OK, so tonights practice was a little disappointing. They pretty much practiced exclusively on the far field and it was hard to see. And with half the players having their jerseys rolled up only giving you a portion of the number to see to begin with, its hard to really tell whos who. So unfortunately I'm not going to have near as much for you as normal. I mainly watch the skill players b/c its easier to see passing from far away than the big uglies who get jumbled togther from far away. The QBs tonight were mainly unimpressive IMO. Henne was inconsistent. His accuracy left more to be desired and he checked down a decent amount. However, it does seem that he is moving around more trying to buy more time. One pass he did have going were some nice touch passes over the middle, dropping them over a few defenders. He also was throwing a pretty deep ball down the right sideline during 1v1 drills. But during the 11v11's, he was leaving passes short/low today. As far as Moore and Devlin, I couldnt find Moore out there at all. Later I find out, that Moore changed from 4 to 8. Well, from the far field, with 8 looking a lot like 9, I guess I thought they were the same person. You arent missing much though b/c I didnt have a lot of good things written down about "#9". lol For the WRs, Marshall and Bess looked good as usual, although each had a drop. Gates was definitely showing off his speed during the 1v1 drills, and it seemed to translate to the 11v11s. Was much quicker getting in and out of his routes than he was Saturday, as he now looks like hes going full speed. His routes still need a little work, but they arent half bad either. We ran him on a lot of drag and slant routes today, and that may be more of how we plan on playing him while he is still a little raw. Speaking of which, I do believe the quick slant is now in our playbook. Saw a good amount of them out there today, which I'm glad to see. Carter didnt seem to have as good of a practice as he did the first 2 I attended. Nothing really bad, but didnt really stand out today either. Julius Pruitt was that receiver tonight. Just seemed to make a lot of plays. For the RBs... again... failed to get the memo on the #8 change. Was looking for Reggie as #8 and couldnt find him. Didnt find out about it until we were half way through practice that Reggie changed to 22. He looks healthy and fast, and as we all know is natural catching the football. Seemed to use him in the passing game a good amount, more downfield than your typical swing pass in the flat. He ran some wheel routes, one of which Henne targeted him but underthrew him. DThomas looked pretty good again too. Flashed some pretty good speed today on some nice runs. Clay also got some work today. The guy really has some good athleticism, looks fluid like a WR out there... and after the catch, when rocking the 31 he really looks like a RB. We ran him on a couple quick slants and he also had a nice fade route down the right sideline from "#9". Receiving isnt going to be an issue for him. If this kid can add a little more bulk w/o loosing his speed, I think he can be a pretty damn good player for us. As I mentioned, Fasano also caught some nice passes over the middle after getting behind his man. Sorry, really didnt get much else on the defense or trenches. Was so damn hard to see who the hell was who. Such a shame too b/c they were in full pads today. Whatever, I'll take it. Next time I'll be up to date on the number changes, and hopefully they'll actually use the close field for a drill or two!
Thanks for the info. Must be frustrating with them always working on the far field, but you're probably seeing less vanilla plays during public practices due to the lock out and less practice time. So, from a general offense standpoint, how did the 11 on 11s look in regards to formations and such, anything stand out?
Great stuff as usual man. Im wondering if moving everyone to the far field is blatant shot at the fans after the incident at the stadium. Im probably reading too much into it but just a thought.
This isn't meant to be any sort of excuse making, but I'm curious how using 1, 3, 5, & 7 step drops (and their related routes) effects a QB after a season of primarily 5 steppers. I'd think the timing etc would require some reps to get established. I know my 1, 3, and 7 would be a little rusty if I weren't using them much if at all.
Could have been that. Or, it could have been them trying to insulate Henne from more potential abuse from fans. I'd think it was more the latter...
To be honest, when they are on the far field, and the offensive players are lined up along the sideline essentially in a wall, it's hard to see what the personnel is or what formation they're in. Only thing I got on that is that there seemed to be a good amount of single back formations.
FN, it's weird. Volin gushed about Henne. Said he went 7/10 and threw a TD. Omar also said that they were working on hot reads so he wasn't actually checking down. This is confusing.
Thanks again FN. I'm sure attending practices and taking notes is a labor of love for you anyway, but it is still very much appreciated by the displaced fans.
Yea, I was thinking the same thing. Said Henne was 7/10, 130 yards and 1TD during the 11 on 11 drills. Is there something that we're missing here?
If they were indeed working on hot reads, then that's good news. Its hard to tell out there, although I did remember seeing some heavy blitzing in the earlier 11v11 where the QBs were dumping it off a lot. Didn't realize that's what the coaches were intending to do though. The writers get to sit up a lot higher, so it's easier for them to see over the wall of players that are between the fans and the far field. I wasnt writing up his stats... but Henne had more than 10 passe attempts during their multiple 11v11 drills. Although, if one of their 11v11 sessions wasn't a true 11v11 and was instead hot read practice... then that does change things. Henne's issues werent incompletions though, but the accuracy was off. For instance, Gates was running a drag from right to left, and Henne threw it behind Gates. He caught it... but he had to pretty much stop to do so, and on a drag, you really want to have the ball placed so the WR can catch it in stride so they can rack up some YAC. Just lots of things like that. A low pass to Hartline on a curl route. Hartline went down to the ground and caught it, but that's the end of the play, no chance for YAC. Overall, I've seen better practices from Henne. He didn't suck or anything, was just inconsistent with his ball placement. Would have some nice passes and then some ones that were low/short. He definitely had some really pretty passes over the middle though during 11v11s, dropping them over the LBs. He was feeling that touch pass throughout practice.
Moore's been #8 for a few days now, and has never been #4 to my knowledge. Bush took #4 when Moore arrived, but that's it to my knowledge.
Might have been mis-informed then. I thought Moore was standing on the sideline on Sunday wearing #4? Bush was definitely #8 this weekend...
Ah ok... thanks. Ya, the damn programs they give you at the camp are worthless, lol. Multiple numbers are wrong and a lot of the newer guys arent listed.
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EDIT: The space is because I had to take a breath.