The Buffalo Bills will play their second of three preseason games Saturday night in Pittsburgh when they take on the Steelers.
After a 33-6 beatdown at the hands of the Chicago Bears, there will be a lot to watch for in terms of how these fringe roster players bounce back from a rough outing. Overall, though, here are the biggest things to keep an eye on.
Wide receiver battle
The Bills wide receiver room will look different on Saturday than it did a week ago on the field. Buffalo has added veterans Deon Cain and Damiere Byrd as free agent signings and waived Chase Claypool after he went on IR with a toe injury.
The likes of KJ Hamler, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Tyrell Shavers will need to have big performances after they each had subpar games against the Bears. Only six receivers will make the roster, and those three are the biggest bubble names.
The quarterbacks
And not just the quarterbacks for the Bills, either. Buffalo’s backups looked atrocious against Chicago. Mitch Trubisky air-mailed a certain touchdown pass over the head of Quinton Morris and completed just 55 percent of his passes. Shane Buechele went 6-of-10 with an interception. Josh Allen’s good friend and former Bills’ backup, Kyle Allen, is now in Pittsburgh. He played well last week in the Steelers’ opener, going 17-of-23 for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception. If Allen looks good once again, the Bills should strongly consider trading for Allen to be No. 17’s top backup.
The play of Daequan Hardy
The rookie cornerback from Penn State should get an extensive look as the kick returner in Week 2. He had one kickoff return for 17 yards, but didn’t see any looks as the punt returner, which is where he really thrived as a Nittany Lion.
Also, keep an eye on him in the secondary on defense. The Bills are thin at cornerback behind their top three guys on the perimeter, and Hardy could prove himself as the fourth cornerback as well as the starting return man.
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