- Joined
- Aug 21, 2011
- Messages
- 340
- Name
- Jim Fadler
QB's-Bradford looked excellent in the initial red zone drill and subsequent 7 on 7 stuff. They have put in numerous roll outs and waggles and those seem to work especially well in the red zone stuff. He showed great anticipation and touch on the shorter red zone routes and the ball was almost always out before the break. The defenders were matched up one-one in the red zone drill and a lot of the undrafted rookies were reduced to clutching and grabbing in those drills.
Today they finally showed some long routes and Sam really struggled there. Early on Givens broke free on Finnegan and if the ball had been thrown deeper or to the outside it would have been an easy TD. Instead it hung up and was to the middle of the field and Finnegan picked it off. Later in 11 on 11 Givens was about as open as you can get on a deep post and the ball hung up long enough for a safety to knock it away.
Clemons had several plays in both 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 where they should have blown the whistle after about 10 seconds and downed him and the ball still hadn't left. He did complete one of the lone deep balls to Quick for a TD.
My son and several people around me asked why Austin Davis wasn't drafted. He throws straight over the top, nice touch and quick release. The reports list him closer to 6:01 instead of the 6:02 listed by the Rams. He gets the majority of the 3rd team reps ( I think Brandstadter took one during 11 on 11). Most reports question his arm but he zings it pretty good in the short and intermediate routes. I have not seen him go long yet.
RB-Calvin Middleton has caught my eye from the start. His body lean reminds a little bit of Toston and he has shown he is a good pass catcher. Pead likes to start out on an off tackle or sweep to one side, once hide behind the blocker, bounce and cut back to the other side and accelerate into the weak side. Based on what I have seen so far he runs with really good vision and awareness of where the pursuit is coming from and how to bounce away.
I have yet to see Richardson.
FB-I think Ovie given good health is going to take the job from Miller. He goes through the hole in drills as lead with a vengeance seldom seen here since Hodgins. For a big guy he can really get low and get those tree trunks churning. He is quicker as a lead through the hole than Karney or just about anyone else we have had for quite a while.
TE-Either Kendricks was hurt (can't confirm that and he was not with the trainers) or he was absolutely buried in the dog house today. I don't believe a pass went his way all day long. Illinois Mike on the other hand looked great, ran some really nice seam routes and caught at least two really nice balls. Childers ran a really nice route in the red zone drill and promptly dropped it. Mike McNeil a 2nd year man from Nebraska and a local kid had a few moments and cheers from the local crowd.
WR-Givens can get deep, did so repeatedly but on short routes, option routes or anything that required him to do an adjustment to the defender he was way off. Early in the red zone drill he had a chance to break off a route and catch a back shoulder fade from Sam but failed to make the read, continued on and just looked lost when the ball hit the ground.
But when he went deep nobody could keep up with him including Jenkins.
I don't feel that I have a good read on Quick yet. My eyes are always elsewhere it seems. I do think he is a bit better at breaking the jam than I thought at first. He still needs to stay lower out of his stance but he has this shuffle with his feet he does off the line that none of the backs seem to be able to keep up with. He adjusted really well to the deep ball he caught from Clemons.
Pettis had a really good catch once again on a deep in route with a defender draped all over him.
Receivers worked extensively against the Dbacks on breaking contact and jams without the quarterbacks throwing to them.
I wasn't ever going to mention Gibson in my camp reports....been burned way too many times by MR. All World Practice Player but he looked good again. Thus endeth my commentary on Brandon Gibson for the preseason.
Amendola and Salas both got some time at the X split end today instead of the slot.
Oline-Made it a big point to watch the tackles today. Never saw Jason Smith block that well in passing downs. He and Dahl showed some team work several times in handling Long. I did not watch Saffold near as much so keep that in mind. I did read others that he did well so the times I watched him may not be the rule. He looked terrible when I was on him.
DLine-They are staying exclusively in the wide nine so far. If the offense motions a tight end to a side the DE slides to keep his head and shoulder outside the tight end and maintain outside leverage. The OLB step up into the gap in those situations. Quinn looked absolutely fantastic....really quick and fast in the times I saw him. He was almost always to the edge before Saffold coul counter.
Conrath remains the third guy in on the tackle spot and was at times dropping into coverage on zone blitzes and he looked really good and quick doing it. Darell Scott is buried right now, absolutely buried.
They did a form of the Oklahoma drill today but it was on the far field while the red zone drill was going on. Instead of everyone lining up it was just one on one stuff between the dline and oline.
Linebackers-Dunbar is the defensive version of Dahl I think. Its still practice and not live but he and Haggan look stout enough to handle this wide 9 defense step up into the gaps when the ends split out. I really never liked this defense very much. It seemed to just open up like the red sea on the first play of the game last year against the Rams. But in watching Long and Quinn I just see the huge potential for those two to cause sheer havoc in the backfields this year. I am going to watch tomorrow and see if they ever shift into a conventional front on running downs.
DBacks-The pecking order at CB is Finnegan, Jenkins, Fletcher and Johnson. Murphy did not practice today and was working with the trainers on the side as was Gordy. Those two seem locked in a battle for the fifth spot. Murphy says his ankle is fine, but it is heavily taped, heavily spatted and he wasn't running very free today. Some of the rookie safeties really got abused today in the red zone drill. Rodney McLeod from Virginia had made some plays earlier but his effort today consisted of getting beaten early and reducing to grabbing and hanging on mostly in vain.
Fletcher seems recovered more than could be humanly possible. I am very surprised by this and figured he might be done before camp opened. I would love to see him make it all the way back.
They called it a scrum in some of the post practice reports I read but Laurinaitis was throwing haymakers during that battle.....he looked like his Dad but not for fun in that encounter. Apparently Dahl was making mischief at the bottom of that particular pile up. I am not sure who Sims was angry at but he tossed his helmet and was ready to go toward the end of practice.
Whatever Justin Cole did he really lit up Blake Williams toward the end of practice....."Get off the fning field and I'm still the fing coach and f this and f that and blah blah blah......about five minutes later Cole was back out with the one. He seems to be the blitzer in the nickel package right now.
Zuerlein is a beast.
Follow me on twitter @jimiramsboy
Today they finally showed some long routes and Sam really struggled there. Early on Givens broke free on Finnegan and if the ball had been thrown deeper or to the outside it would have been an easy TD. Instead it hung up and was to the middle of the field and Finnegan picked it off. Later in 11 on 11 Givens was about as open as you can get on a deep post and the ball hung up long enough for a safety to knock it away.
Clemons had several plays in both 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 where they should have blown the whistle after about 10 seconds and downed him and the ball still hadn't left. He did complete one of the lone deep balls to Quick for a TD.
My son and several people around me asked why Austin Davis wasn't drafted. He throws straight over the top, nice touch and quick release. The reports list him closer to 6:01 instead of the 6:02 listed by the Rams. He gets the majority of the 3rd team reps ( I think Brandstadter took one during 11 on 11). Most reports question his arm but he zings it pretty good in the short and intermediate routes. I have not seen him go long yet.
RB-Calvin Middleton has caught my eye from the start. His body lean reminds a little bit of Toston and he has shown he is a good pass catcher. Pead likes to start out on an off tackle or sweep to one side, once hide behind the blocker, bounce and cut back to the other side and accelerate into the weak side. Based on what I have seen so far he runs with really good vision and awareness of where the pursuit is coming from and how to bounce away.
I have yet to see Richardson.
FB-I think Ovie given good health is going to take the job from Miller. He goes through the hole in drills as lead with a vengeance seldom seen here since Hodgins. For a big guy he can really get low and get those tree trunks churning. He is quicker as a lead through the hole than Karney or just about anyone else we have had for quite a while.
TE-Either Kendricks was hurt (can't confirm that and he was not with the trainers) or he was absolutely buried in the dog house today. I don't believe a pass went his way all day long. Illinois Mike on the other hand looked great, ran some really nice seam routes and caught at least two really nice balls. Childers ran a really nice route in the red zone drill and promptly dropped it. Mike McNeil a 2nd year man from Nebraska and a local kid had a few moments and cheers from the local crowd.
WR-Givens can get deep, did so repeatedly but on short routes, option routes or anything that required him to do an adjustment to the defender he was way off. Early in the red zone drill he had a chance to break off a route and catch a back shoulder fade from Sam but failed to make the read, continued on and just looked lost when the ball hit the ground.
But when he went deep nobody could keep up with him including Jenkins.
I don't feel that I have a good read on Quick yet. My eyes are always elsewhere it seems. I do think he is a bit better at breaking the jam than I thought at first. He still needs to stay lower out of his stance but he has this shuffle with his feet he does off the line that none of the backs seem to be able to keep up with. He adjusted really well to the deep ball he caught from Clemons.
Pettis had a really good catch once again on a deep in route with a defender draped all over him.
Receivers worked extensively against the Dbacks on breaking contact and jams without the quarterbacks throwing to them.
I wasn't ever going to mention Gibson in my camp reports....been burned way too many times by MR. All World Practice Player but he looked good again. Thus endeth my commentary on Brandon Gibson for the preseason.
Amendola and Salas both got some time at the X split end today instead of the slot.
Oline-Made it a big point to watch the tackles today. Never saw Jason Smith block that well in passing downs. He and Dahl showed some team work several times in handling Long. I did not watch Saffold near as much so keep that in mind. I did read others that he did well so the times I watched him may not be the rule. He looked terrible when I was on him.
DLine-They are staying exclusively in the wide nine so far. If the offense motions a tight end to a side the DE slides to keep his head and shoulder outside the tight end and maintain outside leverage. The OLB step up into the gap in those situations. Quinn looked absolutely fantastic....really quick and fast in the times I saw him. He was almost always to the edge before Saffold coul counter.
Conrath remains the third guy in on the tackle spot and was at times dropping into coverage on zone blitzes and he looked really good and quick doing it. Darell Scott is buried right now, absolutely buried.
They did a form of the Oklahoma drill today but it was on the far field while the red zone drill was going on. Instead of everyone lining up it was just one on one stuff between the dline and oline.
Linebackers-Dunbar is the defensive version of Dahl I think. Its still practice and not live but he and Haggan look stout enough to handle this wide 9 defense step up into the gaps when the ends split out. I really never liked this defense very much. It seemed to just open up like the red sea on the first play of the game last year against the Rams. But in watching Long and Quinn I just see the huge potential for those two to cause sheer havoc in the backfields this year. I am going to watch tomorrow and see if they ever shift into a conventional front on running downs.
DBacks-The pecking order at CB is Finnegan, Jenkins, Fletcher and Johnson. Murphy did not practice today and was working with the trainers on the side as was Gordy. Those two seem locked in a battle for the fifth spot. Murphy says his ankle is fine, but it is heavily taped, heavily spatted and he wasn't running very free today. Some of the rookie safeties really got abused today in the red zone drill. Rodney McLeod from Virginia had made some plays earlier but his effort today consisted of getting beaten early and reducing to grabbing and hanging on mostly in vain.
Fletcher seems recovered more than could be humanly possible. I am very surprised by this and figured he might be done before camp opened. I would love to see him make it all the way back.
They called it a scrum in some of the post practice reports I read but Laurinaitis was throwing haymakers during that battle.....he looked like his Dad but not for fun in that encounter. Apparently Dahl was making mischief at the bottom of that particular pile up. I am not sure who Sims was angry at but he tossed his helmet and was ready to go toward the end of practice.
Whatever Justin Cole did he really lit up Blake Williams toward the end of practice....."Get off the fning field and I'm still the fing coach and f this and f that and blah blah blah......about five minutes later Cole was back out with the one. He seems to be the blitzer in the nickel package right now.
Zuerlein is a beast.
Follow me on twitter @jimiramsboy
