Lake Forest, Ill. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – The Buffalo Bills and Bears held a joint practice Friday that lasted about two hours and 20 minutes at Chicago’s Halas Hall practice facility.
Here are my Arrows Up and Down from the session:
Photo credit Kamil Krzaczynski – Imagn Images
ARROW UP:
Bishop and Rapp together
Safeties Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp, who have both missed a significant time with injuries, were back together on the field for the entire practice on Friday. That’s a really encouraging sign, and important for their time on task.
Bills’ physicality
The Bears have been very intentional about being really physical this training camp. Reports were they really took it to the Miami Dolphins in the joint practice last week.
I asked a Bears reporter to compare what he saw then and what he saw Friday against the Bills. He said the Bills matched the physicality and energy of Chicago, and even surpassed it at times.
Run defense
The Bills did an excellent job defending the Bears’ run game. They really flew to the football and got physical between the tackles. A couple went for big yards, but mostly Chicago was held down.
WR – Elijah Moore
Moore was on the receiving end of several Josh Allen passes. A couple went for big gains, including a short pass and long run where Moore slipped through several defenders.
LB – Matt Milano
Milano may have had the defensive play of the day when it appeared he was too far away to get to a Bears receiver who had sat down in the hole in the zone. But Milano’s instincts and athleticism got him there quickly to knock it away at the last possible moment.
Pass rush
The Bills’ pass rush really came alive, especially as the session went on. Defenders were around Caleb Williams and other Bears quarterbacks quite a bit, forcing sacks or getting them to flea the pocket.
DE – Joey Bosa
Bosa was in on several pressures and, most likely, would have been credited with multiple sacks.
TE – Dawson Knox
Knox was a favorite and consistent target for Allen. He made catches, and even added some run-after-catch opportunities for nice gains.
WR – Keon Coleman
Coleman caught two touchdown passes on the day.
One came in red zone work, when he got to the front edge of the end zone and Allen hit him for a toe-tap touchdown.
Then he absolutely cooked a Bears defender off the line of scrimmage. Allen saw him breaking free, and threw it deep for a long six points.
Gunner Tyrell Shavers
During a punt drill, Shavers was double-teamed as the gunner, but physically beat one man and then slid under the other to be the first down to the ball.
His teammates went absolutely crazy for him on the sidelines, and he even flexed to the crowd afterward.
Gunner Ja’Marcus Ingram
Ingram was the defender against a Bears gunner and absolutely locked him up on the sidelines.
Once again, Bills teammates let everyone know by hooting and hollering.
Red zone offense
For the most part, the Bills looked really sharp in the red zone, both running the ball and throwing it.
WR – Stephen Gosnell
Gosnell gets limited opportunities, but seems to make the most of them, and had several nice catches on the day.
K – Caden Davis
With Tyler Bass still out, Davis continues to get work as the place kicker. He looked to be perfect, from my angle, on every kick during the field goal period, including a 50-yard strike.
Photo credit Tina MacIntyre-Yee – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via Imagn Images
ARROW DOWN:
Pass coverage
While the pass rush looked good, the coverage on the backend wasn’t as much.
The Bears had too many receivers open, and the Bills gave up too many catches and runs-after-catches.
CB – Tre’Davious White
White was beaten on more than one occasion, including a catch across the middle that tuned into a long touchdown run after the catch.
CB – Ja’Marcus Ingram
Ingram also had a couple plays where he was beaten, including one down the sideline where he was called for a pass interference and also gave up the long catch.
TE – Zach Davidson
Davidson had a drop of a pass, and later caught one, but fumbled the ball that was picked up for a Bears defensive touchdown.
QB – Mike White
White missed a few throws that could have gone for excellent yardage, and also tossed a really bad interception right to a defender.
Batted balls
The Bears defense batted multiple balls at the line of scrimmage, including two thrown by Allen very early on. One was eventually picked off after going up in the air.
Photo credit Outlet Liquor