07-30-2019, 02:31 PM
While Sunday represented a bit of a disappointment insofar as my experience with the practice, today, while not the most scintillating practice, was virtually the antithesis of Sunday's workouts. For starters the bulk of the practices took place on the field closest to the stands so I could see (and hear) much much more. Furthermore, there were some "oooh" plays that were missing from Sunday's practice. I wound up with pretty decent looks at a lot of players. Hopefully, this will translate into a far more detailed and substantive report.
Today, the grid lines-running from the ten yard line to the end line in the back of the end zone-reappeared on the field today, which means there was going to be red zone work. In fact, much of the 11 X 11 work was done in that north part of the field, as was the limited 7 x 7 stuff. Here are some other observations...
1. In early drills, the OL worked with medicine balls to help develop the initial punch and heavy hands. Will Richardson initially lined up at 2nd team RG for the purposes of this drill, and worked the right side of the line at G and T throughout practice. In my first extended look at him, I have more confidence in him than I did last year. He showed good initial punch on several plays. On one nice inside run later, he had a nice down block on the DT shaded inside him, sealing him off brilliantly and allowing the RB to run right behind him for a score. Now he wasn't going against starters that I saw, and he is far from a proven commodity here. but I think anyone watching him would feel better about him being in the game than they did before today.
2. Today's starting OL was...
LT-Ogbuehi
LG-Norwell
C-Linder
RG- Cann
RT Wells
and the 2nd team was
LT Wester
LG-McDermott
C-Shatley
RG-Richardson
RT-Taylor
As I indicated above, Richardson got some snaps at RT, while rookie Bunchy Stallings got some snaps at C.
3. In more early work
4. 7 X 7
Two of the earliest "oooh" moments were provided by none other than Jalen Ramsey, who simply was not having it today. The first two plays of 7 X 7
red zone drills, Foles threw to his side, only to have Ramsey beautifully break up the passes and getting the crowd pumped. Much later in practice, Ramsey had yet another pass breakup against Foles in the red zone. To me, Ramsey played today like he had something to prove, showing a level reminiscent of 2017.
5. 11 X 11, ball on 40
Hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, I will do what I can to answer them.
Today, the grid lines-running from the ten yard line to the end line in the back of the end zone-reappeared on the field today, which means there was going to be red zone work. In fact, much of the 11 X 11 work was done in that north part of the field, as was the limited 7 x 7 stuff. Here are some other observations...
1. In early drills, the OL worked with medicine balls to help develop the initial punch and heavy hands. Will Richardson initially lined up at 2nd team RG for the purposes of this drill, and worked the right side of the line at G and T throughout practice. In my first extended look at him, I have more confidence in him than I did last year. He showed good initial punch on several plays. On one nice inside run later, he had a nice down block on the DT shaded inside him, sealing him off brilliantly and allowing the RB to run right behind him for a score. Now he wasn't going against starters that I saw, and he is far from a proven commodity here. but I think anyone watching him would feel better about him being in the game than they did before today.
2. Today's starting OL was...
LT-Ogbuehi
LG-Norwell
C-Linder
RG- Cann
RT Wells
and the 2nd team was
LT Wester
LG-McDermott
C-Shatley
RG-Richardson
RT-Taylor
As I indicated above, Richardson got some snaps at RT, while rookie Bunchy Stallings got some snaps at C.
3. In more early work
- The TEs worked on the individual blocking sleds. Oliver had to do back to back reps, presumably because TE coach Middleton didn' like his technique. Oliver hit it again, earning praise from the coach.
- WRs utilized a rope ladder to work on foot quickness
- OL worked on getting off the snap in unison, moving to the right and then left as the reps progressed.
4. 7 X 7
Two of the earliest "oooh" moments were provided by none other than Jalen Ramsey, who simply was not having it today. The first two plays of 7 X 7
red zone drills, Foles threw to his side, only to have Ramsey beautifully break up the passes and getting the crowd pumped. Much later in practice, Ramsey had yet another pass breakup against Foles in the red zone. To me, Ramsey played today like he had something to prove, showing a level reminiscent of 2017.
- #13 dropped a TD pass in the back of the end zone after beating C.J. Reavis. Reavis was beaten at least two other times, including by DJ Chark, who caught back to back TDs.
- #14, 87, and 86 also caught TD passes during this part of practice.
- Tanner Lee had a TD pass broken up nicely by #49, who had another nice run defense later in practice which would have been a TFL.
5. 11 X 11, ball on 40
- There was a screen pass to Fournette with Allen in pursuit. More on Allen later
- The screen was followed up by a Fournette run to the left. Quincy Williams made his presence known in run support, keeping contain and arriving with a thud when taking on the blocker trying to set the edge. More on Williams later.
- Foles had a few throws where he had roll out/bootleg action to the right only to throw back to the left.
- Alfred Blue followed that with a nice run inside
- On another roll out to the right, Foles threw low short to Swaim in the right flat, hitting him in the low shins incomplete.
- Minshew's first play during this drill was a run by 29 that started right, and attempted to cut back, only to be stopped by McCray, who did a nice job staying home to stop the cut back.
- Minshew then rolled to the right and threw complete to Cole short.
- #29 had a good pass defense against #13.
- McGough entered at QB, and his first play he bobbled the snap, but managed to get the hand off to Ryquell Armstead, who wound up with a nice run inside
- Foles is red hot during this stretch, opening this segment with three straight TD passes. The first was a TD to Chark down the left sideline beating #24. He immediately followed that up with another TD pass to Chark, this time who ran inside of Wilson, took a hit, and still managed to come down with the ball for the score. Finally, Foles hit Dede Westbrook on a TD to the right where he waited all day before Westbrook finally broke open. One of the coaches even said "you're not going to hold it that long."
- Minshew came in and hit Oliver on a short hook to the right. The next play, Oliver lined up wide right, and with Terrelle Pryor inside him basically running a pick, oliver slanted behind him inside, settling into the zone cleared out by Pryor and catching the short pass.
- Minshew then threw a TD to #13, who had Milanovich (?) point out the open receiver to Minshew mid play.
- Oliver was involved with two other plays, one broken up by #57.
- Tyre Brady caught another TD pass, this time a shorter one.
- On a tipped pass, #29 intercepted Tanner Lee-triggering an expletive from a coach
- This drill began with Fournette with an inside run in a 3 WR set.
- The next play illustrated why Marrone was so generous with his praise of rookie LB Quincy Williams. By most standards, it was a mundane play, a dumpoff to a RB in the left flat. The RB looked like he had room to run once he got the ball. But Williams appeared out of nowhere and made the stop immediately.
- Will Richardon was prominent in this series. Playing RG, he showed good pass protection against #79. The next play was an Alfred Blue run inside where Richardson was decent blocking, followed by another Blue inside run on the play I described above where Richardson blocked down on the DT at 1 technique. The next play, Richardson showed good hand punch in pass. protection A couple of plays later, Richardson was at RT with Stallings at C on a quick hitting pass play.
- Later, in a matchup I looked forward to seeing for much of the offseason, Allen lined up at LDE and went up against Taylor. On the play, there was a bootleg by Foles to the right. Allen wound up in pursuit, and kept his hands up to obstruct foles' view and to make the pass more difficult.
- Calais Campbell made his presence felt on back to back plays, pressuring Foles from LDE, beating Josh Wells at RT. He followed that up by disrupting a run to the left from RDE.
- In the practice's biggest offensive play, Foles hit Dede Westbrook on a long pass down the right sideline in what looked to be a busted coverage. D.J. Hayden was the closest defender, but Westbrook was open by 10-15 yards and had to wait on the ball. I have no idea how he got so open.
- Foles followed that up with a nice intermediate pass to Koyack, who was lined up on the left side of the formation, and had what looked like a deep crossing type route that took him over the right hash.
- Richardson had a nice pull to the left from RG on a run to the left.
- Minshew hit TE #85 on a pass to the left that looked like another blown coverage.
- In another interesting play, there was Gator on Gator action when Jawaan Taylor went against Larentee McCray. McCray got a good jump off the snap, but Taylor had good position and sealed him off. McCray spun inside late and appeared to get position, but Taylor recovered well.
- Foles connected with Conley on a skinny post to the right against #24.
- Josh Allen pressured Foles from LDE over Josh Wells. Foles dumped the pass off in the left flat.
- Richardson lined up at RT and went against Jacobs on a play that resulted in Picasso Nelson's pick 6 on a late pass to the short flat left.
- Josh Allen-With the caveat there was one 1 x 1 blocking drill I did not focus on, Allen did not stand out much more than what I saw. He rushed from the right and the left sides, in both two point and three point stances.
- Jawaan Taylor, aside from what I described above, there was one play that really impressed me, where he starts a run play by engaging the linemen, then successfully disengaging him, reaching the second level defender and getting a good block on him. Many linemen don't have the feet to reach that second leveol, and many others aren't that good hitting moving targets. On that play at least, Taylor displayed good run blocking. He has good size, but by no stretch did he look "sloppy." In fact, he looked leaner than Cann. Only one play was of mild concern, and I noticed this in a game against Georgia. McCray seemed to get his hands inside his frame and into his chest, and he was walked back into the pocket. But overall, I like what I have seen from him.
- Josh Oliver-had his moments. Seems like he is being used as a "move" TE, and was targeted in the red zone.
- Quincy Williams-You guys have seen the Marrone clip, posted earlier in this thread. He's gushing over his play speed, his attitude, and his ability to identify whatever mistakes he makes and not repeat them. Furthermore, it was kind of hard for me to get a gauge on his size. Seeing him by himself, he looked short but stocky. But seeing him next to Jack, he looks smaller. There is still much for him to prove. How is he in coverage? Can he hold up at the point of attack against a variety of blockers? But I feel much better about him now than I did after the pick was announced, especially given the praise Marrone heaped upon him.
- Ryquell Armstead-I have mixed feelings about him. On running plays, he ran decisively and with authority, at one point lowering his shoulder to truck a defender. however, he seems to have substantial weaknesses in the passing game. He bobbled several short passes throughout practice, and dropped one on 11 x 11.
- Gardner Minshew-already a popular guy based upon the crowd response to him these past two practices. What stuck out to me today is how nimble afoot he is. I think that is an underrated part of his game.
- Dontavius Russell-Did not really stand out to me...as I focused more on the ends and OTs.
- Connor Strachan made a favorable impression on me with his PBU early, and his good diagnosis and disruption of a run to the left for what would have been a TFL
Hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, I will do what I can to answer them.
