Dude
Seasoned Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2003
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Well, I went to the practice today expecting to see a very different team from past weeks. I thought the loss Friday might really shake things up and turn everything more military-like and with a no-nonsense attitude. To my pleasant surprise, it didn’t look like the team’s morale was affected at all. The DB’s were still vocally all over each other with every dropped ball in the drills, Jim Bates was still running around giving high-5’s after good plays and Jay & Brian looked like they were laughing it up a couple of times between reps. The only noticeable difference was that Wanny seemed a little more intense. He was actively coaching and getting more involved then I can recall recently.
And the practice was sharp for the most part. The weather didn’t seem to cause the sloppy play I saw last week when the field was wet. And today it rained for most of the practice. Even when the rain got so bad it drove me from the stands to hide under the overhang for a while, the players didn’t miss a beat. The plays were crisp and the focus could not have been any better. Even though there were not many big plays today, it was still a very confident building practice.
Yes, Jay was back practicing today!!! And looked good! His throws were on target and had nice velocity and a tight spiral. He did have an int on a nice play by #20 Buckley tipping it up in the air and #21 Fletcher coming down with it. That and one poorly thrown ball that looked like it slipped out of his hands because of the rain were all his bad throws. The rest looked real impressive.
Griese and Sage also looked good today but didn’t really stand out like Jay did. Neither of them look as confident in the pocket or get rid of the ball as quickly. Griese had a fumbled snap exchange but I didn’t see it well enough to tell who was at fault, but #27 Freeman pounced on it for the recovery. Griese also looked a little more mobile in the pocket today avoiding the rush at times.
I didn’t see #95 Tim-Bo out there at all.
#7 Royals was out there but didn’t kick
#17 Simmons was dressed and practiced in all the drills but I didn’t see him have a catch in any of the O vs. D stuff.
Chambers & McKnight practiced
They started with kicking drills and spent a lot of time practicing punting. #92 Zgonina was handling the long snapping and really struggled. He tends to snap the ball high and #1 Stemke had several he had to jump for to get. He had one that went right over the punter’s head and would have been a disaster in a game. I’m starting to realize that maybe Muck has a good point w/ how important the long snapper is. From what I saw today, if we do sign someone else just to snap, I won’t bitch at all about the ‘wasted’ roster spot.
Also, Stemke was not punting near as well as he did Friday. The kicks were much shorter and looked ugly in the air. The hang time was fair.
After the kicking they broke into position drills. I watched the QB’s & WR’s as best I could on the far field. One play I noticed them practicing a bunch was the QB doing a play-fake to the RB then dropping back, looking the other way, then coming back to the RB in the flat. RW & #30 looked especially good catching the ball in the flat.
Seau – I can’t get enough of watching this guy. He got into the backfield on 3-4 occasions. He made plays in the middle drill, 7 vs. 7 and 11 vs. 11. Watching him closely on the pass rush I noticed a couple of things about his technique. He likes to line up between the guard/tackle gap and times his move perfectly to the snap. He immediately turns sideways then tries to squeeze through the hole before anyone can react. If someone does pickup his blitz he is already sideways and in great position to spin off the block. And if someone doesn’t get a hat on him… well you can imagine.
#54 Zach also had a nice play filling the hole quickly on a draw to RW. Other then that he was quiet today.
#88 Thompson caught a couple of nice passes from Fiedler. One in particular was a great catch on the sideline when, for one of the few times, #74 Smith handled JT to the outside and bought Fiedler more time to find him.
#80 McKnight – had 3 catches from Jay, but nothing special. One was on a play where I thought #93 Wally had the sack but the play continued.
#84 Chambers had a nice catch over the middle from Jay. And then a little later had a BEAUTIFUL one handed catch on the first deep ball attempted in the practice. Jay looked like the ball slipped out of his hand a little and Chambers adjusted well to the under thrown ball coming down with it. He had another nice catch on a slant after Madison missed the jam at the line and got behind by 2 steps. Would have been a huge gain. He would have had another catch from Fiedler when after a pump fake Jay put the ball right on the money, but #22 Wooden got there at the last second to break it up.
#16 Newson also had a couple of nice grabs. One was a nice sideline catch on the far side tip-toeing to stay inside the bounds line. He also had one on the same looking intermediate out pattern but to the near side this time from Sage.
RW – ran with authority, but not much room up the middle. On the first play of the middle drill he showed some good speed, not finding a hole he bounced it outside for a nice gain. But then on the next play, Seau knifed in to meet RW 5 yards in the backfield. Later in the 11 vs. 11 he broke a nice run to the outside before #52 Greenwood could get to him. His best run of the day came when he cut back inside the blitz of #20 Buckley and found nothing but daylight. Huge gainer! Did I mention this guy is fast?
#92 Zgonina looked much better filling in for Tim-Bo then he did long snapping. There was very little running room up the middle today, and #92 & #64 held their ground very well.
#47 Edwards had the first good run of the day cutting inside the charge of #22 Wooden on the left side for a nice gain. In general he looked very strong showing good bursts of speed. He had a great break away run late in the practice. One thing I noticed is he sometimes dives through the hole making good yardage as he lands on the other side, but I remember thinking ‘I wonder if there were more yards to be had there if he kept on his feet?’
#30 Femi stood out today. He looks very fast for a FB. I noticed a couple of times he went in motion and lined up as a WR, then just before the snap he shifted back to his regular FB spot and did a nice job lead blocking for the RB. He also did a nice job catching a ball from Griese on the flat then putting a great move on #57 Jenkins breaking free with no contact.
#28 Minor had a few good plays including getting the most out of a small hole in the line in the middle drill on one rep. He had a couple of other nice runs. He also had nice catch in the flat from Griese but with Seau right behind him pushing him out of bounds for only a 5-7 yard gain.
#99 JT came up huge today. 3-4 sacks (hard to tell b/c they let the play continue if possible). He had his way with #74 Smith on many occasions usually beating him with speed to the outside. He had success with about every move he tried vs. Smith but I especially liked when he would take a quick step to the inside then big time speed to the outside circling him to the QB. It worked kinda like a back door pick in basketball. He looks very quick. One play #74 Smith fought hard for a couple of seconds then JT finally won and flushed Fiedler from the pocket. He didn’t get the sack, but was right there chasing Jay 20 yards down the field.
#24 Knight had a great play meeting RW in the hole at the LOS and putting a nice shoulder into Ricky’s chest knocking him backwards.
#87 Tolver – had a few good grabs including a nice bullet from Griese. Also had a great 25+ yard catch on a well thrown ball from Griese beating #25 Lowe who was in coverage
#85 Donald Lee also looked good catching the ball. He beat #50 rounding the corner in the flat on one play and looked ready to put a stiff-arm if anyone got near him. He also had a great catch reaching back for a slightly under thrown ball deep down the middle from Griese. He almost had another great catch from Griese on a long curl route but #52 Greenwood got his hand in between Lee and the ball and managed to rip it out just before they hit the ground. Nice play by Greenwood. Griese & Lee made up for the miss a few plays later with a perfectly placed touch pass down the middle of the field caught between nice coverage from #36 & #42. the catch was good, but the throw was perfect.
#83 Baker – Had a good catch on a well run square-in pattern from Griese for a big gain down the middle of the field. Nice solid throw and catch.
#32 Rogers – I saw him bobble a couple of catches before coming down with them that he should have caught cleanly. That scared me a little, but once he gets the ball in the open field… look out! He looked really good on one screen where he still had #62 and #69 leading him 10 yards down the field. He’s so quick the LB trailing the play had no shot at him. He is also really good at making people miss. I really like the option of using him on screens and as a scat back.
#26 Henry – had one good run late in the practice busting through the left side of the line for a nice gain. He had a quiet practice, but looked good on that play.
#59 DE Callens got in the backfield twice. Once he would have got a sack, the other time he disrupted the play pretty well and caused an incomplete hurrying Sage.
And the practice was sharp for the most part. The weather didn’t seem to cause the sloppy play I saw last week when the field was wet. And today it rained for most of the practice. Even when the rain got so bad it drove me from the stands to hide under the overhang for a while, the players didn’t miss a beat. The plays were crisp and the focus could not have been any better. Even though there were not many big plays today, it was still a very confident building practice.
Yes, Jay was back practicing today!!! And looked good! His throws were on target and had nice velocity and a tight spiral. He did have an int on a nice play by #20 Buckley tipping it up in the air and #21 Fletcher coming down with it. That and one poorly thrown ball that looked like it slipped out of his hands because of the rain were all his bad throws. The rest looked real impressive.
Griese and Sage also looked good today but didn’t really stand out like Jay did. Neither of them look as confident in the pocket or get rid of the ball as quickly. Griese had a fumbled snap exchange but I didn’t see it well enough to tell who was at fault, but #27 Freeman pounced on it for the recovery. Griese also looked a little more mobile in the pocket today avoiding the rush at times.
I didn’t see #95 Tim-Bo out there at all.
#7 Royals was out there but didn’t kick
#17 Simmons was dressed and practiced in all the drills but I didn’t see him have a catch in any of the O vs. D stuff.
Chambers & McKnight practiced
They started with kicking drills and spent a lot of time practicing punting. #92 Zgonina was handling the long snapping and really struggled. He tends to snap the ball high and #1 Stemke had several he had to jump for to get. He had one that went right over the punter’s head and would have been a disaster in a game. I’m starting to realize that maybe Muck has a good point w/ how important the long snapper is. From what I saw today, if we do sign someone else just to snap, I won’t bitch at all about the ‘wasted’ roster spot.
Also, Stemke was not punting near as well as he did Friday. The kicks were much shorter and looked ugly in the air. The hang time was fair.
After the kicking they broke into position drills. I watched the QB’s & WR’s as best I could on the far field. One play I noticed them practicing a bunch was the QB doing a play-fake to the RB then dropping back, looking the other way, then coming back to the RB in the flat. RW & #30 looked especially good catching the ball in the flat.
Seau – I can’t get enough of watching this guy. He got into the backfield on 3-4 occasions. He made plays in the middle drill, 7 vs. 7 and 11 vs. 11. Watching him closely on the pass rush I noticed a couple of things about his technique. He likes to line up between the guard/tackle gap and times his move perfectly to the snap. He immediately turns sideways then tries to squeeze through the hole before anyone can react. If someone does pickup his blitz he is already sideways and in great position to spin off the block. And if someone doesn’t get a hat on him… well you can imagine.
#54 Zach also had a nice play filling the hole quickly on a draw to RW. Other then that he was quiet today.
#88 Thompson caught a couple of nice passes from Fiedler. One in particular was a great catch on the sideline when, for one of the few times, #74 Smith handled JT to the outside and bought Fiedler more time to find him.
#80 McKnight – had 3 catches from Jay, but nothing special. One was on a play where I thought #93 Wally had the sack but the play continued.
#84 Chambers had a nice catch over the middle from Jay. And then a little later had a BEAUTIFUL one handed catch on the first deep ball attempted in the practice. Jay looked like the ball slipped out of his hand a little and Chambers adjusted well to the under thrown ball coming down with it. He had another nice catch on a slant after Madison missed the jam at the line and got behind by 2 steps. Would have been a huge gain. He would have had another catch from Fiedler when after a pump fake Jay put the ball right on the money, but #22 Wooden got there at the last second to break it up.
#16 Newson also had a couple of nice grabs. One was a nice sideline catch on the far side tip-toeing to stay inside the bounds line. He also had one on the same looking intermediate out pattern but to the near side this time from Sage.
RW – ran with authority, but not much room up the middle. On the first play of the middle drill he showed some good speed, not finding a hole he bounced it outside for a nice gain. But then on the next play, Seau knifed in to meet RW 5 yards in the backfield. Later in the 11 vs. 11 he broke a nice run to the outside before #52 Greenwood could get to him. His best run of the day came when he cut back inside the blitz of #20 Buckley and found nothing but daylight. Huge gainer! Did I mention this guy is fast?
#92 Zgonina looked much better filling in for Tim-Bo then he did long snapping. There was very little running room up the middle today, and #92 & #64 held their ground very well.
#47 Edwards had the first good run of the day cutting inside the charge of #22 Wooden on the left side for a nice gain. In general he looked very strong showing good bursts of speed. He had a great break away run late in the practice. One thing I noticed is he sometimes dives through the hole making good yardage as he lands on the other side, but I remember thinking ‘I wonder if there were more yards to be had there if he kept on his feet?’
#30 Femi stood out today. He looks very fast for a FB. I noticed a couple of times he went in motion and lined up as a WR, then just before the snap he shifted back to his regular FB spot and did a nice job lead blocking for the RB. He also did a nice job catching a ball from Griese on the flat then putting a great move on #57 Jenkins breaking free with no contact.
#28 Minor had a few good plays including getting the most out of a small hole in the line in the middle drill on one rep. He had a couple of other nice runs. He also had nice catch in the flat from Griese but with Seau right behind him pushing him out of bounds for only a 5-7 yard gain.
#99 JT came up huge today. 3-4 sacks (hard to tell b/c they let the play continue if possible). He had his way with #74 Smith on many occasions usually beating him with speed to the outside. He had success with about every move he tried vs. Smith but I especially liked when he would take a quick step to the inside then big time speed to the outside circling him to the QB. It worked kinda like a back door pick in basketball. He looks very quick. One play #74 Smith fought hard for a couple of seconds then JT finally won and flushed Fiedler from the pocket. He didn’t get the sack, but was right there chasing Jay 20 yards down the field.
#24 Knight had a great play meeting RW in the hole at the LOS and putting a nice shoulder into Ricky’s chest knocking him backwards.
#87 Tolver – had a few good grabs including a nice bullet from Griese. Also had a great 25+ yard catch on a well thrown ball from Griese beating #25 Lowe who was in coverage
#85 Donald Lee also looked good catching the ball. He beat #50 rounding the corner in the flat on one play and looked ready to put a stiff-arm if anyone got near him. He also had a great catch reaching back for a slightly under thrown ball deep down the middle from Griese. He almost had another great catch from Griese on a long curl route but #52 Greenwood got his hand in between Lee and the ball and managed to rip it out just before they hit the ground. Nice play by Greenwood. Griese & Lee made up for the miss a few plays later with a perfectly placed touch pass down the middle of the field caught between nice coverage from #36 & #42. the catch was good, but the throw was perfect.
#83 Baker – Had a good catch on a well run square-in pattern from Griese for a big gain down the middle of the field. Nice solid throw and catch.
#32 Rogers – I saw him bobble a couple of catches before coming down with them that he should have caught cleanly. That scared me a little, but once he gets the ball in the open field… look out! He looked really good on one screen where he still had #62 and #69 leading him 10 yards down the field. He’s so quick the LB trailing the play had no shot at him. He is also really good at making people miss. I really like the option of using him on screens and as a scat back.
#26 Henry – had one good run late in the practice busting through the left side of the line for a nice gain. He had a quiet practice, but looked good on that play.
#59 DE Callens got in the backfield twice. Once he would have got a sack, the other time he disrupted the play pretty well and caused an incomplete hurrying Sage.
