The Bills have thrown the ball on 17 of their 19 plays on the opening drive of the first two preseason games.

"It caught me by surprise. We came out and were throwing the ball like that,” said wide receiver John Brown.

As it should, with the Bills about a 50-50 split run-verse-pass during the 2018 season.

But this is preseason, and there's a reason for the pass-happy start.

"You can't get enough reps doing those things against live competition. How you get played in a competitive situation is a little bit different than practice, so we need as much of that as we can get,” said offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

"There's nothing like live reps. There's nothing like game reps, so I appreciate what he's doing and how he's helping me progress so far and how this team's kind of helped each other gel. The camaraderie we have right now and how we're working to be the best version of ourselves we can every day. Those game reps, they're invaluable, so as many as we can get, as many as we're going to do,” said quarterback Josh Allen.

Allen's completion percentage is over 68 percent at over seven-and-a-half yards per completion through the two preseason games.

The numbers say improvement is happening. The players say things are just beginning.

"I wouldn't say I'm where I need to be at any point at all. There's still a lot of work that I have to do and continue to get better. As long as the team's getting better and I'm getting better, that's all I can ask for, really,” said Allen.

"Between me and Josh, we still got a lot to learn. As far as like the team, we're still building, so it's hard to say where we're at right now,” said Brown.

Brown is a lock to make the roster, along with Cole Beasley, Zay Jones, Robert Foster and Andre Roberts. From there it's up in the air, with a handful of guys vying for likely one spot. I asked Daboll his philosophy on having a diverse skillset amongst his wide out group, and the one guy different from the rest is the one Daboll highlighted from the rest: Duke Williams.

"He made the most of his opportunity the other night. He's not a 4.3 guy, but he's a big-bodied player that can make contested catches and he plays tough. So however that fits, if it's three fast guys or two quick guys, however it fits, we're going to try to figure out what the best combination for us is,” said Daboll.

With plenty of passing to figure that out.