PassRush
Drunken Sailor
I may be a professional fiction writer but this is my first attempt at any kind of sports writting. Please be gental
Mini-Camp report, day 2, morning session.
First off, for anyone that has never been to a mini-camp or training camp I highly recommend it. It feels almost like you are part of the team as you are sitting not more than twenty yards away from the field. You can hear the coaches and players talking and getting pumped up. You can actually hear from the coaches mouth the verbal diatribe he is giving to a missed assignment or a any other kind of trespass so distained by the coaches. Hell, the pro shop is worth the drive alone, if I had the money I would buy two of every product available, from game used facemasks and jerseys to key chains, memorabilia and the infamous, fear of Saban instilling straw hat of disapline.
With that, I will get to the business end of this report.
Defense
From the one session I saw, one of the more evident things was that the defense we have grown so accustomed to is changing, believe it or not for the better. I saw a lot more zone coverage this morning than I would have expected. Linebackers were fading back into coverage as well as an occasional defensive linemen on a blitz. From what I saw of the 11 on 11 drills we kept the two safeties deep as with our old defense. From the looks of things; with the confusing blitzes and coverages; we will be forcing a whole lot more turnovers. Most importantly, the players seemed to like it, especially the veterans who seem excited to turn up the voltage on an already solid defense.
linebackers
Fin-atic and I were sitting about forty or so feet from the defensive drills so I can go a bit more in depth about what I saw. First off let me say that Zack Thomas is a beast. He is all muscle now, especially his arms and chest, when he noted that he changed his weight plan a while back he was not lying. More importantly, I saw him spending a lot of time with Channing Crowder, coaching him on his tackling technique and other various aspects of his game. Crowder may very well be one of the best athletes on the team; he is fast, strong and he was speeding through the drills as fast as any other linebacker on the roster. Eddie Moore was wearing a red jersey and I am pretty sure it is to signify no contact in drills, otherwise he looked pretty good, as I would hope because I expect him to start come regular season. As a matter of fact, all of our linebackers looked pretty solid in the morning session. Junior Seau started practice but sat out after the first hour with an ice pack strapped to his hamstring. He seemed to be in some pain but he was walking and I believe I saw him doing some very light jogging latter on.
Defensive line
Jason Taylor appeared to have some pain in his right foot early in practice but returned to the field shortly. Given that, Taylor looked great. He is Jason Taylor, he looked to be exciting and like Thomas was spending a lot of time with Matt Roth and other defensive ends giving them pointers. Keith Traylor looked to be a bit out of shape, forgive the understatement if you say Muck’s pictures; he looks to be pregnant. From what I could see of the interior defensive line though, he looked to be plugging up the hole quite well. Matt Roth was very impressive. He was attentive to the coaching staff and veteran linemen. I also noticed that in drills he spent a lot of time in the backfield.
Safeties and corners
Unfortunately I did not get a lot of opportunity to see the safeties and corners except for the 11 on 11 drills, however in the interest of a comprehensive report I will give you what I have. Travis Daniels was running with the first team defense once again and he did a fairly good job of it. He is developing quick and weather he starts or takes the nickel position he should be adequate. Sam Madison made a few outstanding plays today. The one that stands out in my mind was an interception on AJ Feeley in a 7 on 7 drill, Madison was covering the flat toward the sideline, AJ floated one high to a back(I could not tell which), Madison makes his move, gets up high and picks the ball off, I was very impressed.
That is all for now. Stay tuned, tomorrow I will type up the offense report. There is also a slim possibility that I may be going to the morning session again tomorrow, if so I will factor that into the report.
Mini-Camp report, day 2, morning session.
First off, for anyone that has never been to a mini-camp or training camp I highly recommend it. It feels almost like you are part of the team as you are sitting not more than twenty yards away from the field. You can hear the coaches and players talking and getting pumped up. You can actually hear from the coaches mouth the verbal diatribe he is giving to a missed assignment or a any other kind of trespass so distained by the coaches. Hell, the pro shop is worth the drive alone, if I had the money I would buy two of every product available, from game used facemasks and jerseys to key chains, memorabilia and the infamous, fear of Saban instilling straw hat of disapline.
With that, I will get to the business end of this report.
Defense
From the one session I saw, one of the more evident things was that the defense we have grown so accustomed to is changing, believe it or not for the better. I saw a lot more zone coverage this morning than I would have expected. Linebackers were fading back into coverage as well as an occasional defensive linemen on a blitz. From what I saw of the 11 on 11 drills we kept the two safeties deep as with our old defense. From the looks of things; with the confusing blitzes and coverages; we will be forcing a whole lot more turnovers. Most importantly, the players seemed to like it, especially the veterans who seem excited to turn up the voltage on an already solid defense.
linebackers
Fin-atic and I were sitting about forty or so feet from the defensive drills so I can go a bit more in depth about what I saw. First off let me say that Zack Thomas is a beast. He is all muscle now, especially his arms and chest, when he noted that he changed his weight plan a while back he was not lying. More importantly, I saw him spending a lot of time with Channing Crowder, coaching him on his tackling technique and other various aspects of his game. Crowder may very well be one of the best athletes on the team; he is fast, strong and he was speeding through the drills as fast as any other linebacker on the roster. Eddie Moore was wearing a red jersey and I am pretty sure it is to signify no contact in drills, otherwise he looked pretty good, as I would hope because I expect him to start come regular season. As a matter of fact, all of our linebackers looked pretty solid in the morning session. Junior Seau started practice but sat out after the first hour with an ice pack strapped to his hamstring. He seemed to be in some pain but he was walking and I believe I saw him doing some very light jogging latter on.
Defensive line
Jason Taylor appeared to have some pain in his right foot early in practice but returned to the field shortly. Given that, Taylor looked great. He is Jason Taylor, he looked to be exciting and like Thomas was spending a lot of time with Matt Roth and other defensive ends giving them pointers. Keith Traylor looked to be a bit out of shape, forgive the understatement if you say Muck’s pictures; he looks to be pregnant. From what I could see of the interior defensive line though, he looked to be plugging up the hole quite well. Matt Roth was very impressive. He was attentive to the coaching staff and veteran linemen. I also noticed that in drills he spent a lot of time in the backfield.
Safeties and corners
Unfortunately I did not get a lot of opportunity to see the safeties and corners except for the 11 on 11 drills, however in the interest of a comprehensive report I will give you what I have. Travis Daniels was running with the first team defense once again and he did a fairly good job of it. He is developing quick and weather he starts or takes the nickel position he should be adequate. Sam Madison made a few outstanding plays today. The one that stands out in my mind was an interception on AJ Feeley in a 7 on 7 drill, Madison was covering the flat toward the sideline, AJ floated one high to a back(I could not tell which), Madison makes his move, gets up high and picks the ball off, I was very impressed.
That is all for now. Stay tuned, tomorrow I will type up the offense report. There is also a slim possibility that I may be going to the morning session again tomorrow, if so I will factor that into the report.
