During training camp, teams can get a pretty good gauge on how their passing games look with with receivers running every type of route and quarterbacks having to make all different kinds of throws against live coverage.
However, one aspect of offensive football in training camp that gets lost in the mix is the running game.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and his Buffalo Bills are looking forward to seeing how the offensive backfield and offensive line looks in live action against another team. Buffalo will face the Washington Redskins Thursday in the teams' first preseason game of the season.
"I think the running game is always something, just preseason in general because it is so hard to gauge that stuff out here," Fitzpatrick told reporters Tuesday. "Rarely are we live (tackling) and our backs are so good in terms of breaking tackles.
"The linemen can not cut blocks so there is a lot of stuff in the run game that we do not get to see on the practice field but you hope it comes to provision during these preseason games."
The Bills mostly know what they have in running backs Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller, but Jackson is returning from the injury, and the not-quite-set offensive line needs all the practice it can get.
"That will be something we are watching for sure and then the other thing is just some of the younger guys," Fitzpatrick continued, "getting them out there and seeing how they react to playing under the lights and all of that but it is always interesting; the first game."
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