The start of the 2014 NFL regular season is still over a month away but it all begins today at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, NY. The Buffalo Bills will be there and and they will be the first team to open training camp. The Bills rookies reported on Wednesday. The rest of the team will join them on the field today. The Bills are an interesting team. Second-year head coach Doug Marrone appears to have the team pointed in the right direction. Any Bills success depends on the development of second-year quarterback E.J. Manuel. Any team success always depends on quarterback success these days. Manuel will have some nice weapons around him. C.J. Spiller, Fred Jackson, Anthony Dixon, and Bryce Brown make up a talented and diverse group of running backs. The Bills paid a lot to trade up in the 2014 NFL Draft to select receiver Sammy Watkins. He's a playmaker and should pair nicely with Robert Woods. Scott Chandler and Tony Moeaki, if he can stay healthy, should be solid targets at tight end. The Bills defense is improving fast. If any team challenges the St. Louis Rams for the best defensive line in the league, it might be the Buffalo Bills. The interior of the line is a force with Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams. Then you have Mario Williams and Jerry Hughes attacking on the edges. Oh my. The loss of linebacker Kiko Alonso for the season to an offseason knee injury was a rough start. That will be tough to overcome. As long as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are in the picture, the road to the AFC East title goes through New England. The Bills might throw a scare into the Patriots this season. It all starts today for the Bills in Pittsford, NY.
Rookies in San Francisco and Baltimore have also been hard at work since Wednesday. I wonder what the Harbaughs have against rookies. The youngsters will be working on their own for an entire week. Half of the 49ers rookies have already been placed on the injured list. Maybe that's why they wanted to get them in early. The veterans for both teams aren't scheduled to report until this coming Wednesday. By next weekend all 32 teams will be hard at work preparing for the 2014 season and a shot at Super Bowl XLVIIII in Arizona. Of course, the most anticipated training camp is that of the Minnesota Vikings. Mike Zimmer opens his first camp as a head coach. After about 35 years as an assistant coach he finally has his long-deserved first shot to lead his own team. That will happen this Thursday.
The 2014 NFL season starts today with the Buffalo Bills. By July 27, when the Detroit Lions finally find their way to a football field, all the teams will have ended a very long offseason.
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