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NFL: BILLS: Jauron Satisfied with Progress of First Camp

/noticias.info/ Chris Brown, Lead Journalist – buffalobills.com

With the Bills' first minicamp in the books under Dick Jauron, Buffalo's new head coach was generally content with what the players accomplished over the three days of workouts.

"It went pretty well, but we have a long way to go obviously," said Jauron. "We got it started with the on the field team type of work. They got a better feel for how to practice because there's an art to that. It's hard to practice fast and hard, but protecting each other as much as possible without pads. Every day they did better. They worked hard so we're very satisfied with the effort. We just have a long way to go technique-wise and system-wise."

After two on-field scraps during practice Saturday, Jauron did take time after the session to remind his players that they need everyone to be successful this season.

"The message is we are a team," Jauron said. "Everybody that is in this business is highly competitive and the players are the most competitive of everybody. It's hard to back them off because you don't want to back them off too much. You don't want a walk-through. You've got to practice hard to improve. There's a fine line in there and you don't want them to cross the line. We practice in a way that gives us the best chance to win. In order to have the best chance to win you've got to be disciplined. If we lose a player in a brawl or a fight on game day that's not giving us the best chance to win. If we get penalized it's not giving us the best chance. If we lose a player in practice it's not giving us the best chance. The players are aware of it."

Bills strength and conditioning coordinator J.T. Allaire got the players off on the right foot with respect to their flexibility, stamina, strength and endurance in the first camp. Following this on-field camp, the offseason conditioning program will continue next week and beyond. Jauron is expecting a high level of participation at the facility.

"We're just turning the corner and going into our fourth week," said Jauron. "Most of our people will be here as they've been so far. Some of them have reasons why they won't be here. We've had a tremendous turnout for our offseason program and it continues this week and then they'll have the long Easter weekend off."

QB Shuffle
Once again the offensive staff made sure to rotate all three quarterbacks through in 7-on-7 and team reps. However, after each signal caller got a couple of reps with the first team offense, Kelly Holcomb got the lion's share of the remaining first team work.

J.P. Losman and Craig Nall had their moments, but they still went second (Losman) and third (Nall) in the rotation through most of the workout.


Where's Willis?
Jauron was hoping to get running back Willis McGahee in for the last three practice sessions of the voluntary camp on Saturday and Sunday, but he never made it Orchard Park this weekend.

"We'll expect him in the next camp," said Jauron of McGahee. "Willis did a terrific job in the 10 days he was here early. We love Willis, we'd just love him a little more if he had been here. We know he's down there working, we'd just like to get him with our team and working with the guys when he can make it. These are voluntary."

Everett's status
Kevin Everett was expected to fully participate in this April camp, but was sidelined the entire weekend due to injury.

"He had done a nice job in some of our on field work prior to this camp and unfortunately aggravated a groin," said Jauron. "He was disappointed and we were disappointed and as soon as he heals he'll get back out there working."

Jauron says he expects Everett to fully participate in the next minicamp in early May.

As far as the other players who did not participate in this camp that were in attendance, Jauron said the majority of them were held out as a precaution due to offseason surgeries.

Those players who were spectators over the weekend were Troy Vincent, Kevin Thomas, Jon Goldsberry, Greg Jerman (Sat. & Sun.) and Ryan Neufeld.

Bennie Anderson twisted an ankle early in Sunday's workout and was held out for the remainder of the session. Duke Preston replaced him as the starting left guard in team work.

"We wanted to see Duke a little more so it was probably a good thing anyway," said Jauron. "Anderson's injury is not serious."

The Comeback
One of the other veterans not in attendance was Takeo Spikes who continues to rehab his repaired Achilles tendon at his Georgia home. Jauron provided an outline of what's expected in Spikes' journey back to the field of play.

"Our plan is to take it very slow with him through the offseason and right into training camp," said Jauron. "We'll proceed cautiously and slowly. We've sat down and talked about it a great deal. We'll see how he's doing. He's doing really well with his rehab so we think he's right on course and we're counting on him to play. We do have a plan, but we do intend to take it very slow."

Other veterans not in attendance were Nate Clements and long snapper Mike Schneck. notas_de_prensa_archivo