ORCHARD PARK — Josh Allen could have taken the easy check-down throw to Keon Coleman right in front of him. Then Khalil Shakir came open.
Allen hit last year’s leading receiver for a 21-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. Time will tell, but Joe Brady’s first play call as a head coach seemed like a shot across the bow. As if to say there’s going to be some changes with unshackled control of the offense.
Shakir was 17 yards downfield when he made the catch. He caught another pass 13 yards downfield that turned into a 20-yard gain on the next drive in Buffalo’s 29-14 preseason-opening win over the Carolina Panthers.
Shakir’s average depth per target last year was 3.7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, the year before it was 5.5, while 18 of his 72 catches were screens.
“It’s just catching that rhythm and flow of doing everything as a wideout,” Shakir said. “I think it’s been a point of emphasis for sure. I think having the confidence to do that as well is huge. And it’s been a big change here as well having Drew (Terrell) as our receiver coach. He stresses the importance of launching off the ball and becoming a well-rounded receiver.”
Pushing the ball downfield was a theme not focused solely on Shakir. D.J. Moore made an impact in his first action for the Bills, catching three passes for 61 yards on grabs of 32, 18 and 11.
That’s what Moore does, averaging over 13 yards per catch in six of his eight NFL seasons, including a career-high 18.1 under Brady with the Panthers in 2020. That was what Allen did, too, until recently.
Once the NFL’s leader in intended air yards, Allen’s average intended air attempts and completions have dropped gradually since 2022. Last year he had a career-low in intended air yards (7.1), ranking 26th in the NFL.
Moore has stretched the field throughout training camp, and it seems the Bills are going to be more willing to take shots this season. Allen finished his two drives 6 of 8 for 111 yards and a touchdown, averaging 13.9 yards per attempt.
“I’m going to go out on an assumption that it’s going to be awesome to do that every game is to get him involved early,” Allen said. “Teams are going to know that, but we have other guys that we feel comfortable with.”
Walker wakes up
Remember all the talk about whether the Bills needed a true nose tackle after switching to a 3-4? Deone Walker may have squashed those ideas.
In his first ever game as a nose tackle, Walker only needed three possessions to create havoc and only two for the Panthers to realize they couldn’t block him one-on-one, even in a preseason game.
On Carolina’s first offensive play, Walker shucked his blocker and stuffed running back Jonathon Brooks for no gain. On third down, Walker looped around the edge, changing places with Greg Rousseau to finish the play by hurrying quarterback Bryce Young into throwing earlier than desired.
On the next drive, Walker beat his man and allowed Bradley Chubb to clean up the play and drop Brooks for a loss. And Walker capped his day by sacking Young on third down, as the Bills first-team defense didn’t allow a first down in three drives.
Walker has been relatively quiet during training camp, which is not bad for a 3-4 nose tackle. It’s not a stat-piling position. His job is typically to gobble blockers for teammates to produce stats.
But despite being over 330 pounds, Walker wasn’t drafted as a space-eater. He was a penetrator at Kentucky who once recorded 7 ½ sacks in a season. In reshaping his body during the offseason, Walker appears to be a three-down player.
“I feel like it looked like I was moving,” Walker said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot right now. We still got a lot of work to do. Got to keep working on that stamina, that competitive stamina. But Week 1 preseason, it felt like it was really good.”
Position battles
Buffalo’s position battles played similarly to what it’s shown during practices.
Alec Anderson started the game at left guard, while Austin Corbett got his turn on the second possession. Anderson returned for the third possession, which was backup quarterback Kyle Allen’s first.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Corbett started next week against the Cleveland Browns based on the rotations throughout camp. But the Bills also may want to get the job resolved considering it’s unlikely Josh Allen plays in the final preseason game.
Dorian Williams also continued to start as weakside inside linebacker next to Terrel Bernard. Williams played the first defensive series, giving way to rookie Kaleb Elarms-Orr for the second. Williams returned for the third and shifted to middle linebacker when Bernard was replaced by Keonta Jenkins.
Elarms-Orr came back in to play middle linebacker after halftime and played one drive of weakside linebacker with Joe Andreessen in the middle. Williams seems in line to be the Week 1 starter, but Elarms-Orr should still see playing time if nothing changes over the next month.
NOTES: WR Skyler Bell, S Cole Bishop, S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, OT Tylan Grable, CB Maxwell Hairston, OLB Michael Hoecht, RB Ty Johnson, C Connor McGovern and P Mitch Wishnowsky did not play.