BLITZKRIEG
~LACUNA LEGIONS~
They started out with the normal various team drills. Not much action right out of the gate to speak of, and as most of you know, these are all basic warm-up drills. No big thing....
~ The next order of business started taking place over on the opposite field. They were practicing some 11-11 running drills. Most of this drill consisted of handing the ball off, and not much more beyond that. There was no contact going on along the LOS, and it was all about getting the timing down. I was expecting more in regards to contact, but it didn't happen that way. This drill ended in about 5 minutes...
** On a quick side note, I'd like to comment on something that has been bothering me to a certain extent. Personally, I don't see enough hitting / contact going on out there this year. We're less than a week away from our 1st pre-season game, and in my opinion, these training camp practices have got to start getting more physical. Just my own observation, but they're starting to look kind of soft.... **
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~STRETCH~
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~ OL begins working on the sled{Long / Smiley / Satele / Thomas / Carey}. Doing a solid job, but again, you have to take these kinds of drills with some salt. There's no competition being faced, so it's mainly just hit the sled and drive it...
~ WR's start working on some various catching drills. Not an easy drill, and most of these catches are tough. Passes are coming straight at them, high / low. Good drill for improving WR concentration, and I only saw a couple of drops here. They also moved on to some quick slant passes, and most all of the WR's did well. The coaches were throwing these passes, so it wasn't drill in which the QB's could be graded / evaluated....
~ OL now moves onto the side of the field, and begins working on some "staying low" drills. Here, the OLmen are being forced to come off of their stances while staying low / underneath a metal support beam of some sorts. It didn't last very long, but was something I hadn't seen yet this year...
~ QB's / WR's begin working on some various drills together. They're working on timing on mostly 7yrd out & in patterns. There's no coverage, and the QB's are all rotating snaps. They've all had a couple of poor throws, but nothing major. The QB who stood out the most was Henne. His arm strength looks better than the others while rumming this drill in my opinion....
~ Now something strange started taking place. They had the entire offense on one field lining up / firing off against eachother. Then on the opposite field, the defense was doing the same. I saw no need for this drill what so ever, and it only last about 5 minutes anyway. Next time though, it would be nice to see the O line up against the D...
~ The QB's / WR's / and DB's start drilling together. Henne / McCown are taking snaps, and the WR's running various routes while being covered. They were throwing mostly deep balls. Beck however was alone taking snaps, and throwing some short quick slants to the RB's / FB's. I noticed some good / bad throws from all three. The drill didn't last long, and just as I was getting a feel for it, they started something else....
~ 11-11 handoff drills w/ contact ~
Henne - Pitch outside right, Brown gets only about two yards....
Henne - Brown takes it up the middle, no gain there....
Henne - Handoff to the left mid, Ricky gets about 3....
Henne - Right side middle to Ricky, no gain on that run. The OL is winded...
Henne - Whistle before snap, no play...
Henne - Handoff up the middle to Brown, maybe a yard....
Henne - Up the middle, nice 6-7 yard gain by Cobbs...
----------------
McCown - Left side handoff to Ricky, nice gain for about 6-7 yards....
McCown - Delay handoff up the middle, short 2-3 yard gain....
McCown - Right side handoff to Brown, no room, stuffed....
** Noticing some punts being taken in the meanwhile, and this guy Fields hasn't looked good at all. Terrible....
McCown - Handoff middle, nothing there. The DL is dominating as usual....
McCown - Delay handoff, stuffed for no gain....
~ The OL is getting no push what so ever. They just can't run the ball with any consistency....
~ Special Teams Drills ~
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Personally, I don't care for these drills. There's nothing to write about...
~ QB Accuracy Drills ~
----------------------
Here we go! We've got McCown / Beck / Henne all trying to make perfect throws at an immobile standing target. This is a good way of seeing which QB throws the nicest touch pass, and displays the best accuracy. They all looked decent, but in my opinion, Beck was the sharpest in making those types of passes. He's got a nice touch....
~ 7-7 Redzone Drills ~ Opp field...
-----------------------
Henne - Quick outside pass for 5yds. Minimal coverage....
Henne - Throws a nice over the middle TD for about 15-20 yards. It was one of those high, back of the endzone catches by the TE. Can't see who it was though...
Henne - Throws over the right side middle, bad pass in traffic, almost picked off....
Henne - Tries to dump one underneath, falls incomplete in heavy coverage....
------------------------------------
McCown - Shotgun, nobody open, takes off running, 5 yards...
McCown - Drops back and throws the ball into the ground. Not sure what happened really, bad pass though....
McCown - Throws to the back of the endzone to TE, bobbled, almost picked, and then caught for a TD. YIKES!!! That was very ugly....
McCown - Throws out to the right side for about 5 yards.....
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~ Had to leave camp about 20 minutes early. I highly doubt that I missed anything earth shattering.....
~ Final Thoughts ~
-------------------
Well, this certainly wasn't what I would consider a very inspiring effort today. They looked winded, tired, unfocused, and not really interested in practicing today. There's less than a week to go before we face Tampa, and to be as brutally honest as I know how, this team isn't showing many / any real signs of improvement. Time will ultimately tell what the future holds, but this hasn't been a very impressive / physical training camp thus far in my opinion....
IN TUNA WE TRUST....
~ The next order of business started taking place over on the opposite field. They were practicing some 11-11 running drills. Most of this drill consisted of handing the ball off, and not much more beyond that. There was no contact going on along the LOS, and it was all about getting the timing down. I was expecting more in regards to contact, but it didn't happen that way. This drill ended in about 5 minutes...
** On a quick side note, I'd like to comment on something that has been bothering me to a certain extent. Personally, I don't see enough hitting / contact going on out there this year. We're less than a week away from our 1st pre-season game, and in my opinion, these training camp practices have got to start getting more physical. Just my own observation, but they're starting to look kind of soft.... **
===========================
~STRETCH~
===========================
~ OL begins working on the sled{Long / Smiley / Satele / Thomas / Carey}. Doing a solid job, but again, you have to take these kinds of drills with some salt. There's no competition being faced, so it's mainly just hit the sled and drive it...
~ WR's start working on some various catching drills. Not an easy drill, and most of these catches are tough. Passes are coming straight at them, high / low. Good drill for improving WR concentration, and I only saw a couple of drops here. They also moved on to some quick slant passes, and most all of the WR's did well. The coaches were throwing these passes, so it wasn't drill in which the QB's could be graded / evaluated....
~ OL now moves onto the side of the field, and begins working on some "staying low" drills. Here, the OLmen are being forced to come off of their stances while staying low / underneath a metal support beam of some sorts. It didn't last very long, but was something I hadn't seen yet this year...
~ QB's / WR's begin working on some various drills together. They're working on timing on mostly 7yrd out & in patterns. There's no coverage, and the QB's are all rotating snaps. They've all had a couple of poor throws, but nothing major. The QB who stood out the most was Henne. His arm strength looks better than the others while rumming this drill in my opinion....
~ Now something strange started taking place. They had the entire offense on one field lining up / firing off against eachother. Then on the opposite field, the defense was doing the same. I saw no need for this drill what so ever, and it only last about 5 minutes anyway. Next time though, it would be nice to see the O line up against the D...
~ The QB's / WR's / and DB's start drilling together. Henne / McCown are taking snaps, and the WR's running various routes while being covered. They were throwing mostly deep balls. Beck however was alone taking snaps, and throwing some short quick slants to the RB's / FB's. I noticed some good / bad throws from all three. The drill didn't last long, and just as I was getting a feel for it, they started something else....
~ 11-11 handoff drills w/ contact ~
Henne - Pitch outside right, Brown gets only about two yards....
Henne - Brown takes it up the middle, no gain there....
Henne - Handoff to the left mid, Ricky gets about 3....
Henne - Right side middle to Ricky, no gain on that run. The OL is winded...
Henne - Whistle before snap, no play...
Henne - Handoff up the middle to Brown, maybe a yard....
Henne - Up the middle, nice 6-7 yard gain by Cobbs...
----------------
McCown - Left side handoff to Ricky, nice gain for about 6-7 yards....
McCown - Delay handoff up the middle, short 2-3 yard gain....
McCown - Right side handoff to Brown, no room, stuffed....
** Noticing some punts being taken in the meanwhile, and this guy Fields hasn't looked good at all. Terrible....
McCown - Handoff middle, nothing there. The DL is dominating as usual....
McCown - Delay handoff, stuffed for no gain....
~ The OL is getting no push what so ever. They just can't run the ball with any consistency....
~ Special Teams Drills ~
-------------------------
Personally, I don't care for these drills. There's nothing to write about...
~ QB Accuracy Drills ~
----------------------
Here we go! We've got McCown / Beck / Henne all trying to make perfect throws at an immobile standing target. This is a good way of seeing which QB throws the nicest touch pass, and displays the best accuracy. They all looked decent, but in my opinion, Beck was the sharpest in making those types of passes. He's got a nice touch....
~ 7-7 Redzone Drills ~ Opp field...
-----------------------
Henne - Quick outside pass for 5yds. Minimal coverage....
Henne - Throws a nice over the middle TD for about 15-20 yards. It was one of those high, back of the endzone catches by the TE. Can't see who it was though...
Henne - Throws over the right side middle, bad pass in traffic, almost picked off....
Henne - Tries to dump one underneath, falls incomplete in heavy coverage....
------------------------------------
McCown - Shotgun, nobody open, takes off running, 5 yards...
McCown - Drops back and throws the ball into the ground. Not sure what happened really, bad pass though....
McCown - Throws to the back of the endzone to TE, bobbled, almost picked, and then caught for a TD. YIKES!!! That was very ugly....
McCown - Throws out to the right side for about 5 yards.....
--------------------------------------
~ Had to leave camp about 20 minutes early. I highly doubt that I missed anything earth shattering.....
~ Final Thoughts ~
-------------------
Well, this certainly wasn't what I would consider a very inspiring effort today. They looked winded, tired, unfocused, and not really interested in practicing today. There's less than a week to go before we face Tampa, and to be as brutally honest as I know how, this team isn't showing many / any real signs of improvement. Time will ultimately tell what the future holds, but this hasn't been a very impressive / physical training camp thus far in my opinion....
IN TUNA WE TRUST....
