I thought today just might not be my day. I went to special teams practice today, and left just a little early, and apparently I missed a nice connection on a 45 yard TD to Ginn, then I drove all the way to Key Largo and the boat would not start, then I decided to go back up to Davie to check out the evening practice. It rained almost all the way up, and I thought it was going to be Bubble practice. I was just a little late, and saw people leaving when I drove up. They were in the bubble and I was just about to go home and hide under my covers because of the luck I'd had all day. It was clearing up outside and I saw them bringing stuff out to the field so I stuck around, and out came the team after a few minutes. My luck has changed! My first practice seeing the team in pads!!!
They separated into groups so I started watching the Qb's, who were off on their own, working with two coaches (acting as receivers). They were doing a checkdown drill. Making them go thru progressions. I think I know why they're doing it too. It's for a quick fly route and specifically designed for Ginn as the Flanker. There were no running of routes done here, but instead they placed one person 25 yards up the sideline, and placed the other in front of the MLB. The first pass was thrown deep as if the Flanker got behind his man, then the second was done with the Qb faking to the fly pattern and then dumping it off to the Rb in front of the Lb. They started out slow and took turns then slowly got faster and faster. I thought this was kind of interesting and might have missed a little of the things going on, on the main field but not much.
When the Qb's came over to the main field they split into two groups. One group doing middle drills, and the other doing one on one passing in the red zone. Lets start out with the first play in the middle drill. Ronnie Brown took the handoff and found a hole. He burst thru the hole, and had a lane open, then out of nowhere comes Renaldo Hill. Brown was running a little too upright and Hill just stepped into his lane and knocked the snot out of Brown, who did not make it one inch farther. He was knocked backwards right on his ....keester. Brown took it pretty well though. He got right up and started running again. Also let me add that Chapman did pretty good here, and Lorenzo Booker not as good. However, Booker did real real well catching wheel routes later on in practice.
One on one and middle drills were going on at the same time, on the same field so it was just a little tough to catch everything but a couple of plays later Chris Chambers makes a real nice Chamberesk grab in the endzone over Johnson, who got beat a few times tonight! The pass was a little high so when Chambers turned he had only a second to think. He just leaped up and back and made a nice catch for a Td, landing fairly softly on his back. Like I said, things were happening kind of fast so I missed who threw it but I did not miss who threw the next nice pass. Trent Green found Ted Ginn Jr with a perfectly thrown pass for a Td. Ginn ran a perfect post pattern and had Will Allen right on him. The pass was barely out of Allen's reach, and landed perfectly in stride in Ginn's chest!!!
Those were kind of highlight plays for the offense now lets break down the individuals just a bit.
Trent Green is making some real nice passes. Those perfectly thrown in stride type passes that we've missed around he for some time! He is not always perfect though. He was picked of by Daniel's. A pass that I would think he won't make in a game. He had no business throwing it because Daniel's did not have to move. Daniel's took off into the crowd of players who were watching from behind the play. It was funny because the offensive players out of the play were acting like they were going to tackle him and here comes Zach flying playfully into the crowd. Anyway back to Green. He is coming along very well considering the time he has to throw the ball, and having to throw to a new bunch of players.
Beck impresses me more and more. The first team (with Green, and Lemon) had trouble moving the ball in the redzone 11 on 11's so in comes Beck, who immediately throws a perfect Td strike to Kerry Reed. Beck is surely not perfect, and has much to learn but he teaches me things everyday. Not as much in a football sense but in the fact that you can tell he is working hard to become an NFL caliber Qb. We'll see soon enough how it pans out. His mechanics are very good, he loves to look off the safety, he has a nice move to get out of trouble in the pocket, and he's very accurate.
Lemon has been OK but kind of quiet if you ask me. One thing he showed tonight was that when he was in trouble in the pocket, he can move. He made a nice pass to Peele but he, like most of the Qb's, was getting harassed by the defensive line. Lemon worked the first part of a drill they call move the chains. This drill took a while for the offense to move the chains to the far side of the field. They used mostly running plays with Chapman as his back but it really did not matter. The defense was all over the offense on this drill.
Both Chamber's and Booker had some nice receptions tonight. Both also dropped a pass each, and since I have not mentioned Booker yet. He had a real nice Td catch running right behind the goal post. He had to reach for it while he was draped on by the Cb. Chambers also had a pass go right thru his hands.
Ginn had that nice Td catch, and was covered almost all night by Jason Allen. I'll call it a draw because Allen actually stuck with him pretty well, and batted away two passes.
Hagan dropped two passes tonight and caught one nice Td pass in the one on one's. He was also overthrown once that would have scored.
Hakim had a nice Td catch in the corner of the endzone, and he had two other catches that I noticed.
PK Sam is running some nice routes. One in particular is the curl route. I like the way he sells it as a fly pattern. As soon as the Cb starts to turn so not to let him get behind him, he stops pretty much on a dime. He also works his feet pretty well on the sidelines.
Sutton was kind of quiet tonight and he dropped an easy pass on a slant route and was overthrown the one time he had a chance at a Td.
Kerry Reed continues to improve. He showed nice footwork on a nicely thrown pass from Beck, caught a beautiful Td pass from Beck, and another Td from Green. He caught 5 or 6 passes on the night. No drops, and was drawing praise from Wr coaches.
I guess Anderson is not # 49? He is a big dude, and runs pretty good. He hooked up with Beck for a nice Td, and caught one other pass on the sidelines.
They gave that Juggernaut quite a few times, running and passing. He is not the swiftest of feet when running the ball, but you can sure here when contact is made. I forgot which defensive player is was but Mauia caught a swing pass in the flat and was met almost as soon as he turned. He did not know the defender was going to pop him as soon as he faced front but the defender might want to think twice about it in the future. It would have knocked the normal FB on his butt in most cases because it was a good hit. What it did though, was it stood Mauia straight up, while the defender crumbled to the ground.
The offensive line had Mormino, and Alabi continued to not only work with the starting unit, but they worked solely with them. Hadnot, and Shelton are working second and third team all night.
This offensive line is a work in progress as you all probably already know, but let me add that the progress is going to take some time. During team drills (7-7, and 11-11) quite a few of the nice passes I mentioned were borderline sacks or were sacks!
Mormino is doing pretty well though. He is a pretty tough player. Alabi picked up Traylor on one play, and held his ground. Satele going against Traylor is nothing but a good thing too. Carey gave up an easy sack to Taylor, but looked pretty good otherwise. Esera looked pretty good with the second team, Ingram did not.
OK I'm tired and need sleep.
Feel free to ask any questions and I'll be sure to get a report on the defense tomorrow. Hopefully before noon. It will be hard to get it in any earlier because I have two important meetings tomorrow morning.....
Hope everyone enjoys the reading........
They separated into groups so I started watching the Qb's, who were off on their own, working with two coaches (acting as receivers). They were doing a checkdown drill. Making them go thru progressions. I think I know why they're doing it too. It's for a quick fly route and specifically designed for Ginn as the Flanker. There were no running of routes done here, but instead they placed one person 25 yards up the sideline, and placed the other in front of the MLB. The first pass was thrown deep as if the Flanker got behind his man, then the second was done with the Qb faking to the fly pattern and then dumping it off to the Rb in front of the Lb. They started out slow and took turns then slowly got faster and faster. I thought this was kind of interesting and might have missed a little of the things going on, on the main field but not much.
When the Qb's came over to the main field they split into two groups. One group doing middle drills, and the other doing one on one passing in the red zone. Lets start out with the first play in the middle drill. Ronnie Brown took the handoff and found a hole. He burst thru the hole, and had a lane open, then out of nowhere comes Renaldo Hill. Brown was running a little too upright and Hill just stepped into his lane and knocked the snot out of Brown, who did not make it one inch farther. He was knocked backwards right on his ....keester. Brown took it pretty well though. He got right up and started running again. Also let me add that Chapman did pretty good here, and Lorenzo Booker not as good. However, Booker did real real well catching wheel routes later on in practice.
One on one and middle drills were going on at the same time, on the same field so it was just a little tough to catch everything but a couple of plays later Chris Chambers makes a real nice Chamberesk grab in the endzone over Johnson, who got beat a few times tonight! The pass was a little high so when Chambers turned he had only a second to think. He just leaped up and back and made a nice catch for a Td, landing fairly softly on his back. Like I said, things were happening kind of fast so I missed who threw it but I did not miss who threw the next nice pass. Trent Green found Ted Ginn Jr with a perfectly thrown pass for a Td. Ginn ran a perfect post pattern and had Will Allen right on him. The pass was barely out of Allen's reach, and landed perfectly in stride in Ginn's chest!!!
Those were kind of highlight plays for the offense now lets break down the individuals just a bit.
Trent Green is making some real nice passes. Those perfectly thrown in stride type passes that we've missed around he for some time! He is not always perfect though. He was picked of by Daniel's. A pass that I would think he won't make in a game. He had no business throwing it because Daniel's did not have to move. Daniel's took off into the crowd of players who were watching from behind the play. It was funny because the offensive players out of the play were acting like they were going to tackle him and here comes Zach flying playfully into the crowd. Anyway back to Green. He is coming along very well considering the time he has to throw the ball, and having to throw to a new bunch of players.
Beck impresses me more and more. The first team (with Green, and Lemon) had trouble moving the ball in the redzone 11 on 11's so in comes Beck, who immediately throws a perfect Td strike to Kerry Reed. Beck is surely not perfect, and has much to learn but he teaches me things everyday. Not as much in a football sense but in the fact that you can tell he is working hard to become an NFL caliber Qb. We'll see soon enough how it pans out. His mechanics are very good, he loves to look off the safety, he has a nice move to get out of trouble in the pocket, and he's very accurate.
Lemon has been OK but kind of quiet if you ask me. One thing he showed tonight was that when he was in trouble in the pocket, he can move. He made a nice pass to Peele but he, like most of the Qb's, was getting harassed by the defensive line. Lemon worked the first part of a drill they call move the chains. This drill took a while for the offense to move the chains to the far side of the field. They used mostly running plays with Chapman as his back but it really did not matter. The defense was all over the offense on this drill.
Both Chamber's and Booker had some nice receptions tonight. Both also dropped a pass each, and since I have not mentioned Booker yet. He had a real nice Td catch running right behind the goal post. He had to reach for it while he was draped on by the Cb. Chambers also had a pass go right thru his hands.
Ginn had that nice Td catch, and was covered almost all night by Jason Allen. I'll call it a draw because Allen actually stuck with him pretty well, and batted away two passes.
Hagan dropped two passes tonight and caught one nice Td pass in the one on one's. He was also overthrown once that would have scored.
Hakim had a nice Td catch in the corner of the endzone, and he had two other catches that I noticed.
PK Sam is running some nice routes. One in particular is the curl route. I like the way he sells it as a fly pattern. As soon as the Cb starts to turn so not to let him get behind him, he stops pretty much on a dime. He also works his feet pretty well on the sidelines.
Sutton was kind of quiet tonight and he dropped an easy pass on a slant route and was overthrown the one time he had a chance at a Td.
Kerry Reed continues to improve. He showed nice footwork on a nicely thrown pass from Beck, caught a beautiful Td pass from Beck, and another Td from Green. He caught 5 or 6 passes on the night. No drops, and was drawing praise from Wr coaches.
I guess Anderson is not # 49? He is a big dude, and runs pretty good. He hooked up with Beck for a nice Td, and caught one other pass on the sidelines.
They gave that Juggernaut quite a few times, running and passing. He is not the swiftest of feet when running the ball, but you can sure here when contact is made. I forgot which defensive player is was but Mauia caught a swing pass in the flat and was met almost as soon as he turned. He did not know the defender was going to pop him as soon as he faced front but the defender might want to think twice about it in the future. It would have knocked the normal FB on his butt in most cases because it was a good hit. What it did though, was it stood Mauia straight up, while the defender crumbled to the ground.
The offensive line had Mormino, and Alabi continued to not only work with the starting unit, but they worked solely with them. Hadnot, and Shelton are working second and third team all night.
This offensive line is a work in progress as you all probably already know, but let me add that the progress is going to take some time. During team drills (7-7, and 11-11) quite a few of the nice passes I mentioned were borderline sacks or were sacks!
Mormino is doing pretty well though. He is a pretty tough player. Alabi picked up Traylor on one play, and held his ground. Satele going against Traylor is nothing but a good thing too. Carey gave up an easy sack to Taylor, but looked pretty good otherwise. Esera looked pretty good with the second team, Ingram did not.
OK I'm tired and need sleep.
Feel free to ask any questions and I'll be sure to get a report on the defense tomorrow. Hopefully before noon. It will be hard to get it in any earlier because I have two important meetings tomorrow morning.....
Hope everyone enjoys the reading........
