It looked like it was a packed house for the last preseason game at the ‘old’ Highmark Stadium on Saturday afternoon… assuming the new stadium is finished and ready to go by preseason next year. Brian Daboll brought his New York Giants to Orchard Park and defeated the Bills 34-25 in a game that featured backup quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky and Mike White. Josh Allen was rightfully sidelined for the meaningless game.
What wasn’t meaningless was the knowledge we gained about Buffalo’s depth and a good look at some rookies, especially on defense. There were also some veterans looking to secure roster spots as well; DE Justin Hollins (#52), WR Kristian Wilkerson (#82) and S Darrick Forrest (#28) all had impressive outings.
Trubisky played the first half and had the benefit of a starting offensive line in front of him, so it’s a bit unfair to compare their stat lines, though they ended up almost identical; Trubisky 9/13 for 138 yards, White 8/13 for 112 yards. Both looked solid in their respective performances, but no one would accuse either one of being an adequate replacement for Josh Allen. There is no replacing Josh Allen. Trubisky probably had the better outing, but the difference was not substantial. They mentioned on the broadcast the Bills will likely keep both quarterbacks anyway, so it’s only a matter of determining which of the two will be the official back up.
If this game was supposed to give Buffalo fans a sense of comfort about the one thing they needed to fix… third down on both offense and defense… this game did little to quell the heartburn. However, the primary objective of the preseason is to evaluate players, so I rarely get too worked up over what I see during preseason games.
The one player I was most excited to watch was undrafted free agent offensive lineman C Jacob Bayer. Jacob was noted by many at training camp as a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, the only thing we will remember Bayer for in this game was a high snap that resulted in lost fumble.
On defense, outside of problems on third down, there were clear signs of progress on the defensive line. Rookies TJ Sandler and Deone Walker both had strong performances. Landon Jackson did as well, but did take an untimely penalty negating a turnover by S Jordan Hancock.
The Bills’ first team offensive line looked solid in front of Trubisky. It was nice to see RT Spencer Brown out there doing his thing and of course Dion being Dion. Farther down the depth chart there were times the offensive line looked disjointed but that is to be expected in the first preseason game.
Notable Performances
We’ve almost come to expect our homie LB Joe Andreessen to wow the crowd and he did not disappoint. When Andreessen tackles an opponent, you know they are going to feel it the next day. But ‘Buffalo Joe’ is also a very cerebral player with great instincts. I’m less concerned if Terrel Bernard sustains an injury than in previous years.
The other players in my notes who had solid performances were CB Te’Cory Couch, CB Dorian Strong and LB Jimmy Ciarlo.
Next Up
The second preseason game will be at the Chicago Bears on Sunday, August 17th at 8 p.m. ET.
Editor’s babble: You can also find me blabbering on Xwitter @RobynMundyWYO.
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