Preseason 2013: Bills vs. Colts Preview

The Buffalo Bills are breaking in a new quarterback and a new head coach. Big changes are happening out East, and the Colts are going to be getting the first look at it.
With Kevin Kolb’s knee giving him trouble and a death in his family, E.J. Manuel has been taking the first team reps and will reportedly be the starting quarterback on Sunday. Manuel is one of the subjects of this article, so let’s take a look at five things to watch on the other sideline. What storylines should we follow as it pertains to Buffalo?
1. The Quarterback
E.J. Manuel, the first QB selected in the 2013 NFL Draft, is one of the biggest storylines in the Bills vs. Colts pre-season opener. As I mentioned earlier, a situation of slipping on a wet mat and injuring his knee is forcing expected starter Kevin Kolb to dress only as an emergency QB.
Manuel was quite possibly the most intriguing pick in the entire first round of the 2013 draft. He has ideal size and athletic ability for the QB position, but some were not sold he was a first or even second round prospect. I figured Manuel wouldn’t last past the second round, but the way things were sounding, it didn’t seem like he was the guy the Bills were targeting in round one.
With Doug Marrone now in the fold, it seemed logical the Bills would pass on a QB in the first round and maybe look to the second or third round and take Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib, whom Marrone coached.
Instead, the Bills made a bold move–a move I really like. This coaching staff and new regime will be attached to the success of Manuel, and it all begins on Sunday.
2. Rookie receivers
As much hype as E.J. Manuel has received–and rightfully so–the Bills also made some really interesting picks at the WR position. They were able to snag USC wideout Robert Woods in the second round–an absolute steal in my opinion–and then they took speedster Marquise Goodwin in the third.
Woods is more of a possession type receiver, but he definitely has a nose for the end zone and can make all the tough catches. He is as pro-ready as they come and I fully expect him to make an impact this season.
Goodwin is having a good training camp and will start off as the team’s #4 receiver. He can be effective in the slot, as a return man, out of the backfield–you name it.
The Bills also picked up another rookie receiver this year who generated a lot of pre-draft hype in Da’Rick Rogers. Rogers was dismissed from the Tennessee football program, and wound up finishing his collegiate career at Tennessee Tech. He appeared to be facing a similar journey to that of Janoris Jenkins, who was kicked off the Florida football team before he wound up getting taken in the 2nd round by the Rams last year, but that wasn’t the case for Rogers.
He went undrafted, and is now facing an uphill climb to make the roster. He needs to have a big pre-season, so we’ll look forward to seeing him battle out there.
3. Jerry Hughes
Jerry Hughes was a mis-fit with the Colts as a former first round pick, and these two teams swung a trade this offseason sending Hughes to Buffalo and inside linebacker Kelvin Sheppard to the Colts.
Hughes needs to have a good pre-season. The Bills don’t have a ton of great pass rushers, and it’s likely Hughes will be the primary backup to starters Mario Williams and Manny Lawson.
4. Bills O-Line
The Bills lost a key piece of their offensive line when Andy Levitre bolted for the Tennessee Titans. It will be very interesting to see how the interior offensive line, or offensive line in general has re-couped. This doesn’t look like the team’s most promising unit, so we’ll have to see them in game action to make initial judgments.
5. CB Nickell Robey
The former USC star and fan favorite has been turning heads, and will see significant action in Sunday’s game. He is going to get an opportunity to make this team as the nickel cornerback with a few guys on the team nursing injuries. Keep an eye on Robey, who will be wearing #37.

Buffalo Bills Players Who Are On The Bubble

Bills Mafia - Training camp is the time of the year when players get a chance to show what they are worth. With 90 men at camp and only 53 spots available you have to find a way to stand out. With only a limited number of practices to look at at this point it isn’t much more than a first impression, but first impressions can be important. Although I have a fraction of a percent of the information that the coaches have, let’s look at a couple players who I think have helped or hurt their stock so far at training camp.
Stock Up: Zach Brown
Going into camp we all knew who the top two running backs were going to be. The third spot on the other hand is much more up for grabs. Tashard Choice is still the favorite to hold this spot as the depth chart shows, but Brown seems to have made quite a leap this year. He appears to be running the ball with vision, and hitting the holes hard to find yards. Brown may not edge Choice for the spot behind CJ and Fred, but his stock is certainly up!
Stock Down: Left Guards
We all knew that the left guard spot would be hard to fill after the loss of Andy Levitre to the Tennessee Titans this offseason, and that was confirmed last week at camp. Coach Marrone clearly didn’t think that the two left guards were coming along as quickly as he had hoped. He also talked about bringing in someone else at that spot to add more competition. Doug Legursky may have set himself apart some with his experience near the end of the week as he took more of the first team reps, but the group as a whole certainly has some work to do. I do expect both Legursky and Brown to make the final roster, but the starting job is still up for grabs.
Stock Even: Quarterbacks
I’ve heard multiple times over these last few days that Kolb’s fluke injury will give Manuel a hand up in the quarterback competition. Though the injury did give Manuel quite a few more reps with the first team, and the experience that goes along with that, it by no means will be any integral part in the decision of who starts week one against New England. This competition is still pretty even, especially if Kolb returns to camp in the next few days, as seems to be expected. Manuel definitely put together more highlights at the beginning of camp, but Coach Marrone admitted that Kolb had seen more difficult defensive packages. All this makes it very hard to judge exactly who is ahead and who is falling behind. We may not know the answer

Buffalo Bills QB E.J. Maneul Has A Solid Start In First NFL Scrimmage

PITTSFORD, N.Y. EJ Manuel got off to a sloppy start in the Buffalo Bills' 90-minute scrimmage Monday night. He made up for it with a big finish.
Then again, the Bills' new-look, aggressive defense had something to do with the early problems for the rookie quarterback. And they played without defensive end Mario Williams, who was held out to rest a sore left foot.
Manuel threw two interceptions on his first eight attempts, before closing with two touchdowns, and scoring another on a 1-yard run.
"I felt like I didn't start out how I wanted to, obviously," said Manuel, whose first throw was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by cornerback Leodis McKelvin. "The biggest thing for me was just to show that I could fight back, move past it. Obviously, it's not going to be the last interception I throw in my career."
The scrimmage was held 10 days into training camp in suburban Rochester, and in advance of the Bills' preseason opener at Indianapolis on Sunday.
By unofficial count, because the team did not release statistics, Manuel completed 9 of 17 attempts for 113 yards. He threw a perfectly placed 27-yard fade to T.J. Graham in the left corner of the end zone for his first touchdown. Manuel then hit Drew Smith on a 10-yard fade in just about the same spot for his second score.
The downside came on the interceptions. Manuel misread which way receiver Robert Woods was going to cut, allowing McKelvin to jump the route. On his next interception, Manuel's pass was batted at the line, and the ball fell into the hands of linebacker Arthur Moats.
Manuel appeared flustered at times by the various pass-rushing formations in new coordinator Mike Pettine's scheme. Rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso stopped Manuel for what would've been a loss, while tackles Marcell Dareus and Jay Ross were effective in stuffing the run in goal-line situations.
"I'm pleased with it," coach Doug Marrone said, assessing Manuel's performance and progress. "I was really looking to see how he bounced back from that because early on, you want to see that. I thought he bounced back well."
Marrone was most impressed with how Manuel handled himself during a 2-minute session. He orchestrated a seven-play, 75-yard drive capped by Tashard Choice's 1-yard plunge with 20 seconds remaining. Manuel hit 2 of 3 attempts, including a perfectly placed 15-yard strike to Woods' back shoulder.
Selected 16th overall out of Florida State, ee-agent addition Kevin Kolb to win the starting job out of training camp.Manuel was the only quarterback to go in the first round of this year's draft. He is competing with veteran fr
Manuel had the benefit of working exclusively with the first-team offense after Kolb was excused earlier in the day following a death in his family.
Kolb also missed practice on Sunday after he hurt his left knee slipping on a wet mat during practice a day earlier. Marrone said there was a chance Kolb would've been cleared for the scrimmage.
For Manuel, it was an inconsistent performance that served as a reminder of how much work is still ahead of him.
"I think overall, just continue to get better every day," Manuel said. "Even though you face some adversity, sometimes I feel like you could still learn from those things and still get better from them."
On the upside, McKelvin's interception continued what's been a solid camp for the sixth-year player competing for a starting job.
"Hey, it's great to have the first touchdown of the day," McKelvin said. "It is important. I'm very confident in myself, and I'm ready to go out there and make plays, and confident in myself to win this job."
Receiver Marquise Goodwin, a rookie third-round pick, made several acrobatic catches. His first came on a 45-yard pass from Jeff Tuel, when he showed off his speed to beat cornerback T.J. Heath.
Tuel, an undrafted rookie, had a solid outing against Buffalo's second- and third-string defenses. He also made a great throw across his body to hit a wide-open Da'Rick Rogers for a 48-yard catch.
NOTES: WR Stevie Johnson (left hamstring) did not scrimmage. DT Kyle Williams, coming off offseason foot surgery, was held out as a precaution. ... Undrafted rookie DT Aaron Tipoti did not return after hurting his right ankle in a goal-line drill. ... Marrone reintroduced the scrimmage to training camp after his two most recent predecessors — Chan Gailey and Dick Jauron — were against lengthy full-contact sessions.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/05/4216040/bills-qb-manuel-shakes-off-bad.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/05/4216040/bills-qb-manuel-shakes-off-bad.html#storylink=cpy

Buffalo Bills WR Stevie Johnson Hamstring Injury

The Buffalo Bills have an issue at wide receiver.

Stevie Johnson pulled up limping at practice Friday with what coach Doug Marrone labeled a hamstring injury. NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported that Johnson was getting an MRI on the hamstring.
"He's going to get evaluated, and it's always tough when those situations happen," Marrone told reporters, via the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. "It would be a major concern if we were talking about it during the season. Right now, a veteran player who has proved himself, we'll just see what the doctors say, it is what it is and we'll deal with it from there."
Hamstring injuries can be tricky -- of the nagging variety -- and we don't expect the Bills to push Johnson back too soon. He's spent most of camp assuming the Bills' slot position, with T.J. Graham and rookie Robert Woods lining up outside in three-receiver sets. In two-man alignments, Johnson has been positioned outside as the team's No. 1 target, meaning he'll see action all over the field in 2013.

It's not Johnson's first setback. He missed a handful of offseason practices with a slight fracture to his L-5 vertebra. As EJ Manuel edges closer to the starting quarterback job, the rookie passer needs Johnson and the rest of the Bills' weaponry healthy and able in time for Week 1.

Buffalo Bills "New High Octane Offense"

(AP Photo/Bill Wippert, File)

The Buffalo Bills are trying to remake their entire offensive philosophy in one season by bringing in a lot of new players, including a hopeful franchise quarterback, and new coaches. Now head coach Doug Marrone and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett get to bring the Bills offense to show some level of potency in a now offensive driven league.
Marrone and Hackett have been coaching together the past three seasons down the I-90 in Syracuse as they led a rehabilitation project for the Orange. The offense they oversaw was a hybrid concept that saw the Orange move into a no huddle pistol based formation under senior quarterback Ryan Nassib after running a primarily traditional pro set the years prior. Will the Bills run this same style of offense? That has yet to be seen, though it has been alluded too with the type of players brought in and in comments by both Marrone and Hackett. Though the important features fans should look for is not on scheme but more on concepts as the Bills open training camp on Sunday.
Tempo is a big buzz word that’s been used from the coaching staff all offseason and that decrease in time between plays has been evident in mini camps thus far. The Syracuse offense averaged 79 plays per game, which wasn’t even tops in the NCAA, but would have been in the NFL. That number beat out the New England Patriots by five plays per game if all things were equal. Some of the explanation for the extra plays can be contributed to clock stoppage after a first down rule in college. Though the total number is not the sole focus, it’s the pace at which the Orange played at. In total Syracuse average a play snapped every 22 seconds.
The comparison to the tempo of last year’s Bills can be considered laughable. Last year the Bills averaged 59 offensive plays per game, that’s a 20 play differential between the two offenses! The reality is that the Bills will not increase their offensive plays per game by those 20 plays, but a more realistic projection would be around 67-69 plays a game which is still an 8-10 play increase.
Those extra plays will have to be divided up between run and passes and again the tendency for Marrone & Hackett is to keep the ball on the ground more times than not. Syracuse called run plays 54% of the time, conversely the Chan Gailey Bills called pass plays at that same rate. If the Bills average 67 plays a game this year that would give Marrone 35 run plays to divvy up between CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson, versus Gailey and his 27 plays on the ground. Even the results of the runs were greater under Marrone’s offense as running backs averaged 5 yards per carry where as last year the Bills could only muster 4.4 ypc, and that’s with CJ Spiller averaging the NFL’s 2nd best yards per carry at 6 a run.
The upswing in statistics don’t end their either as this year’s offense should have more down field throws. Syracuse averaged 8 yards per reception compared to the Bills 6.7. With the speed receivers the Bills have brought in the past two years expect more posts and deep fly patterns rather than the slants and quick outs that were constantly called a year ago.
In total the average play the Bills hope to gain this year will average around 6 yards versus the 5.6 averaged last year. That extra half yard with the additional eight plays may not seem like much, but could amount to being the difference between a first down or a