Bills Camp — Aug 23: Kyle Allen Presses His Case at 24 of 28

Kyle Allen went 10 of 12 for 128 yards and a touchdown in one half of Saturday's 31 to 7 win in Cleveland, and his two-exhibition line now reads 24 of 28 for 236 yards by Sal Maiorana's count at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle — enough for Maiorana to write that the backup job behind Josh Allen is locked up. Ralph Ventre at Bills On SI is not ready to call it, because Shane Buechele answered in the second half with 5 of 10 for 111 yards, a 71-yard touchdown to wide receiver Ja'Mori Maclin, and a rushing score of his own. Two reporters watched the same game and filed opposite verdicts on the same competition, which is about the best advertisement a preseason quarterback derby can run one week before rosters cut to 53.

The honest sticker price on all of it: this was backups against backups. Joe Brady sat Josh Allen and essentially every starter on both sides — the head coach told his team the decision would ride on Thursday's joint practice, per Ventre, and after it he judged that "I feel like they got the work they needed." Cleveland countered with Shedeur Sanders and its own reserves, per Maiorana, and the whole thing paused for an hour of lightning four snaps in. Within that frame the depth still did what you want depth to do. Ray Davis punched in a one-yard touchdown and added a 12-yard punt return in a return job that remains contested, and DeWayne Carter put three tackles and a batted pass on his roster tape, per Maiorana, who also notes the left guard battle between Alec Anderson and Austin Corbett is still undecided. The reserve defense forced four three-and-outs and took the ball away twice, on interceptions by safety Damar Hamlin and corner Te'Cory Couch, while allowing one scoring drive, per the team's site. One subtraction landed on the same cutdown math: Maiorana reported defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis is facing a three-game suspension.

The starters' actual game this week was Thursday in Berea. Jim Leonhard, the first-year coordinator whose defense is the thing this season will be graded on, set his terms in advance, per Sal Capaccio at WGR 550: "No. 1 is the physicality." The team's own notebook, from Maddy Glab, logged a two-way day — Jordan Hancock intercepted a pass, Maxwell Hairston broke one up and Greg Rousseau stacked two sacks, while across from them Josh Allen threw two touchdowns each to tight ends Jackson Hawes and Dalton Kincaid, one of them a 55-yarder in the two-minute drill, with Joshua Palmer a repeat red-zone target. Both sides kept it clean, no fights. A team site grading its own practice earns a grain of salt, but the shape of the report — Allen carving up a real opponent, the new defense finishing plays against one — matches what outside eyes have said about this camp for a month.

The injury file is where the week got expensive. Keon Coleman, who caught a touchdown against Carolina eight days ago, spent this week in a walking boot on his right foot — 13WHAM's Dan Fetes spotted it Tuesday, and NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe reported it as a sprained foot that will cost him practice time, with the September 13 opener against Houston now a genuine question and only the mild comfort that practice video showed him moving reasonably well. DJ Moore went the other direction: back in full gear Tuesday from his own ankle scare, with Brady calling it nothing serious and Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic putting it at "No missed time for him, it appears." The new names are the quieter worry. Khalil Shakir and defensive tackle Ed Oliver both dropped off the practice field this week — first flagged Tuesday by ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg and Mike Moraitis at Bills On SI, still out Thursday in Berea — and Brady declined to attach diagnoses, per John Green at Bills On SI: "Those were injury related," followed by a taxonomy rather than an answer — "there's so many different variables... with a hamstring or groin or ankle or toe." Beyond them, the Berea out list still carried Skyler Bell, Ty Johnson, rookie safety Jalon Kilgore, Connor McGovern and C.J. Gardner-Johnson — the last a name that had come off this list earlier in August and is back on it without explanation, per Green.

Back in July we previewed Buffalo as the team that made the strangest firing of the offseason — trading a known defensive floor for Leonhard's theoretical ceiling — and we've been checking that preview against camp every week since. The check keeps returning the same split answer: every unit of evidence the new defense produces is encouraging, and almost none of it has come against starters in a game, while the receiving corps that was supposed to be the offense's upgrade keeps donating names to the injury report. One more check to come before the season answers it for real.

What to watch next: whether Coleman and Shakir practice again before the roster cuts to 53 on Sunday, August 30, and which of Kyle Allen and Buechele survives that day's quarterback call — or whether both do. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._