Inside The Bills

Carrington update

A day after sitting out a pair of practices Monday, DE Alex Carrington is back in the fray.

Carrington is going thru individual position drills. We’ll let you know if he participates in team work.

New non-participant

A member of Buffalo’s starting secondary is not in attendance at practice this afternoon.

Jairus Byrd is not on hand. The starting free safety has not missed a single practice since training camp began.

Chan says put short passes on him

The Bills current quarterback atop the depth chart has been given a certain nickname by some fans that won’t be repeated here. But when asked about the short passes that have been thrown by Buffalo’s quarterbacks, head coach Chan Gailey said if you’re looking to point the finger you can point it at him.

Gailey was asked specifically about Trent Edwards and his decision making with respect to throwing downfield. The exact question that was asked was if he’d rather see Trent throwing downfield and make some mistakes in the preseason. Here was Gailey’s answer.

“No, I’d rather him make the right read. And I have to give him enough opportunities. If he checks it down, it’s not him, it’s me. If he throws it under four yards every time, we’re not doing the right things to get people open down the field,” said Gailey. ”So I want him to make the right reads and go to the right place. And if we’re not getting people open, then we either have to get different people or we have to create better schemes to get those guys open.”

Gailey has also mentioned protection time and again as the key to creating downfield throwing opportunities as well. As the Bills head coach put it himself…

“Nobody can throw it laying on their back or running around for their life back there. So our protection has to get better.”

Brohm’s strengths

Head coach Chan Gailey was asked to outline Brian Brohm’s strengths. Here was his response.

“He’s very smart. He know where to go with the football. He’s got good velocity on the ball. He just needs to work on continual accuracy,” said Gailey. ”That’s really been his only issue. He’s got good intelligence for football and understands defenses, which is part of playing quarterback, you’ve got to understand defense.”

Brohm will be the second quarterback in Thursday night in Toronto when the Bills face the Colts. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm.

Tues. player radio appearances

Here’s the rundown of where you can find Bills players on the radio airwaves Tuesday.

CJ Spiller – Morning Show; Fan 590 in Toronto @ 8:40 AM (listen online)

Joique Bell- WSJM AM 1400 & FM 94.9 in Benton Harbor, MI tape during the afternoon show 3-6 pm.

Lee Evans – On the Block w/ Brent Axe; The Score 1260 AM in Syracuse @ 5:20 PM

Night practice notes

Night practice notes from Monday’s session can be found here about two-thirds of the way down.

Lynch back by preseason finale?

According to head coach Chan Gailey the ankle injury suffered by Marshawn Lynch might not be as bad as first feared. There were reports that Lynch could be lost for 3-4 weeks, but Gailey indicated at Monday night’s practice it could be less than that.

“I think it’s not a major injury by any stretch of the imagination and I would think he could be back by the last preseason game,” Gailey said. ”That’s what we’re hoping anyway.”

If that in fact comes to pass it would presumably lessen the pressure on Fred Jackson to return from a broken hand in time to play in the season opener, knowing Lynch could capably carry the rushing load with C.J. Spiller.

Bell, Wood should play Thurs. night

According to head coach Chan Gailey there’s a good chance that the Bills will have starting left tackle Demetrius Bell and starting right guard Eric Wood in the lineup for preseason game number 2 Thursday night.

“That is the plan today, yes,” said Gailey following Monday night’s practice. “I don’t know how many right now, but I think they’ll get in for some snaps.”

Gailey also indicated that Paul Posluszny, Chris Kelsay and Keith Ellison, all of whom missed the first preseason game could also see some brief action.

Brohm to follow Trent Thurs. night

Bills head coach Chan Gailey in a conference call with Toronto media Monday confirmed that the QB rotation will be changing as expected.

After Ryan Fitzpatrick served as the second quarterback into the preseason opener last Friday night, while Brian Brohm sat out, Gailey confirmed on Thursday night when the Bills host Indianapolis in Toronto that their roles will be reversed.

“Trent will start and then we’ll put Brian Brohm in the game and then if there’s some snaps left, Levi Brown will play,” said Gailey. ”Fitz (Ryan Fitzpatrick) won’t play in this one. He played last week and Brian didn’t play.”

Gailey didn’t believe that playing four QBs in one preseason game benefited any of the reserve signal callers because none of them would have enough time on the field to get in a rhythm, which in turn complicates the evaluation process of their play.

Fred on broken bone in hand

Bills RB Fred Jackson talked about the exact nature of his hand injury suffered in the preseason opener.

“Yes. I broke a bone in my hand,” Jackson confirmed Monday. ”That’s what it is right now and hopefully, like I said, I can get back by the opener. It (happened on) the second play. I tried to stay in there. I didn’t know what it was at first, but I did come out and did get x-rays, and it was broken.”

Jackson said he broke the fourth metacarpal.

“I think it’s one of the smaller bones,” he said. ”Hopefully I can get back out there soon.”

Night practice tix available

There are still plenty of tickets available for this evening’s Bills night practice at St. John Fisher.

Tickets can be picked up at no cost at the Verizon Wireless store in the Eastview Mall in Victor, NY. The full team autograph session, which was rained out earlier in camp is set for this evening prior to the practice and the Seneca Park Zoo will also be on hand with some of their animals.

Fred confirms prognosis

Bills RB Fred Jackson, equipped with a cast on his left arm, confirmed the prognosis for his recovery after practice Monday morning.

“All they’re saying is 4-6 weeks,” said Jackson. ”Hopefully it won’t be that long. I want to get back as soon as I can and my thoughts are that I definitely want to be back by the opener, so that’s what I’m shooting for anyway.”

Buffalo’s season opener against the Dolphins on Sept. 12 is 27 days away.

3 vets back

Three Bills vets are back practicing here Monday morning at camp.

Cornell Green, Spencer Johnson and Derek Schouman are all participating.

Mon. player radio appearances

Busy morning on the radio airwaves for Bills players. Here’s the rundown.

Norton in the Morning; 97 Rock – (listen online)
                Naaman Roosevelt @ 8 AM
                Steve Johnson @ 8:15 AM
                Ryan Fitzpatrick @ 8:30 AM
                Lee Evans @ 8:45 AM

Also in the late afternoon CJ Spiller will be on 102.1 FM - The Edge in Toronto @ 5:15 PM

Spiller learns 1st lesson

C.J. Spiller’s first NFL experience Friday night already has made him wiser with respect to the run game.

Spiller was disappointed that he hesitated on a couple of his carries in Friday night’s loss to the Redskins.

“Of course the speed picked up another notch, but I’ve just got to get in my mind that I’ve just got to hit it and get going,” Spiller said. ”A couple of times I didn’t hit the holes as fast as I normally do. It was a good experience for me as to how it will be, so now I know what to expect come next week.”

Spiller had 16 yards on four carries Friday night.

3rd down told the story

The Bills saw a lot of things go wrong in their preseason opener, but the most telling statistic was third down on both sides of the ball.

Buffalo’s defense could not get off the field on third down, allowing the Redskins offense to convert on 12 of their 19 third down opportunities for a 63% conversion rate.

“They pounded the ball on us late we were just worn out at the end,” said head coach Chan Gailey. ”They controlled the ball entirely too long. We couldn’t get them off the field on third down.”

Meanwhile Buffalo’s offense did not convert any of their third downs until Levi Brown hit David Nelson for a seven-yard gain on a 3rd-and-4 with 1:27 left in the game.

Jackson to miss rest of preseason

Bills RB Fred Jackson suffered a hand injury in the first half and head coach Chan Gailey said he will miss the rest of the preseason.

“Fred hurt his hand and we hope to be able to get him back for the first game,” said Chan Gailey. “We’re not sure.”

Marshawn Lynch suffered an ankle injury that is Gailey did not know the immediate severity of.

More on this on the home page at Buffalobills.com later tonight.

Spiller will get a lot of work

After missing a week of training camp Bills top pick C.J. Spiller will be seeing a good deal of work in tonight’s preseason opener.

After Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch see their share of work, Spiller will get the bulk of the rest in the game. Though the coaching staff was impressed with Spiller’s retention of the playbook from the spring when he arrived at camp, they feel he still needs reps after missing close to a dozen training camp practices.

In addition to his duties on offense, Spiller will also return punts tonight on special teams.

3 other vets declared out

It was believed that TE Derek Schouman would not play and that will be the case tonight in the preseason opener. Two defensive veterans will also not play tonight.

DE Spencer Johnson and LB Keith Ellison, who were both considered doubtful will not play tonight against the Redskins. OLB Chris Kelsay will also not play tonight. Though he returned to practice late last week from a shoulder injury it’s believed this is a precautionary measure for the veteran.

With Kelsay out, Chris Ellis will be afforded a big opportunity to see extensive playing time.

Don’t expect to see Brohm tonight

The plan at the quarterback position for tonight’s preseason opener is Trent Edwards will start, play a quarter or so and then give way to Ryan Fitzpatrick and the second unit. After that however, the next QB in is expected to be rookie Levi Brown.

According to head coach Chan Gailey it’s no reflection on Brian Brohm’s play. It’s a matter of giving the backups enough time on the field. Gailey has chosen to play only three QBs tonight to give the backups sufficient time to get into a rhythm on offense. He believes if he tries to get Fitzpatrick and Brohm into the game as well as Brown at the end that a situation could arise where Fitz or Brohm made only get nine plays tops, hardly enough to evaluate a QB in a preseason game.

He would like to give both Fitzpatrick and Brohm more consecutive series so they can make a better case for themselves. So Brohm is not expected to play tonight, but in the next preseason game against Indy, the plan is to have Brohm come in and play after Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick will not play.

So nothing should be read into Brohm’s absence of playing time tonight with respect to the QB competition, but the only way he takes the field is if there is an injury at the quarterback position.