DETROIT — In their preseason opener Friday night in Detroit, the Bills showed success in a spot where they could have improved from last season in both the run game and on the defensive line getting pressure on the quarterback.
The Bills started out Friday's 16-15 win with backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in the game, handing off the ball to Devin Singletary five straight plays on Buffalo's opening field-goal drive.
Singletary finished the game with eight carries for 42 yards, a 5.3 yards per carrying average - compared to his season average last year of 4.4 yards per carrying and hauled in the Bills' lone touchdown of the game from Davis Webb.
"I was impressed by the way he ran, (and) thought he was productive. He had some holes, crediting the offensive line, (and) at times, he made some people miss," Bills coach Sean McDermott said after Friday's game, noting he was pleased with Buffalo's run game in the first half.
The 26-year-old quarterback Webb was impressive in his own right, running the Bills offense with precision, finishing his snaps completing 11 of 16 passes for 90 yards, including that six-yard touchdown pass to Singletary.
Jake Fromm came into the game during the fourth quarter and pulled off the game-winning field goal drive.
"The thing with Jake is he's been there before. You go back to when Brandon (Beane) scouted him with his staff, some of the films that I looked at, he's been in big games before in those moments," McDermott said about Fromm's game-winning drive.
"He doesn't seem to be phased by those moments, so that's a great sign."
Fromm and Webb heated up the battle for a third-string quarterback behind Josh Allen and Trubisky with their preseason-opening performances.
The Chicago Bears' second overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Trubisky, only started the Bills' first two series, which WGRZ Bills insider Vic Crrucci said was Buffalo's plan Friday night.
"I didn't have any problem with what Mitchell Trubisky did because I think the plan all along was to focus on the run and just have his hand off," Carucci said.
"They know what Trubisky can do as a passer. They've not only seen it on video from his time with Chicago, and they've certainly seen it in training camp... They know in their mind they have as solid as a number two (quarterback) as they can have. The real focus at quarterback was Davis Webb and Jake Fromm."
On the other side of the ball, the defensive line looked impressive rushing the passer, and the Bills' most recent first-round pick Greg Rousseau recorded a sack on Lion's first drive.
"That's what we want to see. We want to improve our pass rush, (and) we were very intentional about that this offseason," McDermott said.
McDermott said he was anxious to look at the film from Friday night's game to analyze more of the Bills pass rush before the team next practice Sunday at 4 p.m.
