07-29-2017, 11:00 PM
The start of training camp is usually an exciting time for football fans. The first padded practice typically ramps it up further. Despite reports and posts indicating diminished excitement/increased malaise about the season,it did not appear to be the case today, as the line to get into the stands was long.
Here are some of my observations and thoughts for the first padded practice of the year.
1. I like to take notice of the seemingly minor differences in the way coaches do things regarding practices. Even though Marrone was on the coaching staff last year, he clearly wanted to do some things differently. Some of the things I noticed:
Second team OL was Robinson, Omameh, Bowanko, Watford, Poutasi.
3. In those OL vs. DL one on one drills I mentioned above, Shatley struggled mightily, being beaten by Michael Bennett and then later by another before finally holding up against Campbell. Dante Fowler flashed a couple of times, torching Poutasi and later Robinson, with the rookie being off balance and falling forward. Later, Bennett beat Omameh off Omameh's left shoulder.
4. 7 x 7 drills...
-Bortles had a nice pass to the left to Rivera over tight coverage.
-In a humorous moment for me, the guy next to me predicted Henne would throw an INT right before Gipson picked him off.
-Blake threw a nice pass over the middle to AR15, but he likely would have gotten lit up.
-Blake got picked by Josh Mcnary (#45) on a pass in the short hook area to the right, but he followed that up with a long TD to Robinson down left sideline.
5. 9x9
In a run heavy drill
-Fournette had a short run to the left where he got tackled by Telvin Smith, but he got the better of the collision. He followed that by a counter to the right, and after a nice run by Ivory, he had a good run to the right where he showed decent wiggle and made a guy miss.
Myles Jack had a nice run stuff after a minimal gain.
Then I started watching Cam Robinson closely.
On a Grant run to the right, Cam, playing LT sealed his guy to the left. The next play, he appeared to have a false start. The next play, he reached the second level and hit the LB. The next play saw him turn the Poz to the outside. If I had to summarize his run blocking, despite his Alabama lineage and his build, he doesn't seem like a destroyer in the run game. He can effectively seal off his guy, but doesn't bury him. His pass blocking needs work, as he needs to keep his balance.
On punting Westbrook bobbled a punt and caught it. Marquise Lee bobbled a punt and completely dropped it. Wynn was the best punt returner, having two good returns.
6. The 7x 7 drills featured Bortles hitting AR15 on a short crossing route from left to right, resulting with him jawing with Ramsey (?) who had been talking loudly the play before.
7. 11 X 11
Fans of offensive football would have cringed watching this series.
The first play saw Ngakoue beat ALbert for what would have been a sack on a speed rush.
The next play saw Blake almost picked by Telvin Smith, who dropped the pass.
After this, Ngakoue beat Albert again, getting a good shoulder dip. This was followed by a near sack by Fowler, who had a good practice overall.
Bortles then threw down the right sideline to Robinson against Bouye, who broke up the pass, resulting in an INT and a long return. I could not tell who picked it off.
Henne promptly followed this up by throwing an INT to Hayes Pullard, who held on to his chance tonight after drops yesterday.
Fournette had a nice long run to the left. S Jarrod Harper had the angle on him, but he still couldn't catch him. The last play inthe practice I saw was another long run by Fournette.
Bortles had a deep pass to Lee down the right sideline where Lee won the jump ball against the CB, but was later picked against Telvin Smith.
Final thoughts
I don't know whether Ngakoue and Fowler stepped up their games, or if Albert and Robinson were rusty, but at this point, I'm not sure if LT has been fixed.
Westbrook did not really stand out in a good way. He and Bortles did not connect on several deep passes during drills, he bobbled the one punt, and caught one pass from Henne on a very short crossing route that gained less than 5 yards.
The two plays I focused on Myrick is he held up pretty well in coverage.
Here are some of my observations and thoughts for the first padded practice of the year.
1. I like to take notice of the seemingly minor differences in the way coaches do things regarding practices. Even though Marrone was on the coaching staff last year, he clearly wanted to do some things differently. Some of the things I noticed:
- since the practice fields were moved from the south end of the stadium where Daily's place now stands to their current location to the north west side of the stadium, the players and coaches typically entered the field from between the stands. No more. Now, the players and coaches enter the field from behind the stands and walk around to the north end of the practice fields. If you want to see them walk from the stadium, you will have to look away from the practice fields (at least from the North stands were I usually sit).
- There were interesting field markings I'd never seen before. The north end zone was subdivided into a grid of two rows 5 yd by 5 yard boxes nearly from sideline to sideline. The boxes on the sidelines were rectangular. There was another, half football shaped grid, 9 yards in length, from the goal line to the 9 yard line outside of the left hash if facing the N end zone. The purpose of these grids were not readily apparent based upon what I saw in practice. As to end zone grid lines, my guess is that they somehow facilitate passing/route precision in the end zone. I don't even recall seeing that when TC was here the first time, or during the JDR era.
- During the warm up period, there was a coach (I imagine it was Marrone but I am uncertain) who was yelling throughout. I did not notice that during the Bradley era, but I simply may have missed it.
- I did not see the cranes with the bucket with the guy filming the practice from high. They seem to have replaced them with automated cameras. However, there was at least one guy at field level with a hand held video camera filming players going through positional drills. The focus of this guy with the camera seemed to be the TEs hitting the blocking sled-a heavy emphasis early in the practice.Not only are there eyes in the sky that don't lie, but there are more eyes on the field, too.
- Speaking of positional drills, I do not know if my perspective is being colored by the fact it is the first padded practice of the year, by the fact it is a new GM and new coach with a different emphasis, or by some subconscious desire on my part to perceive that, but it seemed the positional drills were more more physical than they were under Bradley. The TE sled work seemed prolonged. First there were a few rotations hitting the sled straight on. Then they had a rubber strip they would center immediately behind the sled, and have the TE in a 3 point stance facing to the side with their feet lined up on the edge of the strip, designed to simulate coming off the ball to hit a defender lined up wide, keeping their feet a minimum level width. The WRs drills had a physical element to them as well. They had large dummies set up at the top of their routes. The receivers were to slap the dummies as they made their cuts. But the various OL drills struck me. We all used to get excited over the Oklahoma drills back in the day. They had two on one blocking drills where a DL had to hold up against double team blocks. The hitting was real. There was an OL vs. DL drill which was actually a series of 1X1 battles, starting from RT vs. LDE going all the way over to LT v RDE. I don't recall seeing this level of physicality emphasized during the Bradley era. Did anyone else there tonight perceive that?
Second team OL was Robinson, Omameh, Bowanko, Watford, Poutasi.
3. In those OL vs. DL one on one drills I mentioned above, Shatley struggled mightily, being beaten by Michael Bennett and then later by another before finally holding up against Campbell. Dante Fowler flashed a couple of times, torching Poutasi and later Robinson, with the rookie being off balance and falling forward. Later, Bennett beat Omameh off Omameh's left shoulder.
4. 7 x 7 drills...
-Bortles had a nice pass to the left to Rivera over tight coverage.
-In a humorous moment for me, the guy next to me predicted Henne would throw an INT right before Gipson picked him off.
-Blake threw a nice pass over the middle to AR15, but he likely would have gotten lit up.
-Blake got picked by Josh Mcnary (#45) on a pass in the short hook area to the right, but he followed that up with a long TD to Robinson down left sideline.
5. 9x9
In a run heavy drill
-Fournette had a short run to the left where he got tackled by Telvin Smith, but he got the better of the collision. He followed that by a counter to the right, and after a nice run by Ivory, he had a good run to the right where he showed decent wiggle and made a guy miss.
Myles Jack had a nice run stuff after a minimal gain.
Then I started watching Cam Robinson closely.
On a Grant run to the right, Cam, playing LT sealed his guy to the left. The next play, he appeared to have a false start. The next play, he reached the second level and hit the LB. The next play saw him turn the Poz to the outside. If I had to summarize his run blocking, despite his Alabama lineage and his build, he doesn't seem like a destroyer in the run game. He can effectively seal off his guy, but doesn't bury him. His pass blocking needs work, as he needs to keep his balance.
On punting Westbrook bobbled a punt and caught it. Marquise Lee bobbled a punt and completely dropped it. Wynn was the best punt returner, having two good returns.
6. The 7x 7 drills featured Bortles hitting AR15 on a short crossing route from left to right, resulting with him jawing with Ramsey (?) who had been talking loudly the play before.
7. 11 X 11
Fans of offensive football would have cringed watching this series.
The first play saw Ngakoue beat ALbert for what would have been a sack on a speed rush.
The next play saw Blake almost picked by Telvin Smith, who dropped the pass.
After this, Ngakoue beat Albert again, getting a good shoulder dip. This was followed by a near sack by Fowler, who had a good practice overall.
Bortles then threw down the right sideline to Robinson against Bouye, who broke up the pass, resulting in an INT and a long return. I could not tell who picked it off.
Henne promptly followed this up by throwing an INT to Hayes Pullard, who held on to his chance tonight after drops yesterday.
Fournette had a nice long run to the left. S Jarrod Harper had the angle on him, but he still couldn't catch him. The last play inthe practice I saw was another long run by Fournette.
Bortles had a deep pass to Lee down the right sideline where Lee won the jump ball against the CB, but was later picked against Telvin Smith.
Final thoughts
I don't know whether Ngakoue and Fowler stepped up their games, or if Albert and Robinson were rusty, but at this point, I'm not sure if LT has been fixed.
Westbrook did not really stand out in a good way. He and Bortles did not connect on several deep passes during drills, he bobbled the one punt, and caught one pass from Henne on a very short crossing route that gained less than 5 yards.
The two plays I focused on Myrick is he held up pretty well in coverage.
