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- Sep 12, 2013
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- Wil Fay
Sorry for not getting this out last night - I went to a friends house after camp and was just fried by the time I got home.
As I'm sure you have seen from other reports - most of the action was on the middle field again so visibility wasn't ideal. Still, a promise is a promise so here is what I saw.
I took in camp with @CoachO and @RamzFanz which was a treat for yours truly. If you think reading what these guys write up gives you some insight, sit next to them and watch some football for a few hours.
The player of the day was Isaiah Pead and the runner up was Brad Smelley. Not what you expected to hear? Not what I expected to see - but both had days. Smelley just got a lot of targets and caught what came his way including a beautiful one handed sideline grab where he had to fully extend his left arm just to get a paw on the ball and then reeled it in. Pead was flashing more so with his route running - most noticeably one coming out of the backfield where he faked Ogletree out of his jock creating about 3 full yards of seperation (although the pass still didn't go his way).
Tre Mason not practicing up left the 1s with a committee of Bam Bam, Pead, and Chase Reynolds while Watts ran mostly w the 2s.
Speaking of Chase Reynolds, he and Harkey were the first guys out there. Foles and Mannion were soon after playing catch again - and again - if they didn't have numbers on I think most of you would look at the 2 warming up and gravitate towards Mannion.
Camp favorite Daniel Rodriguez came out early and took some punt returns catching some in trick fashion - but while I'm on him - a quick word. It's just one persons opinion, but he isn't likely at all to make the team. He is teeny. I love the story, and watching him, he clearly has the heart - but this final 53 man roster is going to be stacked - there is no room for a second Tavon Austin on the team - and that's basically what you are looking at with him. After practice Mannion, Rodriguez, Gurley, and another WR who I didn't recognize (no jersey at this point) stayed around and ran routes. Gurley next to Rodriguez looked like Rocky Balboa next to Thunderlips (for you Rocky III fans)
Anyway, back to practice. One thing I could see - and only because I was intent on focusing on him - was that Greg Robinson had a good practice. It's pretty much him and Quinn on most reps and he looks really good. He was very physical with him and on one run I saw him just crush Quinn to the inside - it clearly caught Quinn off balance.
Overall though, in the limited action I have seen - the offense runs better to the right than they do the left. It's hard to say why but that's what I've seen.
Up the middle? Not so good. In the 11 on 11 they ran these 4 plays in succession:
Run up the middle - stuffed by Brockers.
Run up the middle - stuffed by Donald.
Play action pass - short completion to Harkey
Run up the middle - eaten up by Donald 2 yards into the backfield.
As Coach O said, let's hope what we are seeing here is that our defense is just elite. And that may be the case. Aaron Donald continues to just wow me.
In the drills on the near field, there was some fire w the D Lineman. Hard to explain the drill but 5 guys lined up side by side - they would fire their feet and then belly to the ground and back up 2-3 times to gas them and then the coach would point in a direction and they would all sprint over to the sidelines where 3 balls would be on the ground. 3 balls for 5 guys to fight over. good drill.
Linebackers worked on wrapping up again. Ogletree sure looked athletic out there - but it wasn't full go.
With the DBs it was the Jenkins show again. He is the first to do every drill they do and Tru is second. Every last time.
They had some change of direction drills - short 4-5 yard bursts then a change of direction - sometimes 90 degrees and sometimes almost 180. It was the kind of drill that really separated the contenders from the pretenders - and you could see the difference between corners and safeties. Jenkins and Tru looked great and Joyner had a really nice looking rep in this drill as well. One guy who seemed to not have as good of body control in this drill was Imoan Claiborne - but I did only see the one rep for him.
Got a good look at Nick Fairley - not doing anything - just a good look at him and he looked very trim (for him). He didn't flash much that I saw - but other than seeing Aaron Donald running loose in the backfield, it's hard to appreciate the interior from the distances that we had to deal with.
Chris Long looked full of energy - if he was hobbled, I couldn't tell.
At one point the DBs had these visors on their helmets - they appeared to be meant as blinders of some sort. They ran 2 different one on one coverage drills wearing them - but I never figured out what the point was. If anyone knows - I'm curious.
In the passing offense, there is Jared Cook and then there is everyone else. Cook gets thrown to all the time.
Foles needs to get the ball out early to have success. The longer he holds it, the worse things go. When he double clutches it, when he pulls it down and scrambles - his accuracy and his decision making seem to suffer. Jenkins picked him off in 11v11 on a play he tried to extend. McCleod also had a pick on a deep sideline route that was intended for Bailey who never got close to it (defensive holding?)
Justice Cunningham had a good practice - he caught a few and was physical out there but I didn't like the way he walked back to the huddle - he looks like he is really sore. You can't see it in live action (which is good) but he seemed to be hurting.
A few more fights this practice, both very short lived. Brockers at the center of one and Will Hayes involved in the other.
Havenstein had a nice practice in pass protection - the tackles are about all you can see from that distance for O line play - but he looked solid.
Quick had some moments - watching him climb up to catch the high ones is fun. I saw him drop one - but he came down with most of them - one for a TD over Joyner who had no chance with the size mismatch.
Tavon ran what looked like a bad route that led to a Joyner INT. Didnt see much else from TA.
Harkey made a nice catch on a sideline route and then later had one fall off his hands deeper down the field. There is a lot of action in the flats in this offense.
In 11v11 I saw Quinn stuff a run with just his right arm while he was being blocked. Shortly after that, G Rob sealed him inside leading to a Tre Watts run to the left side for a big gain.
Chris Givens had a drop - only time I wrote down his number. I kept writing down 87 who was catching pass after pass and kept being surprised it was Brad Smelley.
Britt had a red zone TD catch up top.
Joyner made a big hit on Pead after a nice long run - the kind of hit that is probably frowned on by coaches in practice.
Forcing myself to watch the O lineman drills - the best footwork I saw came from Brown and Rhainey - it wasn't much of a drill - but you can see the athleticism. Wang was flaccid in this drill.
Gurley did some sprinting and looked like he is ready for Canton just running at 90% in a straight line.
They ran some plays coming off of our own goal line - and used the team to yell and scream and create a hostile crowd. The defense won a safety in this scenario - but the only reason unknown that is because a few players threw up the signal. I couldn't see the play. McCleods INT came in this scenario.
They then flipped it and the offense ran some red zone. Cook, Cook, Cook.
Ogletree had a nice goal line hit to save a TD. Even in the red zone - or maybe especially in the red zone - when Foles holds the ball too long, things go badly.
It appears the red zone passing plan is Cook, Kendricks, Quick, and Britt. Players under 6'2 need not apply.
Mannion, for as good as he looks, isn't getting many reps at all. They are giving Keenum every chance to win a job. The sooner they turn the 2s over to Mannion, the better.
I still didn't get a good look at Battle, I still want to see more interior OL play, and I can't wait for the scrimmage tonight.
As I'm sure you have seen from other reports - most of the action was on the middle field again so visibility wasn't ideal. Still, a promise is a promise so here is what I saw.
I took in camp with @CoachO and @RamzFanz which was a treat for yours truly. If you think reading what these guys write up gives you some insight, sit next to them and watch some football for a few hours.
The player of the day was Isaiah Pead and the runner up was Brad Smelley. Not what you expected to hear? Not what I expected to see - but both had days. Smelley just got a lot of targets and caught what came his way including a beautiful one handed sideline grab where he had to fully extend his left arm just to get a paw on the ball and then reeled it in. Pead was flashing more so with his route running - most noticeably one coming out of the backfield where he faked Ogletree out of his jock creating about 3 full yards of seperation (although the pass still didn't go his way).
Tre Mason not practicing up left the 1s with a committee of Bam Bam, Pead, and Chase Reynolds while Watts ran mostly w the 2s.
Speaking of Chase Reynolds, he and Harkey were the first guys out there. Foles and Mannion were soon after playing catch again - and again - if they didn't have numbers on I think most of you would look at the 2 warming up and gravitate towards Mannion.
Camp favorite Daniel Rodriguez came out early and took some punt returns catching some in trick fashion - but while I'm on him - a quick word. It's just one persons opinion, but he isn't likely at all to make the team. He is teeny. I love the story, and watching him, he clearly has the heart - but this final 53 man roster is going to be stacked - there is no room for a second Tavon Austin on the team - and that's basically what you are looking at with him. After practice Mannion, Rodriguez, Gurley, and another WR who I didn't recognize (no jersey at this point) stayed around and ran routes. Gurley next to Rodriguez looked like Rocky Balboa next to Thunderlips (for you Rocky III fans)
Anyway, back to practice. One thing I could see - and only because I was intent on focusing on him - was that Greg Robinson had a good practice. It's pretty much him and Quinn on most reps and he looks really good. He was very physical with him and on one run I saw him just crush Quinn to the inside - it clearly caught Quinn off balance.
Overall though, in the limited action I have seen - the offense runs better to the right than they do the left. It's hard to say why but that's what I've seen.
Up the middle? Not so good. In the 11 on 11 they ran these 4 plays in succession:
Run up the middle - stuffed by Brockers.
Run up the middle - stuffed by Donald.
Play action pass - short completion to Harkey
Run up the middle - eaten up by Donald 2 yards into the backfield.
As Coach O said, let's hope what we are seeing here is that our defense is just elite. And that may be the case. Aaron Donald continues to just wow me.
In the drills on the near field, there was some fire w the D Lineman. Hard to explain the drill but 5 guys lined up side by side - they would fire their feet and then belly to the ground and back up 2-3 times to gas them and then the coach would point in a direction and they would all sprint over to the sidelines where 3 balls would be on the ground. 3 balls for 5 guys to fight over. good drill.
Linebackers worked on wrapping up again. Ogletree sure looked athletic out there - but it wasn't full go.
With the DBs it was the Jenkins show again. He is the first to do every drill they do and Tru is second. Every last time.
They had some change of direction drills - short 4-5 yard bursts then a change of direction - sometimes 90 degrees and sometimes almost 180. It was the kind of drill that really separated the contenders from the pretenders - and you could see the difference between corners and safeties. Jenkins and Tru looked great and Joyner had a really nice looking rep in this drill as well. One guy who seemed to not have as good of body control in this drill was Imoan Claiborne - but I did only see the one rep for him.
Got a good look at Nick Fairley - not doing anything - just a good look at him and he looked very trim (for him). He didn't flash much that I saw - but other than seeing Aaron Donald running loose in the backfield, it's hard to appreciate the interior from the distances that we had to deal with.
Chris Long looked full of energy - if he was hobbled, I couldn't tell.
At one point the DBs had these visors on their helmets - they appeared to be meant as blinders of some sort. They ran 2 different one on one coverage drills wearing them - but I never figured out what the point was. If anyone knows - I'm curious.
In the passing offense, there is Jared Cook and then there is everyone else. Cook gets thrown to all the time.
Foles needs to get the ball out early to have success. The longer he holds it, the worse things go. When he double clutches it, when he pulls it down and scrambles - his accuracy and his decision making seem to suffer. Jenkins picked him off in 11v11 on a play he tried to extend. McCleod also had a pick on a deep sideline route that was intended for Bailey who never got close to it (defensive holding?)
Justice Cunningham had a good practice - he caught a few and was physical out there but I didn't like the way he walked back to the huddle - he looks like he is really sore. You can't see it in live action (which is good) but he seemed to be hurting.
A few more fights this practice, both very short lived. Brockers at the center of one and Will Hayes involved in the other.
Havenstein had a nice practice in pass protection - the tackles are about all you can see from that distance for O line play - but he looked solid.
Quick had some moments - watching him climb up to catch the high ones is fun. I saw him drop one - but he came down with most of them - one for a TD over Joyner who had no chance with the size mismatch.
Tavon ran what looked like a bad route that led to a Joyner INT. Didnt see much else from TA.
Harkey made a nice catch on a sideline route and then later had one fall off his hands deeper down the field. There is a lot of action in the flats in this offense.
In 11v11 I saw Quinn stuff a run with just his right arm while he was being blocked. Shortly after that, G Rob sealed him inside leading to a Tre Watts run to the left side for a big gain.
Chris Givens had a drop - only time I wrote down his number. I kept writing down 87 who was catching pass after pass and kept being surprised it was Brad Smelley.
Britt had a red zone TD catch up top.
Joyner made a big hit on Pead after a nice long run - the kind of hit that is probably frowned on by coaches in practice.
Forcing myself to watch the O lineman drills - the best footwork I saw came from Brown and Rhainey - it wasn't much of a drill - but you can see the athleticism. Wang was flaccid in this drill.
Gurley did some sprinting and looked like he is ready for Canton just running at 90% in a straight line.
They ran some plays coming off of our own goal line - and used the team to yell and scream and create a hostile crowd. The defense won a safety in this scenario - but the only reason unknown that is because a few players threw up the signal. I couldn't see the play. McCleods INT came in this scenario.
They then flipped it and the offense ran some red zone. Cook, Cook, Cook.
Ogletree had a nice goal line hit to save a TD. Even in the red zone - or maybe especially in the red zone - when Foles holds the ball too long, things go badly.
It appears the red zone passing plan is Cook, Kendricks, Quick, and Britt. Players under 6'2 need not apply.
Mannion, for as good as he looks, isn't getting many reps at all. They are giving Keenum every chance to win a job. The sooner they turn the 2s over to Mannion, the better.
I still didn't get a good look at Battle, I still want to see more interior OL play, and I can't wait for the scrimmage tonight.
