‘It was really good to get him back out there’ – Buffalo Bills HC Joe Brady praises rookie after strong debut performance that turned heads
Bills Rookie WR Skyler Bell led the team in receiving and rushing yards in his first game after coming back from injury.
Skyler Bell made the wait worth it. The Buffalo Bills 4th-round pick finally made his preseason debut in Buffalo’s 28-27 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The rookie was sure to waste no time making an impression.
Bell hauled in 7 catches for 49 yards, was used in multiple ways across the Bills’ offense, and capped the night with a 28-yard rushing touchdown on an end-around in the second half.
The performance was all the more notable given what Bell had been through to get on the field. He had been dealing with a groin injury since Aug. 8 during the Bills’ blue and red practice at Highmark Stadium. Bell didn’t return to the practice field until this past Monday, meaning he had one real full-speed practice before suiting up for the game.
For a rookie with that little preparation, the poise he showed was remarkable.
Brady takes notice of Bell’s debut
Bills head coach Joe Brady acknowledged after the game how impressive Bell’s night was:
“He went from limited practice time to heavy usage in the game, and you could tell the moment wasn’t too big for him,” Brady said.
Now, I think we all know Skyler Bell is going to make this Bills roster. He was pick No. 125 in the draft, so the roster spot was never really in question. The bigger question is how much he’ll be used, and first impressions are everything.
In his first game, preseason or not, Bell passed every test.
Brady also acknowledged that, “there will naturally be things to clean up,” which is fair. This was Bell’s first action after being banged up, and there will be plays on tape that both he and the coaching staff view as negative.
That’s completely fine. The positives far outweighed the negatives, and that’s all you can ask for from a rookie in this spot.
The touchdown that showed Bell’s potential
The play that stood out above the rest was Bell’s 28-yard rushing touchdown. Brady had some telling comments about how it unfolded.
“I called the jet sweep for him. The play before, we threw a ball to him, so he was last-second getting back to the huddle, and I didn’t know after calling the play how it would go considering he had just gotten back to the huddle so late.
And you know, boom, once you got the ball in his hands, you could feel the speed. He made the most of it and got a great block from Pettis, and it was really good to get him back out there,” Brady said after the game.
That quote tells you a lot. Brady is learning different ways to use Bell, targeting him through the air and giving him carries on the ground.
The more versatile Bell proves to be, the more valuable he becomes in that wide receiver rotation. And look, versatility is what gets young receivers on the field early in their careers.
What’s next for Bell and the Bills
If Bell keeps taking advantage of opportunities like this, we could see him earning more reps in the wide receiver rotation earlier in the regular season than most people expected. We don’t know exactly how it will shake out, but the best thing Bell can do right now is stack good practices over the next couple of weeks before Buffalo’s Week 1 game in Houston against the Texans.
That’s how he puts himself in the best possible position.
I know we don’t put a ton of stock into the preseason. But it was cool to see the Bills finish 3-0 under Brady. It was even cooler to see an underdog rookie in Bell have a huge impact for his first time suiting up. I’m excited to see how this 53-man roster shakes out and what Buffalo looks like when the games start counting for real.
Maybe Bills fans will see Skyler Bell sooner than we originally thought.
