Back in April, the Buffalo Bills tossed a bit of 21st century technology into their system, swapping out their traditional playbooks for iPads. This week Thad Lewis, the team's practice squad quarterback, used that transition to his advantage.
“When I went to look at Carolina (Panthers) defensive film on my iPad I saw that there was some Carolina offense in there too,” Lewis told Chris Brown of buffalobills.com. “So I watched Cam (Newton) a little bit to get a feel for how he moves because you want to prepare the guys as best you can. So there was a little multi-tasking this week.”
Lewis, an option quarterback himself, has been tasked with mimicking the Pro Bowl signal-caller in practice this week just a few days after Carolina coach Ron Rivera called his offense too conservative in its Week 1 loss.
Newton threw for a mere 125 yards and rushed only five times in the team's 12-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, two numbers you can be sure will be on the rise this weekend at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Lewis looked solid at times in his appearance in the Bills' final preseason game against the Detroit Lions, rushing for 51 yards on seven carries. Couple that with his quarterback rating of 93.8 during that game (albeit against the third-string unit) and the Buffalo defense could get some solid reps in to prepare for the 245-pound Newton.
Lewis was added to the team's eight-man practice squad Sept. 1 after failing to make it through the final cuts before the start of the regular season.
