Observations from the Hall of Fame Game

People were excited that football was back and sat down yesterday and tuned into some of the Hall of Fame game. They probably watched the first couple series and then became uninterested when the starters were pulled. I don't blame you as some of the play of the 2 and 3 stringers can lack fundamentals and makes the game not move smoothly. But, as a Bills fan I sat down and watched most of the game yesterday and came away with some quick observations for both teams.

Buffalo Bills Observations:

   

•    I believe the Bills player who showed me the most yesterday was rookie tackle Seantrel Henderson who was a seventh round pick out of the University of Miami. Now Henderson's talent was never really a question as he was highly sought out of highschool by many powerhouse colleges. But, throughout his career at Miami he was suspended 3 times for incidents that were marijuana related and that is why he fell to a seventh round pick. Back to yesterday's game, I thought he did a really solid job in pass protection including keeping Jason Pierre-Paul in check and easily handling the backups. He is fighting for a spot on that line and with last nights performance he should move up on the coaches radar.
•    Quarterback EJ Manuel played a couple of series and his trouble was with getting passes batted down at the line as three of his seven passing attempts were knocked down at the line; and one other incompletion should have been picked by the Giants. He will fix that problem as the preseason moves along. 
•    The defensive line starters had a couple nice series including Kyle Williams forcing a fumble and Keith Rivers recovering after Mario Williams and Jerry Hughes got good pressure off the edge.
•    As far as the receivers go much hyped up rookie Sammy Watkins played one series and his one target was overthrown by Manuel. Mike Williams a guy they brought in this offseason had one nice catch and run on a screen pass. Second year man Robert Woods ran a couple of good routes on Giants CB Walter Thurmond and added a TD catch on a fourth and goal play. Finally TJ Graham, showed some strong hands and good fight on one catch when he dragged a couple defenders for a first down.

New York Giants Observations:

•    The thing I noticed most on the Giants side of the ball yesterday was the good running from Rashad Jennings, rookie Andre Williams, and Peyton Hillis. All three of these guys can bruise defenders and fight for extra yards, especially Hillis who is always running over defenders. Andre Williams had a handful of good runs including one for a TD. And Rashad Jennings showed good hands out of the backfield on a few screen plays which he is looking to stay on track with after he caught 36 passes last year with the Raiders. 
•    Eli Manning was solid in his first appearance as he completed a lot of short and intermediate routes finishing 6/7 for 43 yards. Backup QB Ryan Nassib looked a little shaky going 7/12 for 139 yards, as he tried to squeeze some balls into windows that just were not open. One of these included a inexcusable interception that was picked off by rookie LB Preston Brown. But he did throw a 73 yard TD pass to Corey Washington that ended up being the game winning score.
•    On the defensive side of things I saw some good pressure put on the QB by second year DT John Hankins out of Ohio State. Also, Prince Amukamura looked pretty solid in coverage in the few series that he played. 

Those are some of the things I observed yesterday let me know if you saw anything different or agree/disagree with my observations. And remember stay tuned as I begin 32 teams in 32 days today with the Arizona Cardinals. Check it out for my thoughts on the team and their outlook, it will be posted later tonight.