ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Jim Leonhard expects his defensive starters to play in the Buffalo Bills' preseason opener against Carolina on Saturday.
And the first-year coordinator on Tuesday wasn’t afraid to provide a reason why in taking a swipe at what he considered the defense’s biggest flaw last season: Tackling.
“Who can finish, get guys on the ground?” Leonhard said on Tuesday. “That was an Achilles’ heel here last year. So that’s the No. 1 thing we have to correct.”
What better chance to begin doing so than getting his players involved in live action against the Panthers, who are also expected to open the game with their starters.
“I am excited just to continue to push. We’ve only had so many days in pads, right?” he added. “It’s going to be exciting for guys to get out there and just kind of let it rip.”
Leonhard didn’t reveal how much playing time his starters will get. As for playing-time plans for Josh Allen and the offense, head coach Joe Brady isn’t scheduled to address reporters until Thursday.
The outing against Carolina will provide the first competitive glimpse of a Bills team in transition since coach Sean McDermott was fired following his ninth season in January.
Brady is now in charge after previously serving as the team’s offensive coordinator. And he hired the 43-year-old Leonhard to bring his attacking-style vision in transforming a unit that too often sagged under the defensive-minded McDermott.
Under McDermott, the Bills took a bend-but-don’t-break approach in protecting against big plays. Tackling, however, was an issue for Buffalo last season, especially against the run. Though the Bills finished seventh in the NFL in allowing 293 yards per outing, they finished 28th in allowing 136 yards rushing.
The strategy still proved mostly successful in the regular season, with Buffalo winning 10 or more games over seven straight seasons. The defense, however, sagged in the playoffs. Buffalo allowed 27 or more points in each of its six playoff losses since 2020, including a 33-30 overtime loss to Denver in January.
Leonhard has plenty to evaluate in a very short time. Aside from the Bills switching to a three-linemen, four-linebacker system, the defense will feature at least five new starters.
“To me, it’s the physicality up front. Let’s go get that done,” Leonhard said. “There’s going to be mistakes that are made, but can we fly around, be physical, and it’s the first opportunity to finish.”
Injuries could be an issue, with the status of several projected starters uncertain.
Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson went down in practice on Monday in appearing to aggravate an injury to his right calf. Fellow starting safety Cole Bishop and cornerback Maxwell Hairston have also missed time because of undisclosed issues.
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Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard speaks to reporters before practice at the team's NFL football training camp Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, left, talks to cornerback Maxwell Hairston (31) before practice at the team's NFL football training camp Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting below their records on Tuesday, while oil prices keep swinging on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, slipping further away from its all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 100 points, or 0.2%, as of 1:32 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.
The action was more unsettled in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude briefly jumped above $90 in the morning before falling back below $87. It was most recently at $88.77, up 1.2% from Monday’s settlement price.
Such swings have become typical since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and kept much of the world’s oil pent up in the Middle East. Last month alone, Brent’s price veered between $72 and $102 per barrel.
Higher oil prices make inflation worse, and they’ve sent the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline to $4.01, according to AAA. That’s up from less than $3.14 a year ago, though it’s down from last week’s nearly $4.09.
That has Wall Street’s attention focused on Wednesday, when the U.S. government will release the latest monthly reading on inflation. Economists expect it to show inflation remains high but that it decelerated to 3.4% in July from 3.5% in June.
That could help the Federal Reserve, whose members are notably split on whether they should be raising the country’s interest rates to keep a lid on inflation. While higher rates could help slow the increases of prices on store shelves, they would also slow the overall U.S. economy by making it more expensive for U.S. households and businesses to borrow money. They would also undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
Traders are betting on a coin flip’s chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting in September, according to data from CME Group. If it does, that would be the first increase in more than three years. It also could anger President Donald Trump, who has been lobbying for lower interest rates.
Treasury yields have jumped since the war with Iran because of higher oil prices and worries about inflation, sending long-term mortgage rates to their highest levels in a year.
The 10-year Treasury yield eased back Tuesday, falling to 4.69% from 4.72% late Monday. But it remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran.
On Wall Street, Cardinal Health rose 0.9% after becoming the latest big U.S. company to report a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected.
Businesses have blown past analysts’ forecasts, which Wall Street loves because stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.
Aramark, the food company and facilities manager, rallied 8.9% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
They helped offset a drop of 20.1% for On Holding. The Swiss sneaker company also topped analysts' forecasts for profit in the latest quarter. But it gave a forecast for upcoming revenue that fell short of analysts' expectations, while saying it does not want to slash prices to drum up more sales.
Intel slipped 0.4% after it said it would sell $20 billion of its stock at $95 per share. That’s up from the $15 billion that it said it would sell the day before, and such moves dilute the ownership stakes of people who already own Intel stock.
Intel plans to use the cash it’s raising for investments to take advantage of the boom in demand for artificial-intelligence technology.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1% for one of the world’s bigger moves.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
A general view shows the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A TV cameraman prepares to film near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer stands near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
An employee walks past near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
