Wednesday Evenings Practice report Offense and Defense
Another nice crowd tonight at Camp Satan.
I swear I feel like he is manipulating the fans too. No stopping at the fence, no standing up too long, no standing against the wall, no no no. Actually the only reason I don't like it is because now the seats in the back get filled up.
I guess I was right, at least so far. The day they have two practices they practice in shorts and shoulder pads so I'm expecting full pads for tomorrow.
We had a spinning class going on today, with Traylor, Chester, and Holliday taking off to ride some poundage off their big butts.
OK lets get this started.
Qb's
Feeley was once again locking onto his receivers. He is also throwing the ball too high, too much. Within fifteen yards he was fine but most of the throws longer than that were either off, or the receiver had to make some kind of adjustment. His best pass of the night was to Derrius Thompson, who had to reach up over his head to get it. The pass was good, and scored a TD, but DT made it happen with a nice spin move. He and Thompson do have some good timing though.
Ferrotte shows these flashes of brilliance. Things that make you go Hmmmm, or Woooooo. Don't worry though, because before long he comes back to reality. He lofted a nice spiral in the corner of the end zone to Chambers, who made a nice tip toe the tulip catch for a TD. The crowd loved it. Then he throws a perfectly timed 30 yard pass, on a break off curl route to Josh Davis. Then threw a nice pass down the other sideline to Marty Booker, who dropped it. Booker might have tweaked a hammy on the play because he stayed on the sideline for a minute stretching his leg.
Sage had one pass I'd like to talk about for a second. He saw David Boston about to blow by his man. So to give him just a second, he took a step up into the pocket and launched a freaking lazer dart. Boston had to put his hands up quick because had he not, the ball might have got stuck in his face mask. Boston was having nothing of dropping that pass. He caught it right under the chin. The instant he caught it though, the momentum of how he had to throw his hands up, caused him to fall flat on his keester.
Berlin.............ok thats enough.
Wr's
Boston is running some nice routes, and looking very fast. One nice catch from him.
Booker got into the action with a couple of catches, and the one drop.
DT was doing OK, but it looked like he was nursing a hammy too after one pass thrown his way,
Chambers was in on that one TD. He had a chance for another on one pass that Ferrotte under threw, giving Daniels a chance at it. Chambers knocked it down.
Newsone was whooping up on one of the corners (see Cb's for who), catching two nice passes from both Qb's
Gilmore had one nice catch.
Maurice Mann dropped a perfectly thrown pass right in his mitts. He did not help his status of fodder at all.
Farmer had one catch, and some good YAC after. Howard was mad he got beat, and tried to lay some cheap wood on him.
Rb's
He he he, they let Wade Smith, and Rex Hadnot take a carry each tonight (dont take anything from it because they needed two bodies to carry the ball), and man them are two loads. Smith actually made a cut on his run, and looked like he may have played some Rb in his life before.
Gordon was looking pretty good, whenever he could (see why in the defensive section). He showed much less of the stutters this evening, making some nice cuts while moving forward.
Sammy Morris was wearing the red jersey but he was not shy about hitting the middle. He had the best runs of the evening on the inside runs. One of them was a nice swift cutback, clearing him into the open for a second, then a nice spin move to get a couple of more yards. A nice 15 yard run.
Ricky was being followed, or so it seemed by Crowder. Crowder was on him quick for the first couple of times that Ricky tried to get thru the middle. However, since the middle was being clogged rather well, Ricky bounced a couple of sweet runs to the outside, and gained about 20 yds on one of them. Man he has got some speed, and it showed on a swing pass he got. He made one nice cut, and was off and running. He got touched about 25 yds but kept right on going, making the crowd yelll.......go ricky go ricky. Not to cut on him, but this is a pro ricky crowd big time, and he would get screams if he lost yards. Also not trying to cut on him but I wish he would shave because he looks worse than some homeless folks I see down my way. Still by far the best we got, and better than most teams wish they had, beard and all.
Harris made good on a couple of nice runs against the fourth team.
O-line
Maybe a step back this evening here.
McKinney was having lunch, and a rookie was serving it to him.
They let Macintosh play with the starters at RT tonight. He did switch with MacDugal though. I think they wanted to give Dugal a break there, because I thought that he was having some of the better practices of all the lineman so far. OR maybe they are getting prepared to move someone into Jeno James spot? Is Macdugal too slow to play LG? Or maybe the plan is move Dugal to RG and play Hadnot at Center? Who knows but there is some movement going on tonight.
James must have been sick because he was not having a good night at all. I read that he was sent to the hospital, so a pass he gets, for now.
Alabi had been switching from LT to RT until tonight, when he worked soley at backup LT. He took it too JT on one play, but he got in a little cheap shot at the end. Then on the next play he tried to lock up with JT but he was holding JT's throat a little bit, cause JT to smack his arm away, and stare him down. JT's replacement was sent in immediately. Overall though this kid was doing OK.
Hadnot hasnot played any Center yet, but he is doing just fine at RG. He is getting beat once in a while, and coming right back for more.
St Clair is backup RG
The D
D-Line
This is one deep unit here.
No Manuel Wright.
They were working with JT, David Bowens, and Fleming tonight on hand slaps, and leverage motion.
I should not have to write much on Jason Taylor right? We know him, and saying he looks better than ever should sum it up. Oh OK here is one thing. They tried to run a reverse with Chambers tonight, and Taylor had it sniffed out from the get go. Chambers got the ball, and started to make a move back to get around the small crowd. All he saw was JT waiting for him with his arms opening. Chambers stopped on a dime though, made a nice move to the inside (in a game that cut was too late), and he high tailed it thru the line. OK lets say he got away from JT. He would have gained about 10 up the gut.
Kevin Carter is looking real good. He is getting plenty of push, and made a nice Int off a tipped JT ball. I heard that numnut Chris Berman in my ear singing rumblin stumblin bumbling. He can run for a huge man. No one was stopping him btw. They were lucky it was touch him good enough and the whistle blows. Carter is causing havoc on the right side, and giving Hadnot all he can handle. This is good for Hadnot to learn from, and he seems game.
Matt Walters has been a pleasant surprise so far. He has a non stop motor. He went up against Alabi a couple of times, and they almost got into it. he faired OK against Carey but no sacks.
Josh Shaw has been catching my eye more than once a practice. I noticed that he is not all the heavy, but he looks pretty darn strong.
Kevin Vickerson has a lot a lot of potential. Today he was giving McKinney fits during one on ones. He was one of the main Tackles clogging the middle with the backups. He also got some work with the first team and continued his beating on McKinney. He is in the mold of a Carter. Not only does his upper body look strong, his legs can drive. He is a good project if he is willing to put the effort in.
Roth is crazy. Speaking of motors. I can see why they used to sit him down at times in college. He does not like being beaten. He and Alabi were locked up in a stalemate, which means Roth lost, and man, he got one arm free and threw a punch into Alabi's stomach, and it was on. That was the closest to a fight yet. Alabi is cheating a little though. He is getting his mitt on peoples facemask giving him the leverage he needs. I'm waiting for the refs to start catching on to this. If they don't I think JT will let them know.
As I said earlier, the other main stays on the line were riding bikes. BTW, I herd that Chester says he is going to be ready, well he better lay off the rice because he is way out of shape.
Lb's
Now were talking here.
No Eddie Moore.?
Seau wears a Dolphins cap a lot.
Zach is working with the young guns all the time, and he is mixing it up real good during the middle drills.
Crowder is excellent at filling the gaps in this scheme. He was in on almost every one of the middle runs, making first or second contact. Man if he can stay healthy he might be the defensive steal of the draft. What a chiseled frame.
Spragen is casually becoming one of my favorites to watch. He has the football instincts in the running game that Zach has, but he is much bigger, and a real good hitter.
Winston Taylor is making some noise on third team. He is as big as Seau, and looks pretty fast.
Derrick Pope made a few nice reads tonight. I had him as missing in action until tonight.
Corey Jenkin was also in on a few plays.
The bottom line with the Lb's is that they are much deeper than last season, and with some big boys too. I have a feeling that by years end this defense will not be ranked 32 in rushing with such a deep rotation of solid defensive lineman, and with all the run stopping Lb's.
Db's
Hey Saban!!! We need a Safety, and a Corner.
A couple of people asked about Elam yesterday, and I did watch for him, but this was one night where he was not with the first team at all. He is working a lot with the ST's, and tonight he was with the third string/second string. He got caught out of place on one of the long throws to Kendall Newsone.
Daniels just continues to impress with how he reacts. He can play man or zone. What he has is a good burst. If a Wr makes a cut inside he can make up ground pretty quick. In a zone he is excellent at reading the Wr's hips, or the Qb's eyes. When Feeley is in, you can see him trying to keep his eyes on the Qb as much as he can. Right now he has earned to play with the starters.
Howard played better today. He was the nickel, and had one Int.
I read the post article where it said Bell made a nice hit on Ricky, well they were wrong, unless there were two nice hits on him. That was Tony Bua. Bua is getting there. He has not been out of place in two deep zones, and we all know he can hit so with some more teaching he could be a good Safety.
One thing I'll say about Bell is man, he is chiseled. I keep mistaking him for Crowder when he is on the sidelines. He's been starting but needs to keep his assignments. He has a tendency to break off his post early, which can mean trouble if a Wr gets by the corner on his side. That was Sammy Knights problem.
I don't know if Billy Parker is a corner or safety because he is not playing much safety. Maybe they are using him in the dime packages. Anyway, he was the corner that Newsone was killing tonight. He looked like he was standing still on one. All I could think of was the word good-bye. Good-bye Newsone, and good-bye Billy.
The Secondary has a lot of work to do, and it is beginning to worry me big time. They really need a playmaker at Safety, and one more good cover Corner, maybe two if no one steps up but the first three. At least we get to see them in a game next week, so we can see them in action for real.
OK, I'm done with this report. I'm whooped and its almost 5 am eastern time.
If there are any questions feel free to ask.
Remember that this is mearly my opinion, and I could have easily mistaken something somewhere. Afterall I'm human so don't kill me if I did.
Hope everyone enjoys the read.
I should be there again tomorrow.
Another nice crowd tonight at Camp Satan.
I swear I feel like he is manipulating the fans too. No stopping at the fence, no standing up too long, no standing against the wall, no no no. Actually the only reason I don't like it is because now the seats in the back get filled up.
I guess I was right, at least so far. The day they have two practices they practice in shorts and shoulder pads so I'm expecting full pads for tomorrow.
We had a spinning class going on today, with Traylor, Chester, and Holliday taking off to ride some poundage off their big butts.
OK lets get this started.
Qb's
Feeley was once again locking onto his receivers. He is also throwing the ball too high, too much. Within fifteen yards he was fine but most of the throws longer than that were either off, or the receiver had to make some kind of adjustment. His best pass of the night was to Derrius Thompson, who had to reach up over his head to get it. The pass was good, and scored a TD, but DT made it happen with a nice spin move. He and Thompson do have some good timing though.
Ferrotte shows these flashes of brilliance. Things that make you go Hmmmm, or Woooooo. Don't worry though, because before long he comes back to reality. He lofted a nice spiral in the corner of the end zone to Chambers, who made a nice tip toe the tulip catch for a TD. The crowd loved it. Then he throws a perfectly timed 30 yard pass, on a break off curl route to Josh Davis. Then threw a nice pass down the other sideline to Marty Booker, who dropped it. Booker might have tweaked a hammy on the play because he stayed on the sideline for a minute stretching his leg.
Sage had one pass I'd like to talk about for a second. He saw David Boston about to blow by his man. So to give him just a second, he took a step up into the pocket and launched a freaking lazer dart. Boston had to put his hands up quick because had he not, the ball might have got stuck in his face mask. Boston was having nothing of dropping that pass. He caught it right under the chin. The instant he caught it though, the momentum of how he had to throw his hands up, caused him to fall flat on his keester.
Berlin.............ok thats enough.
Wr's
Boston is running some nice routes, and looking very fast. One nice catch from him.
Booker got into the action with a couple of catches, and the one drop.
DT was doing OK, but it looked like he was nursing a hammy too after one pass thrown his way,
Chambers was in on that one TD. He had a chance for another on one pass that Ferrotte under threw, giving Daniels a chance at it. Chambers knocked it down.
Newsone was whooping up on one of the corners (see Cb's for who), catching two nice passes from both Qb's
Gilmore had one nice catch.
Maurice Mann dropped a perfectly thrown pass right in his mitts. He did not help his status of fodder at all.
Farmer had one catch, and some good YAC after. Howard was mad he got beat, and tried to lay some cheap wood on him.
Rb's
He he he, they let Wade Smith, and Rex Hadnot take a carry each tonight (dont take anything from it because they needed two bodies to carry the ball), and man them are two loads. Smith actually made a cut on his run, and looked like he may have played some Rb in his life before.
Gordon was looking pretty good, whenever he could (see why in the defensive section). He showed much less of the stutters this evening, making some nice cuts while moving forward.
Sammy Morris was wearing the red jersey but he was not shy about hitting the middle. He had the best runs of the evening on the inside runs. One of them was a nice swift cutback, clearing him into the open for a second, then a nice spin move to get a couple of more yards. A nice 15 yard run.
Ricky was being followed, or so it seemed by Crowder. Crowder was on him quick for the first couple of times that Ricky tried to get thru the middle. However, since the middle was being clogged rather well, Ricky bounced a couple of sweet runs to the outside, and gained about 20 yds on one of them. Man he has got some speed, and it showed on a swing pass he got. He made one nice cut, and was off and running. He got touched about 25 yds but kept right on going, making the crowd yelll.......go ricky go ricky. Not to cut on him, but this is a pro ricky crowd big time, and he would get screams if he lost yards. Also not trying to cut on him but I wish he would shave because he looks worse than some homeless folks I see down my way. Still by far the best we got, and better than most teams wish they had, beard and all.
Harris made good on a couple of nice runs against the fourth team.
O-line
Maybe a step back this evening here.
McKinney was having lunch, and a rookie was serving it to him.
They let Macintosh play with the starters at RT tonight. He did switch with MacDugal though. I think they wanted to give Dugal a break there, because I thought that he was having some of the better practices of all the lineman so far. OR maybe they are getting prepared to move someone into Jeno James spot? Is Macdugal too slow to play LG? Or maybe the plan is move Dugal to RG and play Hadnot at Center? Who knows but there is some movement going on tonight.
James must have been sick because he was not having a good night at all. I read that he was sent to the hospital, so a pass he gets, for now.
Alabi had been switching from LT to RT until tonight, when he worked soley at backup LT. He took it too JT on one play, but he got in a little cheap shot at the end. Then on the next play he tried to lock up with JT but he was holding JT's throat a little bit, cause JT to smack his arm away, and stare him down. JT's replacement was sent in immediately. Overall though this kid was doing OK.
Hadnot hasnot played any Center yet, but he is doing just fine at RG. He is getting beat once in a while, and coming right back for more.
St Clair is backup RG
The D
D-Line
This is one deep unit here.
No Manuel Wright.
They were working with JT, David Bowens, and Fleming tonight on hand slaps, and leverage motion.
I should not have to write much on Jason Taylor right? We know him, and saying he looks better than ever should sum it up. Oh OK here is one thing. They tried to run a reverse with Chambers tonight, and Taylor had it sniffed out from the get go. Chambers got the ball, and started to make a move back to get around the small crowd. All he saw was JT waiting for him with his arms opening. Chambers stopped on a dime though, made a nice move to the inside (in a game that cut was too late), and he high tailed it thru the line. OK lets say he got away from JT. He would have gained about 10 up the gut.
Kevin Carter is looking real good. He is getting plenty of push, and made a nice Int off a tipped JT ball. I heard that numnut Chris Berman in my ear singing rumblin stumblin bumbling. He can run for a huge man. No one was stopping him btw. They were lucky it was touch him good enough and the whistle blows. Carter is causing havoc on the right side, and giving Hadnot all he can handle. This is good for Hadnot to learn from, and he seems game.
Matt Walters has been a pleasant surprise so far. He has a non stop motor. He went up against Alabi a couple of times, and they almost got into it. he faired OK against Carey but no sacks.
Josh Shaw has been catching my eye more than once a practice. I noticed that he is not all the heavy, but he looks pretty darn strong.
Kevin Vickerson has a lot a lot of potential. Today he was giving McKinney fits during one on ones. He was one of the main Tackles clogging the middle with the backups. He also got some work with the first team and continued his beating on McKinney. He is in the mold of a Carter. Not only does his upper body look strong, his legs can drive. He is a good project if he is willing to put the effort in.
Roth is crazy. Speaking of motors. I can see why they used to sit him down at times in college. He does not like being beaten. He and Alabi were locked up in a stalemate, which means Roth lost, and man, he got one arm free and threw a punch into Alabi's stomach, and it was on. That was the closest to a fight yet. Alabi is cheating a little though. He is getting his mitt on peoples facemask giving him the leverage he needs. I'm waiting for the refs to start catching on to this. If they don't I think JT will let them know.
As I said earlier, the other main stays on the line were riding bikes. BTW, I herd that Chester says he is going to be ready, well he better lay off the rice because he is way out of shape.
Lb's
Now were talking here.
No Eddie Moore.?
Seau wears a Dolphins cap a lot.
Zach is working with the young guns all the time, and he is mixing it up real good during the middle drills.
Crowder is excellent at filling the gaps in this scheme. He was in on almost every one of the middle runs, making first or second contact. Man if he can stay healthy he might be the defensive steal of the draft. What a chiseled frame.
Spragen is casually becoming one of my favorites to watch. He has the football instincts in the running game that Zach has, but he is much bigger, and a real good hitter.
Winston Taylor is making some noise on third team. He is as big as Seau, and looks pretty fast.
Derrick Pope made a few nice reads tonight. I had him as missing in action until tonight.
Corey Jenkin was also in on a few plays.
The bottom line with the Lb's is that they are much deeper than last season, and with some big boys too. I have a feeling that by years end this defense will not be ranked 32 in rushing with such a deep rotation of solid defensive lineman, and with all the run stopping Lb's.
Db's
Hey Saban!!! We need a Safety, and a Corner.
A couple of people asked about Elam yesterday, and I did watch for him, but this was one night where he was not with the first team at all. He is working a lot with the ST's, and tonight he was with the third string/second string. He got caught out of place on one of the long throws to Kendall Newsone.
Daniels just continues to impress with how he reacts. He can play man or zone. What he has is a good burst. If a Wr makes a cut inside he can make up ground pretty quick. In a zone he is excellent at reading the Wr's hips, or the Qb's eyes. When Feeley is in, you can see him trying to keep his eyes on the Qb as much as he can. Right now he has earned to play with the starters.
Howard played better today. He was the nickel, and had one Int.
I read the post article where it said Bell made a nice hit on Ricky, well they were wrong, unless there were two nice hits on him. That was Tony Bua. Bua is getting there. He has not been out of place in two deep zones, and we all know he can hit so with some more teaching he could be a good Safety.
One thing I'll say about Bell is man, he is chiseled. I keep mistaking him for Crowder when he is on the sidelines. He's been starting but needs to keep his assignments. He has a tendency to break off his post early, which can mean trouble if a Wr gets by the corner on his side. That was Sammy Knights problem.
I don't know if Billy Parker is a corner or safety because he is not playing much safety. Maybe they are using him in the dime packages. Anyway, he was the corner that Newsone was killing tonight. He looked like he was standing still on one. All I could think of was the word good-bye. Good-bye Newsone, and good-bye Billy.
The Secondary has a lot of work to do, and it is beginning to worry me big time. They really need a playmaker at Safety, and one more good cover Corner, maybe two if no one steps up but the first three. At least we get to see them in a game next week, so we can see them in action for real.
OK, I'm done with this report. I'm whooped and its almost 5 am eastern time.
If there are any questions feel free to ask.
Remember that this is mearly my opinion, and I could have easily mistaken something somewhere. Afterall I'm human so don't kill me if I did.
Hope everyone enjoys the read.
I should be there again tomorrow.
