I would have had this up sooner but some of our Finheaven faithful kidnapped me after practice. I won't mention any names because they paid me not too.
Another nice night to watch practice with a pretty full house.
It was not a great night for the offense though but they did open up the passing game a little more.
My first comment is about Donald Lee. If he makes it thru the final cuts I'll be shocked at this point. He dropped 4 passes tonight which made me fake a couple of real real loud sneezes aa aaaa ch..... "CUT HIM".........chuuuu. He had a perfectly thrown pass, right over his left shoulder, in the end zone right in his hands and he drops it. That's 10 balls this week that I've seen him drop. They have two TE's out there playing better than him, but he gets most of the work after McMike. Alex Holmes is a big boy that can get out in the flat, and has some pretty good hands. Heck I would think that Ed Perry is outplaying Lee at this point, and Perry's never out there.
Now a short report.
Qb's
Ferrotte was checking down more than I've seen. His throws of around 30 yards or less were pretty accurate. He is really good at trying to time the throw with enough arc, and just enough mustard so the Wr can make his adjustments if needed. However nice that sounds, there are still spurts where his throws were off. He also tried to throw one with all his might tonight, and it reminded me of a wounded duck. I swear I had to recheck to see if he was wearing a #9 instead of #11. It went almost 60 yds, but my thinking is his hands were sweaty. It wobbled a little too much.
Feeley got into a groove at one point, albeit a short one. He hit Boston dead on the money with a dart going down the middle, with two defenders closing in. That was a real nice play. He showed a couple of checkoffs tonight, which is encouraging. He did it a couple of times, but still was locking onto his targets way too many times. He also made some terrible throws near the end of practice. One being to Bellamy who would have scored. Feeley had two chances at the end to score and the passes were off, or the Wr's were not where they should have been.......maybe.
Sage was IMO not very good tonight, but he did have one sweet touch pass over Boston's shoulder for a TD. It was a short pass, but nice. He had one series where he came off the field all mad at himself. For good reason because he was way off.
Brock is actually looking a little more comfortable out there. Ok ......
The Qb's were not good enough tonight.
Chambers had one play, the one where Ferrotte tried to heave it. He was covered, and by the time the ball got there the Safety also had him covered. Chambers got his mitts on it, bobbled it up, fell on his back, got his hand on it again, and yet two more times, and just barely missed making one of them plays where your jaw is wide open while you just stand still. When the ball finally hits the ground the crowd let out a real loud Awwwwwwwwwwww. The crowd rewarded him with cheers for a minute, and when it got quiet I yelled out....hey you shoulda had that one!! The comedian got a few laughs.
McMike had a nice catch after Madison tipped a ball up that he should have picked off
I really want to do some defense here but it is not easy.
This was the first time that I've seen where they went into a 3-4 defense. Yep, you herd it. This was for about 5-6 plays.
Another interesting set was having 5 on the LOS, with Zgonina at one DT spot. Then he is the one dropping back into a coverage spot. It looked like he's not meant to be a cover man, but more of a zone he was meant to be in.
They also line up JT at DT with 5 on the line, once Zach was lined up next to him. On the snap Zach and JT did a stunt at the line and both rushed in. Then they worked on a stun with a DT in between them, and the DT took two or three steps back.
On goal line work which was on Thursday they lined up 7 defensive lineman, 3 Lb's. one of which was on the line, and 1 safety. I know it won't be this way in a game because you can bet the other team would be substituting and passing.
Hey did I mention that Donald Lee dropped 4 more passes this evening?
D-Line
The defensive line plugged up the running game tonight. I could not tell you that I saw one great run. The middle was impossible to get thru, with Carter, Vickerson, and Shaw getting it done. They are filling each gap at the line, and changing up the calls on every play. Taylor Whitley got dissed twice in a row, making me wish that Jeno James would hurry back, and play better than he has. Even St.Clair was having a hard time. The pass rush was not as good, which is a credit the Oline, but they still managed to chase the Qb's around enough to make them hurry some passes.
Traylor did not practice
Lb's
They are lining up, and moving around a lot. Almost every down they show a 5-2 set, and when they throw in a nickel Howard slips into a LB slot. I would say that they show a blitz on 9 out of 10 plays on average. Hmmm
Crowder and Ayabadajo were busy telling each other where to go once, and the offense took advantage. I'm not sure if it was a check at the line but they ran short crossing patterns right at them, and both of them took the wrong man smacking right into each other. No way I could tell who was wrong, but the offense got it right.
Crowder likes to mix it up inside, thats for sure. He fills gaps with great instincts. He does need work in pass coverage's where he gets caught sometimes out in space. He looks like a sure tackling machine though. I pray he stays healthy....
Did I mention Donald Lee?
Spragen is very quietly having a solid camp. He has a knack for the ball, and is always around it on running plays.
Seau and Will Poole were throwing around a medicine ball tonight while laying on their backs
Do we really want to hear about the Secondary?
They are still lining up in a man on man press, with a two deep zone on almost every play. They do switch to a 4 deep zone on the snap, which is pretty new to me. Madison is out there helping all the young guys, and listening to Saban all the time because I would say that even though Saban is all over the place, he spends the most time with this group. Madison has been used in Corner blitzes.
Reggie Howard has stepped up the last two days and defended a few passes.
Travis Daniel's has been the talk of camp so far, with great technique, and knowledge of the defense. He's been getting beat more and more though. More deep than anything. Chamber's has been wearin him out deep. I think if this kids going to start the year they really need to give him all the help they can. I'm not trying to knock him but a rookie can lose confidence in a short time. I would hate to see his ruined.
Parker had two real nice pass defenses on Friday night.
Shulters got in on a play. Speaking of Shulters, he better hurry up and learn because these Safeties are the weak link so far.
Tillmans out of position too much, and Bua could be too slow. I cant wait to see the Secondary in a real game.
Sorry for the short story, but the Oline was not worth talking about, which means the running game was not either.
I might be out there today, or maybe tomorrow, but this is it for me. Maybe, just maybe I'll get to one practice next week, but it's back to work soon so ya'll on ya own......
peace out
Another nice night to watch practice with a pretty full house.
It was not a great night for the offense though but they did open up the passing game a little more.
My first comment is about Donald Lee. If he makes it thru the final cuts I'll be shocked at this point. He dropped 4 passes tonight which made me fake a couple of real real loud sneezes aa aaaa ch..... "CUT HIM".........chuuuu. He had a perfectly thrown pass, right over his left shoulder, in the end zone right in his hands and he drops it. That's 10 balls this week that I've seen him drop. They have two TE's out there playing better than him, but he gets most of the work after McMike. Alex Holmes is a big boy that can get out in the flat, and has some pretty good hands. Heck I would think that Ed Perry is outplaying Lee at this point, and Perry's never out there.
Now a short report.
Qb's
Ferrotte was checking down more than I've seen. His throws of around 30 yards or less were pretty accurate. He is really good at trying to time the throw with enough arc, and just enough mustard so the Wr can make his adjustments if needed. However nice that sounds, there are still spurts where his throws were off. He also tried to throw one with all his might tonight, and it reminded me of a wounded duck. I swear I had to recheck to see if he was wearing a #9 instead of #11. It went almost 60 yds, but my thinking is his hands were sweaty. It wobbled a little too much.
Feeley got into a groove at one point, albeit a short one. He hit Boston dead on the money with a dart going down the middle, with two defenders closing in. That was a real nice play. He showed a couple of checkoffs tonight, which is encouraging. He did it a couple of times, but still was locking onto his targets way too many times. He also made some terrible throws near the end of practice. One being to Bellamy who would have scored. Feeley had two chances at the end to score and the passes were off, or the Wr's were not where they should have been.......maybe.
Sage was IMO not very good tonight, but he did have one sweet touch pass over Boston's shoulder for a TD. It was a short pass, but nice. He had one series where he came off the field all mad at himself. For good reason because he was way off.
Brock is actually looking a little more comfortable out there. Ok ......
The Qb's were not good enough tonight.
Chambers had one play, the one where Ferrotte tried to heave it. He was covered, and by the time the ball got there the Safety also had him covered. Chambers got his mitts on it, bobbled it up, fell on his back, got his hand on it again, and yet two more times, and just barely missed making one of them plays where your jaw is wide open while you just stand still. When the ball finally hits the ground the crowd let out a real loud Awwwwwwwwwwww. The crowd rewarded him with cheers for a minute, and when it got quiet I yelled out....hey you shoulda had that one!! The comedian got a few laughs.
McMike had a nice catch after Madison tipped a ball up that he should have picked off
I really want to do some defense here but it is not easy.
This was the first time that I've seen where they went into a 3-4 defense. Yep, you herd it. This was for about 5-6 plays.
Another interesting set was having 5 on the LOS, with Zgonina at one DT spot. Then he is the one dropping back into a coverage spot. It looked like he's not meant to be a cover man, but more of a zone he was meant to be in.
They also line up JT at DT with 5 on the line, once Zach was lined up next to him. On the snap Zach and JT did a stunt at the line and both rushed in. Then they worked on a stun with a DT in between them, and the DT took two or three steps back.
On goal line work which was on Thursday they lined up 7 defensive lineman, 3 Lb's. one of which was on the line, and 1 safety. I know it won't be this way in a game because you can bet the other team would be substituting and passing.
Hey did I mention that Donald Lee dropped 4 more passes this evening?
D-Line
The defensive line plugged up the running game tonight. I could not tell you that I saw one great run. The middle was impossible to get thru, with Carter, Vickerson, and Shaw getting it done. They are filling each gap at the line, and changing up the calls on every play. Taylor Whitley got dissed twice in a row, making me wish that Jeno James would hurry back, and play better than he has. Even St.Clair was having a hard time. The pass rush was not as good, which is a credit the Oline, but they still managed to chase the Qb's around enough to make them hurry some passes.
Traylor did not practice
Lb's
They are lining up, and moving around a lot. Almost every down they show a 5-2 set, and when they throw in a nickel Howard slips into a LB slot. I would say that they show a blitz on 9 out of 10 plays on average. Hmmm
Crowder and Ayabadajo were busy telling each other where to go once, and the offense took advantage. I'm not sure if it was a check at the line but they ran short crossing patterns right at them, and both of them took the wrong man smacking right into each other. No way I could tell who was wrong, but the offense got it right.
Crowder likes to mix it up inside, thats for sure. He fills gaps with great instincts. He does need work in pass coverage's where he gets caught sometimes out in space. He looks like a sure tackling machine though. I pray he stays healthy....
Did I mention Donald Lee?
Spragen is very quietly having a solid camp. He has a knack for the ball, and is always around it on running plays.
Seau and Will Poole were throwing around a medicine ball tonight while laying on their backs
Do we really want to hear about the Secondary?
They are still lining up in a man on man press, with a two deep zone on almost every play. They do switch to a 4 deep zone on the snap, which is pretty new to me. Madison is out there helping all the young guys, and listening to Saban all the time because I would say that even though Saban is all over the place, he spends the most time with this group. Madison has been used in Corner blitzes.
Reggie Howard has stepped up the last two days and defended a few passes.
Travis Daniel's has been the talk of camp so far, with great technique, and knowledge of the defense. He's been getting beat more and more though. More deep than anything. Chamber's has been wearin him out deep. I think if this kids going to start the year they really need to give him all the help they can. I'm not trying to knock him but a rookie can lose confidence in a short time. I would hate to see his ruined.
Parker had two real nice pass defenses on Friday night.
Shulters got in on a play. Speaking of Shulters, he better hurry up and learn because these Safeties are the weak link so far.
Tillmans out of position too much, and Bua could be too slow. I cant wait to see the Secondary in a real game.
Sorry for the short story, but the Oline was not worth talking about, which means the running game was not either.
I might be out there today, or maybe tomorrow, but this is it for me. Maybe, just maybe I'll get to one practice next week, but it's back to work soon so ya'll on ya own......
peace out
