Bills
Bills P Sam Martin knows that things are always changing for an NFL punter, as he went from being on the Broncos to replacing P Matt Araiza in Buffalo.
“Just stay ready. You never know what’s going to happen,” Martin said, via the Buffalo News. “Getting here in Week 1 is something I’ve never experienced or been a part of. I’m just kind of learning as we go. It’s a short week for us to get together, but it’s been good so far. Everyone has been awesome. You just kind of got to roll with the punches and do what you can to make the best of it.”
Martin also talked about the Buffalo weather being a factor for a punter.
“Obviously, it’s something you think about when you come here, especially as a punter,” Martin added. “It’s one of those things – it is a challenge. You’ve just got to accept it and treat it as an opportunity. Anything like that, it’s perception. It’s not easy, it’s not going to be easy, but I look at it as a challenge. I’m up for it. I’m excited about it. If you can punt in Buffalo, really you can punt anywhere. Rather than being concerned about it, you’ve got to almost get excited about it and get excited about conquering it.”
Dolphins
Former Vikings GM Rick Spielman had the opportunity to observe Dolphins training camp and how new HC Mike McDaniel is catering things around QB Tua Tagovailoa in a big year for the former first-round pick.
“What they’re doing with Tua is a lot of things that he did in college, which was interesting,” Spielman said via PFF’s Doug Kyed. “He’s basically trying to make quick decisions, get the ball out of his hands, get the ball into the playmakers’ hands and let them go do their deal. That’s why they get paid to make plays. So I think Tua is going to have a potential breakout year.”
Spielman adds the Dolphins have tried to eliminate plays where Tagovailoa is “just dropping back in a pocket and trying to go through progression read 1, 2 and 3.” Instead they’re asking him to be a distributor to Miami’s speedy and talented playmakers, much like another former McDaniel quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo.
“It was almost like he was a point guard on the basketball team,” Spielman said. “He was doing the RPOs and then he’s dishing the ball out. … He has the playmakers at running back, receiver and tight end to get the ball out, and it looks like they’re really honed in on him not having to sit there and go through a bunch of reads and progressions. This is a play, let’s run this, get the ball out, get it into playmakers’ hands. Let’s go.”
Spielman says if he was running the Dolphins, he would treat this as a prove-it year for Tagovailoa as well.
“(The 2023 QB class) is going to put them in decision-making mode,” Spielman said. “’Are we going to commit franchise-type money to this quarterback or are we just going to go out and get one of these young ones that are coming out in the draft?’ Neither of them would make a commitment. ‘We evaluate everything every year.’ Typical GM answer that I used to give.”
Jets
- SNY’s Connor Hughes reports Jets LT Duane Brown (shoulder) missed the last two days of practice and is currently being “evaluated.”
Patriots
Patriots QB Mac Jones doesn’t think they’ll have any changes to the effectiveness of their offense following the departure of Josh McDaniels.
“I think nothing changes,” Jones said, via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald. “We have a bunch of really smart, not only players, but football coaches. I think that’s something we’ve done a good job of, coming together… Just coming to a middle ground, and going out there and executing. I think the really good teams do that, and the really good quarterbacks do that. They understand what the play is designed for. If they have any questions, they get them answered and then go out and execute the plays. That’s kind of what I want to do.”
Jones feels that their offense still has plays they can use from last season.
“I think there’s plays that you revert back to, that we have a lot of banked reps on, whether that be in OTAs or training camp, or last year, whatever it may be. We have good experience in our room on the offensive side of the ball. We have plays we really like. We just have to execute them against a really good defense.”
Jones added that he’s “really pleased” with their offense’s development this offseason.
“I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve made, especially in the past couple of weeks,” Jones said. “We just have to put it onto the field.”
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