OT Ed Wang had surgery on his hand, and is out indefinitely. The rookie struggled early in training camp handling edge rushers."Any guy that misses time as a rookie...The only guys that can kind of weather that storm is a vet, a guy that's been around five or six years and has got his position firmly entrenched. It's hard," said coach Chan Gailey.
--And the winner is ... Trent Edwards.
It was no surprise that Edwards was named the No. 1 quarterback to open training camp, and he himself figured he was going to get the nod.
"I was pretty confident that I would be the guy and I'm hoping to be the guy at the end of this camp," said the fourth-year veteran who has underwhelmed Bills fans for most of that time. "Honestly it just means I'm working with the ones right now. I still have a lot to learn, a long way to go, but I must be doing something right in the OTAs and mini-camps. It's nice that you're appreciated for what you've done, but that's in the past now."
New coach Chan Gailey used the OTAs as a measuring stick to determine who would be the top guy on the depth chart.
"After evaluating all the OTA and mini-camp things, we just felt that Trent deserved to start training camp with the first group," Gailey said. "He made a lot more plays that we thought were positive plays during the course of the OTAs and mini-camps. He did a good job of handling the team, he did a good job when he had the threes as well as when he had the ones, and that was impressive to me that he was able to do that with whoever he was throwing with."
--Like most coaches, Chan Gailey has a disdain for pre-snap penalties, and he let that be known to his team.
"Don't accept it," Gailey said when asked his reaction to those penalties. "We work on it every day. We talk about it every day. I make it a point every day. I don't have any magic wand, I don't have any pixie dust. We're going to work on it every day. We make it a point of emphasis. Guys generally will respond to things you make a point of emphasis of."
Always talkative safety George Wilson is fine with wearing pads in practice.
"We're definitely going to get a lot of work in pads because coach Gailey is trying to change the culture around here, change the mindset and attitudes and the way we prepare for games. He's trying to set the tone from day one. I think the guys in the locker room kind of expect to be in pads just about every day we come out here. It's a different change-up from what we've had but hey, the past 10-12 years for this organization haven't been working so hey, let's give this a try."
--The Bills waived second-year LB Nic Harris and signed LB Donovan Woods. What's interesting about Woods, who earned a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in 2008, is that he began his career as a quarterback at Oklahoma State and set a school record for touchdown passes by a freshman with 13 in 2005. Midway through his sophomore year he was switched to safety, where he finished his career. He was then moved to linebacker by the Steelers and now he will try to play that role in Buffalo's 3-4 defense.
--Gailey has made the offensive linemen wear knee braces in practice, and there's no getting out of it.
"I've done it for many, many years," Gailey said. "I've seen too many times where that saved an injury on the practice field. It's just made all the difference in the world. It's hugely important."
Gailey said the linemen complained a bit, but not much.
"They don't like it, but they're smart enough to understand why. And with all the injuries we've had around here, they weren't quite as reluctant."
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