What's up DolFans,
Well, after two consecutive rain outs in the afternoon, and a forecast of afternoon thunder showers for the rest of the week. I decided to break down and go to a morning session.
Sam, Pat, and Macintosh were held out again today.
Zach was running slow sprints by himself. He looks like he is coming along fine, with hardly a hint of a limp!
I'm going to do a slightly quick run thru of the positions, then give a write up on the Offensive Line, which is where I concentrated the most today.
OK Lets not forget the disclaimer! This report is only my opinion, and could very well conflict with what someone else saw, so take these reports with a grain of salt. Although we can now get a better view of things, since the PADS are ON, and the HITTING is more realistic.
On to the Qb's:
Lets start with Fiedler since he is on the field first. What do you think was the first pass play he is given? YUP! The dreaded quick out!! And the results are the same! I'll say that the pass was not terrible, but that play is a matter of inches! So Rookie CB Will Poole was trailing on the play, and he left his feet, diving into the passing lane, and just did get his mitts on the ball, knocking it down! Then the very next play, Jay does a seven step drop, and releases the ball over the middle, only to have Sammy Knight step right in front, and make an Int.!! It almost looked like Knight was the intended Receiver on that play. Oh I forgot to mention that these two plays were during the 7 on 7 drills, where there is NO PASS RUSH! Jay did have a couple of decent passes today, but overall, he was way off the mark, especially early on making some very terrible passes, and decisions. BTW, I'm trying to be nice to him today....
Feeley had a nice practice, showing that he's been studying the plays, and getting aquatinted with the Receivers! Early on he was not perfect, and by that I mean that when he was off a little, he was still throwing within arms distance, AND throwing a catchable ball. He threw two good passes to Newson early on, also connecting on a nice looking route run by Boston, who btw is looking much thinner! What I like to see is how he is using second and third options. He threw a dart to Bellamy, who a real nice catch on ball that was just off the mark. Then he made a nicer pass right to Carl Morris! He threw one right in the gut of Tolver on a slant pattern, who watched it bounce off his chest, and hit the ground. So Feeley comes right back to him a couple of plays later, with Tolver making a nice catch on a ball thrown just behind him! None of the Qb's had all the time they wanted, but Feeley was adjusting real well with nice little side steps, to buy some needed time to throw.
And there was a SAGE sighting today!!!! For a whole whopping 3-4 plays!!!!! I don't care what the coaches know, or see, IMO they are not giving Sage a fair shot at throwing, much less competing to start! CLINT STOERNER saw more plays than Sage, one of them an INT returned for a TD by Korey Banks!!!
The RB's:
The Middle Drill! An average of maybe a yard per carry. The Defense is not letting up on the Offense, and that hopefully will help this young line out in the very near future. There were a couple of runs where there was a decent push, but overall they need work, work, work.
Minor was good out of the backfield, and had a nice practice, but IMO it was Sammy Morris who looked Excellent! Man he looks smooth as silk out of the backfield! For his size he makes some real nice shifts, making defenders miss on the first attempt almost every single time!! I'm not going to say how he should be the man, but he does have good size at 6 foot and 220 pounds, and has some pretty good speed. I think he also had the longest run in the middle drill! Henry also had one nice pass, that was blown dead a little too early if you ask me. Works runs very similar to Leonard Henry, maybe a little too much so. Russell only touched the ball like twice today so not much I can say about him.
The Defense was all over the Offense on running plays today, playing like they mean to show the Offense that this is the things to come when they line up for real against another teams Defense. They're going to make this Offense work for their yards, which hopefully will become fruitful.........VERY SOON!
With Sam, and Pat sitting out, I really liked what I saw in their backups. Poole is looking like he can be a player, and Reggie Howard looks to me like he might play much better with pads on his shoulders! Not perfect but surely showing some skills in press coverage!
Tony Bua, if he makes the team, will be the lightest Lb on the Roster, but he is pretty good in coverage, and man, this kid can hit!!! Eddie Moore looked Excellent in coverage. I like the way he slides with the movement of the line, and Qb! And what's even better, is the speed he has to cover the shorter routes thrown, such as slants to Wr's, and rb's slipping out in the flats. He was all over the place today, but what's funny is that at first I was not really looking for him, his play made me take note! I'll surely be watching to see if and how he keeps it up! Korey Banks was getting grilled by Bates in drills for stutter stepping way too much. But he was taking it real well, and seemed to shorten his steps after that. David Bowens looked good, as did Williams, who both filled in on the left side. Grigsby looks ready to make the team. Zgonina had a nice behind the line tackle.
Derrick Pope also made a couple of nice plays.
OK I'm off to get something to eat, I'll be back around 6 this evening with my O-line report! I know I said this last time, but I have had two recent deaths among some longtime friends, plus my mom had surgery, and my sister had her fifth surgery in 8 months! But today things are getting a little better, so I'll be back with it later.
Hope everyone enjoys the read. Feel free to ask questions.......
Peace
