Well, the final day we get to see players running around in their underwear. Once again, a really nice hot day too!
I did not see Timbo (houseman) on the field today, so Zgonina, got a lot of reps once again, along with Chester, Romero, and Fodder.
I did see Fat Hank today, hangin in the shade. Looking very walrishish! Also I did not see Rob Konrad out there..
The Qb's
Only Feeley, and Fiedler are participating in team drills, while Sage, and Stoerner got their reps in practice drills with no defense involved. Unimpressive about sums it up.
A.J. Feeley had three bad passes in a row on one drive, but other than that, he had a good day. He is looking much more comfortable, and compared to his first day, it is obvious he has been working hard to learn the offensive calls. He connected with Tolver on a nice deeper pass, and also with Boston, and Minnis as well. All three were deeper plays, one being a nicely placed out pattern to Minnis. On one play, he stayed up in the pocket until it broke down, then he broke out to the left, leaving himself all alone. Instead of taking off he just kept drifting backwards, and to the side, waiting for an open man, in which he found, Donald Lee in the back of the endzone. He bought that play at least 5-6 seconds. On another play he did basically the same thing, only he ran it downfield for a nice gain. Other than those passes, most of the plays were shorter move the chains type passes. He missed a few, but IMO he is looking much better.
Fiedler had a nice stretch of good shorter passes, one being a perfectly placed fade pass to Sam Simmons in the corner of the endzone. The ball was laid right in his outstretched arms. With only an inch of playing field left to make the catch, Simmons caught it, and tapped his toes down for a sweet TD. Then one by one players were stepping up to him with high five's, including Fiedler. But it was Ricky who sought out Fiedler to give him a nice high five, making sure he knew someone noticed a nice pass from him. This was one of them plays where Jay used the pocket perfectly. He also connected on a nice 20 yard TD to Chambers! But all was not perfect for Fiedler, he missed Boston, who was out in front of DB Mesene Louisdore by about three steps. Fiedler underthrew the ball, and by the time it got to Boston, the DB was able to get his hands on the ball. Mesene is only 179 pounds, and looked like a knat going up against Boston, but he somehow muscled the ball free from Boston's hands. He also overthrew Wilkens on a deep ball, making an open Wilkens try an turn into a pretzel to even have a chance.
Now what pass is it that makes us fans "cringe" when Fiedler throws it? Ahh yeah that dreaded quick out!!! Well dejavu, in his first attempt at one, DB Will Poole stepped right into the throwing lane, and lucky for him, Poole dropped a sure Int for a TD. Poole was slightly trailing on that play, but that's the whole problem with this stupid pass pattern, the play is only a yard or two off the LOS, yet the ball must travel at least 20 yards. All a beaten Db needs to do on this play is keep his eye on the Wr's body and head movement, then a quick step and turn into the lane and he has a great chance at an Int. The play can create long yardage, but let me ask how many times have we seen that in the last 4 years? I recall quite a lot of Int's., some returned for Td's, and only one time do I remember a long yardage play result from it! That being last year when McKnight went some 80 yards for a score. The odds just don't add up IMO, so why keep using it so much???
Anyway Fiedler still had a pretty good day, and is still clearly the better at running the offense, but Feeley is for surely closing the gap.
The Wr's
Chambers had a real nice practice, catching two Td's, one from each Qb. Some real nice short routes from the slot, and from the outside as well. They had best sign him long-term real soon.
Boston had a couple of catches, one being a nice sideline pass from Feeley.
Tolver had a couple of catches. One of them making the evening news, on a pretty decent pass from Feeley. He may have been touched by Madison, but he would not have been tackled, splitting two defenders, heading for a TD. What I've noticed about him, is how slow he is off the ball. Once he gets going he actually has pretty good speed, but he don't seem to have an ounce of burst speed. He makes them Gadsden type catches, and runs some very good routes, but man he needs to get the snail out of his butt coming off the line!
Simmons had that very nice catch in the corner of the endzone, and actually I just got to watch it again on Channel 7 sports, and he may have been out, but not according to him, he was talking smack while the camera was on him, saying I was in bounds right in front of the camera so you guys can re-watch it on the news. But not five plays earlier, he also dropped a one that hit him right in the hands. He was also wide open on one play and Fiedler badly overthrew him. IMO he has been pretty up an down, and better step it up a notch or three when the pads come on. his lifeline on this team is that he is doing pretty good in punt return practices, looking very comfortable catching the punts!
Snoop had one catch, and made a great effort on another. He laid totally out to get it, but had a defender draped all over him.
Sammy Morris was used three or four times early on, catching three. He looks real good as a receiver out of the backfield.
Rb's
Ricky got knocked on his butt in the backfield by none other than JT, who just blew by Smith, faking a move outside then cutting parallel with the line.
Fred Russell touched the ball once that I noticed. It was a play designed to go inside, but made a nice on the dime stop, and headed right outside, cutting thru the first LB (Morlon), making a nice gain.
I'm going to do a little write up on the offensive line later tonight.
The Defense.
Jim Bates was screaming at someone real loud, but I could not tell who it was. But it was about missing an assignment that would have led a missed tackle.
JT left both the LT, and RT's with a message today. And that message was probably something like you guys better rest up, and get ready to show what you got in a months time. He was all over the place today. Blowing by Wade Smith on every other play, then he made minced meat of St. Clair on the other. He seemed to tick Smith off a little because for the first time in these Camps I saw Smith actually respond to him verbally! Smith did make a couple of decent plays on JT, but not nearly enough.
Jay Williams had a pass block from the right side.
Roundtree had a real nice break up, but he was also burnt by Wilkens on that deep pass.
Eddie Moore is seeing more and more time. They have him backing up the middle a lot, and used him a few times today in some blitz packages.
Some other defensive players that were looking pretty good were Akins, Banks, Bell, and Edwards.
Well, the next time I write it will not have this disclaimer in it, that's for sure.
No pads, no hitting, these are my opinions, of which I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible. So take my reports with a grain of salt, and see you guys when the real stuff begins..........................FINALLY!!!!
I did not see Timbo (houseman) on the field today, so Zgonina, got a lot of reps once again, along with Chester, Romero, and Fodder.
I did see Fat Hank today, hangin in the shade. Looking very walrishish! Also I did not see Rob Konrad out there..
The Qb's
Only Feeley, and Fiedler are participating in team drills, while Sage, and Stoerner got their reps in practice drills with no defense involved. Unimpressive about sums it up.
A.J. Feeley had three bad passes in a row on one drive, but other than that, he had a good day. He is looking much more comfortable, and compared to his first day, it is obvious he has been working hard to learn the offensive calls. He connected with Tolver on a nice deeper pass, and also with Boston, and Minnis as well. All three were deeper plays, one being a nicely placed out pattern to Minnis. On one play, he stayed up in the pocket until it broke down, then he broke out to the left, leaving himself all alone. Instead of taking off he just kept drifting backwards, and to the side, waiting for an open man, in which he found, Donald Lee in the back of the endzone. He bought that play at least 5-6 seconds. On another play he did basically the same thing, only he ran it downfield for a nice gain. Other than those passes, most of the plays were shorter move the chains type passes. He missed a few, but IMO he is looking much better.
Fiedler had a nice stretch of good shorter passes, one being a perfectly placed fade pass to Sam Simmons in the corner of the endzone. The ball was laid right in his outstretched arms. With only an inch of playing field left to make the catch, Simmons caught it, and tapped his toes down for a sweet TD. Then one by one players were stepping up to him with high five's, including Fiedler. But it was Ricky who sought out Fiedler to give him a nice high five, making sure he knew someone noticed a nice pass from him. This was one of them plays where Jay used the pocket perfectly. He also connected on a nice 20 yard TD to Chambers! But all was not perfect for Fiedler, he missed Boston, who was out in front of DB Mesene Louisdore by about three steps. Fiedler underthrew the ball, and by the time it got to Boston, the DB was able to get his hands on the ball. Mesene is only 179 pounds, and looked like a knat going up against Boston, but he somehow muscled the ball free from Boston's hands. He also overthrew Wilkens on a deep ball, making an open Wilkens try an turn into a pretzel to even have a chance.
Now what pass is it that makes us fans "cringe" when Fiedler throws it? Ahh yeah that dreaded quick out!!! Well dejavu, in his first attempt at one, DB Will Poole stepped right into the throwing lane, and lucky for him, Poole dropped a sure Int for a TD. Poole was slightly trailing on that play, but that's the whole problem with this stupid pass pattern, the play is only a yard or two off the LOS, yet the ball must travel at least 20 yards. All a beaten Db needs to do on this play is keep his eye on the Wr's body and head movement, then a quick step and turn into the lane and he has a great chance at an Int. The play can create long yardage, but let me ask how many times have we seen that in the last 4 years? I recall quite a lot of Int's., some returned for Td's, and only one time do I remember a long yardage play result from it! That being last year when McKnight went some 80 yards for a score. The odds just don't add up IMO, so why keep using it so much???
Anyway Fiedler still had a pretty good day, and is still clearly the better at running the offense, but Feeley is for surely closing the gap.
The Wr's
Chambers had a real nice practice, catching two Td's, one from each Qb. Some real nice short routes from the slot, and from the outside as well. They had best sign him long-term real soon.
Boston had a couple of catches, one being a nice sideline pass from Feeley.
Tolver had a couple of catches. One of them making the evening news, on a pretty decent pass from Feeley. He may have been touched by Madison, but he would not have been tackled, splitting two defenders, heading for a TD. What I've noticed about him, is how slow he is off the ball. Once he gets going he actually has pretty good speed, but he don't seem to have an ounce of burst speed. He makes them Gadsden type catches, and runs some very good routes, but man he needs to get the snail out of his butt coming off the line!
Simmons had that very nice catch in the corner of the endzone, and actually I just got to watch it again on Channel 7 sports, and he may have been out, but not according to him, he was talking smack while the camera was on him, saying I was in bounds right in front of the camera so you guys can re-watch it on the news. But not five plays earlier, he also dropped a one that hit him right in the hands. He was also wide open on one play and Fiedler badly overthrew him. IMO he has been pretty up an down, and better step it up a notch or three when the pads come on. his lifeline on this team is that he is doing pretty good in punt return practices, looking very comfortable catching the punts!
Snoop had one catch, and made a great effort on another. He laid totally out to get it, but had a defender draped all over him.
Sammy Morris was used three or four times early on, catching three. He looks real good as a receiver out of the backfield.
Rb's
Ricky got knocked on his butt in the backfield by none other than JT, who just blew by Smith, faking a move outside then cutting parallel with the line.
Fred Russell touched the ball once that I noticed. It was a play designed to go inside, but made a nice on the dime stop, and headed right outside, cutting thru the first LB (Morlon), making a nice gain.
I'm going to do a little write up on the offensive line later tonight.
The Defense.
Jim Bates was screaming at someone real loud, but I could not tell who it was. But it was about missing an assignment that would have led a missed tackle.
JT left both the LT, and RT's with a message today. And that message was probably something like you guys better rest up, and get ready to show what you got in a months time. He was all over the place today. Blowing by Wade Smith on every other play, then he made minced meat of St. Clair on the other. He seemed to tick Smith off a little because for the first time in these Camps I saw Smith actually respond to him verbally! Smith did make a couple of decent plays on JT, but not nearly enough.
Jay Williams had a pass block from the right side.
Roundtree had a real nice break up, but he was also burnt by Wilkens on that deep pass.
Eddie Moore is seeing more and more time. They have him backing up the middle a lot, and used him a few times today in some blitz packages.
Some other defensive players that were looking pretty good were Akins, Banks, Bell, and Edwards.
Well, the next time I write it will not have this disclaimer in it, that's for sure.
No pads, no hitting, these are my opinions, of which I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible. So take my reports with a grain of salt, and see you guys when the real stuff begins..........................FINALLY!!!!
