’ve got to step up to the plate and in time, it’ll only get better from that.”
Allen has had an inconsistent spring and summer, but that is not uncommon for a rookie. He said he can’t get so upset after a bad rep, “Everybody is looking at the quarterback, your mannerisms, your body language, so I started a little shaky today and I might have let my emotions get the best of me at one point, but I shook it off and ended up making some really good throws at the end and finished strong.”
It’s not easy for a young player to shake off a mental mistake or a bad throw. Allen said, “You go through trial and tribulations just by failing in practice and understanding that it’s OK to miss a throw and it’s OK to miss a read, but understanding if I make a mistake, I can’t make it again.”
Every fan and every media member looks at every throw by Allen and takes it apart like they’re a coach. Allen is totally fine with that, “I get it! It’s cool to have the energy out here, it’s a little different than in college to have these guys out here cheering us on and when big play happens, you can feel the energy from the fans ooze onto the field.”