Starters ramp up intensity in preparation of playing Saturday

“The guys did a great job capturing a couple of days off. The effort was there, all that. A little bit of sloppiness,” admitted the coach. “The guys who played, you know, they’re a little stoved up still. But it’s a choice, and this is what Wednesday feels like in a season.

“So a great op to just kind of teach off of that, and they responded the right way and played and practiced with the right energy.”

The chance to amp up the intensity is especially important for the starters this week, since they will play in Buffalo on Saturday. Under Canales thus far, starters have either been held out all of preseason or only appeared in later games. That will change this week.

“We will play this week for sure. We’ll take it week to week. We’ll get them out there, probably play something similar to what Kenny and that group played in the Hall of Fame game,” Canales shared.

“So it’ll be somewhere between 10 and 20 plays depending on how those drives pan out so we can just get some good work in. And really, it goes back to the night before leading up to the game: knowing you’re playing regardless of how many snaps you’re playing changes how you prep.

“It changes how you eat, how you wake up, what you do in the morning, when you get to the locker room, how you set your things up, and you go through your whole routine. It’s just a great opportunity to put your mind in game mode, and so we got to take advantage of some of those.”