By Jay Skurski
PITTSFORD -- The Buffalo Bills didn't have to dunk a football into a bucket of water to practice with a wet ball this afternoon at St. John Fisher College.
Mother Nature took care of that for them. Heavy rain began to fall with about 45 minutes remaining in the practice session, downpouring at times.
"It's not something you want to do, but it's good for us. You need a day like that so you can handle a wet ball and everybody can talk about ball security on offense, and you can talk about striping the ball out on defense. It was good for us," coach Chan Gailey said.
So how did the coach think they handled it?
"Pretty good. I think we had one ball on the ground out there. We practiced a lot of different situations from our Wildcat to our goal line to the regular offense. I thought we handled it well," he said.
Before the rain came, Vince Young hit Scott Chandler for a 20-yard touchdown on the quarterback's first throw during 7-on-7 work. Other highlights: Ron Brooks intercepted Tyler Thigpen, snatching the ball away from receiver Kamar Aiken, who bobbled it. ... Young sold a fake handoff well and took off on a bootleg around the right side for a nice game. ... Safety George Wilson leaped in the air at the line of scrimmage to bat away a throw by Ryan Fitzpatrick. The ball nearly was intercepted by linebacker Arthur Moats before falling incomplete. The Bills ended practice with some goal-line work, during which running back Fred Jackson scored after taking a direct snap.
Not practicing today were safety Josh Nesbitt, cornerback Justin Rogers and tight end Kevin Brock. All three are expected to miss Friday's second preseason game in Minnesota.
Gailey said Rogers is the closest to returning. Brock is dealing with a shoulder injury.
Defensive tackle Spencer Johnson did not participate in team drills because of a bruised shoulder.
