Right back in the swing of things

It’s fair to say that this year’s Bills training camp looks wildly different from those of the past.

- MARK LUDWICZAK

The setting is part of that. It’s strange to see the Bills do their summer work next to their fieldhouse and not hundreds (or even thousands) of screaming fans at St. John Fisher College.

More than that, however, is the contrast between the hashmarks. For so many years, training camp was an uneasy combination of promise and concern. New coaches, new players, new quarterbacks ... first came hope, then an unfortunate dose of reality.

Maybe it was when Josh Allen rifled a pass to Stefon Diggs in the middle of the end zone during an improvisation on the first day of camp. Maybe it was the following day when Allen hit Cole Beasley on a deep post that left newcomer Emmanuel Sanders with his jaw open. I actually think it was when Allen dropped a perfect bomb into Beasley’s hands down the left sideline a few days later when it hit me for good.

This team is back. This team is ready. And the contrast, quite frankly, from training camps of the past is jarring.

“We didn’t win it,” Allen said. “So ultimately that was our goal last year and we didn’t accomplish it. I know a lot of guys have that sour taste still and it’s pushing them and driving them. Personally, me, that’s how I feel. I know that when the time comes, 53 guys on the roster that have that same feeling and that same mentality of we didn’t do enough to get the job done last year so let’s find a way to be better this year and attack it that way.”