WR Matthews sidelined with sternum injury

Aug 15, 2017 - 7:31 PM ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- It was no doubt disappointing for the Buffalo Bills to learn that wide receiver Jordan Matthews suffered a chip fracture in his sternum 15 minutes into his first practice with the team, and now could be sidelined the rest of the preseason. Matthews was acquired late last week from Philadelphia in exchange for cornerback Ronald Darby, and he made it through his entire first practice Sunday, but learned of the injury afterward.

Head coach Sean McDermott is counting on Matthews to fill the void created by the departure of Sammy Watkins, who was traded to the Rams in exchange for a second-round draft pick and cornerback E.J. Gaines.

"It is a little bit of a blip on the radar right now," said McDermott. "That said, there's a lot of players that are lost for the year out there and we're grateful that that's not the case with Jordan. I'm hopeful that he gets back sooner rather than later and I look forward to having him on the field."

McDermott referenced an injury Matthews suffered last summer with the Eagles, and was impressed with how he dealt with it and bounced back.

"Speaking with Jordan the other night, he's very positive," said McDermott. "He's a bright-eyed young man with a great smile and we discussed that that helps the healing process. The great part about Jordan is that he's been through something like - not something like this, but he had an issue in training camp last year and I think early in the season, maybe the first game, came out and had over a 100-yard game.

"He's very conscientious about the way he prepares. He's been spending time with Phil McGeoghan, our receivers coach, and (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor), as well as (wide receivers) Anquan (Boldin) and Zay (Jones). I expect him to continue to do that and only get better."

--McDermott announced that rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman will get the first shot after starter Tyrod Taylor is done Thursday. Peterman began taking second-team reps in the last few practices at St. John Fisher College, and while it's uncertain if he has overtaken veteran T.J. Yates as the backup, he is up one spot on the depth chart for this week.

"He's done a good job, he really has," said McDermott. "This is a rookie quarterback that is in the development phase of his career, and he's done a nice job. He did a nice job in the game, I thought he's handled the additional reps well, and we need to continue to develop Nathan, so we know what we have."

In the loss to the Vikings, Peterman played the bulk of the second half and completed 13 of 25 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown to Dezmin Lewis. It was an impressive debut for the fifth-round pick out of Pitt, one he knows he needs to build on.

"Really excited for it, it's a great opportunity, so just looking forward to going out there and execute and play well," he said. "There was good, and there's bad, too. After every game, I'm always going to look to see what I can do better because it's always about getting better and progressing. There were things to build confidence from, and draw from, but a lot of things I want to do better this week."

--The Bills had a very interesting practice on Monday. After a sloppy start, McDermott stopped practice, gathered the entire team at the center of the field, and lit into them. When they got back to work, there was a noticeable change in not only the execution, but the intensity, and several skirmishes broke out during live tackling periods.

"The biggest reason for it was I didn't think we were practicing well, plain and simple," McDermott said. "We need to understand, all of us need to understand, that starts with myself. Winning in this league is earned, and winning is an all-the-time thing. When you practice the right way, you prepare the right way - you give yourself a chance to win, and when you don't, you're starting from a deficit position, and that's not what I'm about, and that's not what this team is going to be about. I appreciate the way the players responded."

Defensive ends Jerry Hughes and Shaq Lawson took things a bit too far and were asked to get off the field after scuffles they were involved in, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing in McDermott's mind, and some of the veteran players agreed.

"If you're not responding to the head coach, then he probably shouldn't be the head coach, so it was a great job by Sean being a leader, and then the leaders making sure everybody else follows suit by leading by example," said linebacker Lorenzo Alexander. "We started practice sloppy, and he just wanted to refocus us and with that came a heightened sense of competitiveness."

Guard Richie Incognito was another veteran who appreciated what went down.

"He kind of grabbed us by the facemask and gave us a good butt chewing," Incognito said. "A lot of guys need to hear that, guys at this level are not used to hearing that, and the practice instantly changed. It got physical, it got chippy, it got violent, we had some live periods in there. You mix in a little bit of coach McDermott's speech and just being hot and tired, you get a powder keg ready to explode."