A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist
About the time Alex Newhook’s snapshot disappeared under Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s glove and into the Buffalo net, hockey season was over in Western New York and wherever Sabres fans gather.
That goal, 11 minutes into overtime in Game 7 of the second round by the Montreal Canadiens, ended a glittering season for a team that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2011, a numbing 15 years ago.
SO, SUDDENLY, it was football season.
Oh, the real thing doesn’t actually start for the Bills until Sept. 13 at Houston but the tease commenced on Tuesday with the ever-popular Organized Team Activities (OTAs for short).
It’s not real football as no contact is allowed and sessions, at the training facility, aren’t mandatory meaning OTAs are mostly populated by draft picks, free agent-invitees and desperate veterans.
The second of 10 sessions was Thursday to be followed by two (May 26 and 28) and finally June 1-4. The mandatory mini-camp is June 9-11. Training camp opens at Pittsford’s St. John Fisher College about six weeks later.
ON TUESDAY, after the first day of OTAs, new head coach Joe Brady met with the media at the Bills practice facility and spent over 20 minutes fielding questions.
Some of them were benign, such as what he thought of the Bills 2026 schedule.
“It’s the NFL and there’s no such thing as an easy game,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of prime-time games (six) … but when you’ve got a guy like (quarterback) Josh Allen …”
BUT OTHER questions touched on the philosophical such as showing players what’s expected of them.
“You have to show guys what the standard is. I don’t think you can tell guys ‘This is what I’m looking for,’ without showing them ‘this is what it looks like … or what it should look like.” he said.
“The most import ant thing you’ve got to understand is who they are. If I try to build a relationship with them about football but I don’t care anything else outside of football …”
Brady added, “Those guys are NFL football players and they have high expectations for themselves. It’s hard for guys to accept certain roles … it’s really hard especially at this time of year.
“It’s more like, ‘Let’s just focus on this is what you have to do today and what it’s going to look like during the season.”
And there was a question about developing a family atmosphere.
“I want to allow my coaches to coach,” Brady said. “And going out to dinner with one another … that’s big. Going out and breaking bread, that fosters a level of accountability and trust. It’s little things like that during the offseason that’s important … hanging with your guys.
“When you get out there and you’re making calls, I know it sounds like it has nothing to do with football, but it does, you kind of have a better feel for it.”
AS FOR the learning process taking place during OTAs, Brady added, “There’s so much being thrown at these guys the next month and seeing who can handle it and respond.
“We’re not going at it as basic as you can be. We’re floooding them with a lot of things and then dial back on who we want to be.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
