By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
For first-year Bears coach Ben Johnson, it’s not a question of if — but rather merely how long?
Last week he made it clear that for the second NFL preseason game against the Bills at Soldier Field (Sunday, 8 o’clock, Fox-TV, Bills radio network), his starters would … start.
The only question was for how long, his answer to which was, “It remains to be seen.”
It’s a bit different for the Bills (0-1), who lost their opener, 34-25 last Sunday in Orchard Park.
And the reason is, Buffalo has the advantage of a joint practice against the Bears on Friday, where quarterbacks wore red jerseys for protection and both teams got valuable repetition.
Thus, Bills coach Sean McDermott can be more circumspect about who he plays tonight and why it’s unlikely we’ll see quarterback Josh Allen whom the coach has joked, “I’d like to keep him in a bubble.”
“I would just tell you, I’ve gotta get through this practice, go back to the hotel … go through the injury report and then reset the table for the game,” McDermott said on Friday. “In Josh’s case, (we’re) really using practice to see where he’s at and how he feels. I’m giving him some ownership as well, which I think is important. He knows by now what he needs to be ready.”
The one thing Allen hasn’t gotten is time with healthy receivers, though some of the injured wideouts have returned.
Bills running back James Cook will be available if needed for this preseason game against the Bears after he warmed up for the first preseason game against the Giants, but did not play.”If you study hold-ins over the years, it’s not good for teams in terms of records and things,” McDermott said referencing Cook. “So, the sooner we could get things done, the more satisfied I was going to be. Certainly understanding things take some time. But, part of my job is to limit and eliminate distractions for our football team.”
As for the joint practice he added, “It’s usually about this time of training camp where guys get tired of beating on each other, and sometimes with that, either fights break out or the intensity dips a little bit, so it’s a good time and place for us to go against another opponent, especially on the road,” McDermott said. “In doing so, we come together a little more as a team, hang out a little more over the course of the trip, and then we can see where we’re at a little bit more as a team.”
McDermott said during training camp in Pittsford that he was looking for a more physical team and the team responding accordingly. Now, he wants for the team to “get more crusty.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
