Buffalo's ‘dull' training camp is exactly what the Bills want

New York Times

a day ago

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — The connotation is understood.
Dull = flawed.
Nobody wants a dull moment or a dull blade. We loathe spending time with dullards. The saying 'dull as ditchwater' is no compliment.
But with the Buffalo Bills, dull is not a four-letter word. Dull is a good thing. They embrace dull. They like dull.
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'We just try to avoid drama and play ball,' Bills center Connor McGovern said.
McGovern knows all about NFL soap operas. He spent his first three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, a team with an owner/general manager who enjoys wallowing in theatrical distractions. Jerry Jones seems to think it's amusing that superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons has gone public with his disdain for management. Parsons wants out. Jones simply embraces whatever headlines come.
The Bills' most challenging issues, meanwhile, are relatively boring.
Running back James Cook wants a new contract and decided not to practice Sunday, but his leverage flex has been more like a muscle twitch. Cook arrived smiling, declared he wanted to be a good teammate and fully participated in the first eight practices. He very well might be back on the field Monday morning.
This is as scandalous as the Bills have gotten. 'Hark Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills' producers must've been thrilled to stumble into decent material in time for Tuesday night's debut episode of HBO's reality sports series. Until Sunday, it appeared Cook wouldn't exploit the opportunity as some expected.
I asked Bills general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott for their visceral reaction to the idea that their team is dull.
Beane pumped both fists. A wide smile crossed McDermott's face.
'Isn't it hard enough to be successful without nonsense getting in the way?' McDermott said.
What a distant shout from the Bickering Bills or the days when Terrell Owens arrived as the star of his own reality show and Buffalo's mayor gave him a key to the city before he played a down here or Marcell Dareus drag racing his Jaguar into a tree and the Mongolian Buffet on McKinley Parkway.
No black clouds hover over these Bills. No doom swirls, unlike with other teams.
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Buffalo's chief anxiety has been a rash of injuries. There've been manifold, but the lengthy list contains nothing fearsome so far.
Major scares have turned out to be inconveniences.
First-round draft choice Maxwell Hairston suffered a noncontact knee injury last week that looked dire as top cornerback Christian Benford affectionately prayed into Hairston's ear. Fans feared the worst. Then we learned Hairston merely had an LCL sprain — not great, but also not devastating. Hairston might be ready by opening day.
Early in camp, receiver Tyrell Shavers was carted off the field in a scene that looked season-ending. He was back a few days later and practicing full go.
Aside from Cook, the top camp storylines include whether Hairston can defeat veteran Tre'Davious White for the starting job opposite Benford, who will be the second-string quarterback, backup offensive lineman Alec Anderson getting kicked out of practice delivering a cheap shot to undrafted rookie Hayden Harris (already released), and whether tight end Dalton Kincaid and sophomore receiver Keon Coleman can have bounce-back seasons.
This is what happens when organizations have their franchise quarterback, when they emphasize character and stability. The entire offensive line is intact. Concerns over whether Josh Allen has enough weapons were allayed last year when he won the MVP Award while throwing passes to a collection of interchangeable parts. Recent media coverage has included such lusty topics as McGovern entering the final year of his contract and who will emerge as core-four special teamers.
I asked a guy whose last name actually has the word 'dull' in it what he thought. Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure's two teams were the Bills and the Cleveland Browns, perhaps the NFL's biggest clusterfudge outfit.
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'I'm glad the Bills are boring,' DeLamielleure said. 'The media in this country overdoes it, and that can be a distraction. But they got a good thing going, and Josh knows how to handle it.'
Remember three years ago, when Allen mentioned the St. John Fisher University turkey burger and the media went into a frenzied overdrive to cover what turned out to be a very ordinary sammidge? That happened during the Stefon Diggs era. Camp is duller than even that now.
Signage this year at St. John Fisher and the 'Hard Knocks' promotional poster feature the reigning MVP, his Pro Bowl left tackle and five guys whom you'd need to be a Bills fan to recognize.
At the Overlook Hotel, training camp home of the Torrance family in the 1980 psychological horror film 'The Shining,' we learned about the saying 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'
Jack Torrance typed it over and over and over and over, conveying that being dull was something to abhor.
Jerry Jones seems to agree.
The Bills will take boring over bickering, and they'll let the Cowboys drive the ratings.