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I left Mikey my cell phone and he didn't call me, so I didn't hook up with him while I was there. But here are some observations I made. I didn't have a camera or videocam, so I can't give you any eye candy, but I made it a point to take notes to share with everyone:
I thought the RBs were tremendous. Lee was much better than I thought he would be. He catches very well, runs hard and strong, is definitely not slow, cuts quickly etc. He also impressed me with his blocking ability. In one of the drills the LBs had to go through a blocker to get to the QB position. Lee did not allow any LB through him. Even his body language said you weren't going to get through him! They worked the LBs also in blocking. Campbell looked solid and strong. If you were worried about our TE situation, worry no more. Campbell has apparently made a full recovery as has Euhus. They were both blocking full force, running hard, catching balls, etc. Neufeld looked good in blocking also.
As for passing, I know they are veterans, but Moulds and Evans appeared to have suction cups in their hands! Campbell and Euhus were solid at catching and suprisingly, Cieslak made some pretty good catches also. Jon Goldberry struggled quite a bit catching passes as did Haddad who dropped a couple. Another fan close to me mentioned that Haddad has been dropping a few these past couple of days. I doubt he will be here after the 1st cut. Burns also stuggled with catches.
Losman was off a bit on some of his throws and even underthrew a few. But I did like that when the 2nd and 3rd string QBs came in to work with the groups, he wasn't satisfied and began throwing to McGahee on the side. While he's not completely solid at the passes yet, I like that he has the determination to succeed. He missed Reed alot and it's like he and Reed were off by a bit. I wonder if he has gotten used to Evans and Parrish's speed...he seems to lead Reed a bit too much. Holcomb was solid, accurate and crisp in his passes. He is also more mobile than I thought. While he strictly stays in his pocket most of the time, during a redzone drill against the defense he was forced out of the pocket and eluded a defender well and ran it in toward a corner of the endzone. He surprised me...I was thinking he was just as slow as DB but he's not.
Overall the offense tended to look bad when they tried to pass too much. When they went to the run, they looked solid. I guess that should not be surprising considering we are a run 1st team. But they are trying alot of the other WRs also which may account for my observation. As I mentioned before...Moulds and Evans had suction cups and caught everything that came their way. As did Campbell and Euhus. I am also trying to keep in mind that we have a great defense and they can make any offense look bad. I felt the defense got the best of the offense most of the time.
Now...on to the line. My worries are alot lower now. I saw Gandy play and didn't think he was bad at all. He was fast, big, strong and in the defenders' face in every play. I also noticed the Bills playing with some traps calls. In a few instances, Gandy would pull toward the right and Euhus (playing TE next to him) would end up blocking Schobel or whoever was at the position (Gause played it from time to time). This was usually when the play was going the other way, although they did do a fake and roll JP out to the left after the fake - it worked okay, but these freaking LBs are fast and recovered quicky and didn't give JP much of a run. :) Still, it might have worked for a huge gain against another team. Bennie Anderson was solid. Nobody got through or by him that I noticed. He is humongous. In fact, when I 1st walked in to TC, he was sideways to me and I couldn't see his numbers well. I thought he was MW. Speaking of MW...I never thought I would use his name and the word "slim" in the same sentence. I can't believe how much thinner he looks. Of all years, this has got to be his breakout year. He looks big and trim much like my favorite hopeful-to-be-developed Jason Peters. I really must be honest in saying Peters wasn't where I was hoping he'd be. He has improved and can handle backup DEs with ease. But against a premier DE like Schobel, he does struggle. If I were to guess at the problem I would say that he tries to lay a pop on a player as soon as contact is made (with his hands). A LB (when he played TE) would get leveled, but a DE is going to be able to take alot more. A good DE will use the pop he gives to get space and will then run around him. I think he needs to be more like Gandy and engage at the spot and keep them there. I'm sure McNally will continue to work on him.
On to the middle of the line...Teague played and snapped fine today. However, his successor to be had a horrible day. Preston was outmatched all day long by virtually everyone they put in front of him. The play of the day was when the O-line 1st started doing drills against DTs. Sam Adams anticipated the snap, jumped in-between Duke and the lineman next to him and was literally in the QB's face before Duke had even moved. It was very impressive and not so much a knock on Duke as a fantastic defiance of gravity and how Adam's body can move that quickly despite being so big. For the next several plays, Adam took Duke to school and in one play, Adams literally man-handled Duke where he pretty much slammed him to the ground. Adams was taken out after that - not as a reprimand, but b'cse it was clear that there was no point to continue. Adams had way outclassed him to the point that there was no need to see anymore...instead they rested him and put in a 2nd or 3rd stringer. Kudos to Sam for the fantastic domination!!!
I didn't get to see much on Parrish. He didn't get many calls to him outside of drills and when he did, the ball wasn't very well thrown to him. So I can't really comment on anything positive or negative about him.
I was mostly looking at the offense to see where we stood, so I didn't get to look at the defense much. That being said, I can tell you that when the 1st string offense played the 1st string defense on some Red Zone drills, the defense got a serious look on their face and fully intended not to let them score. Kelsay made a terrific play to break into the pocket and disrupt the play being developed. And the defensive players that were on the line watching began to cheer and chant loudly - pumping up the defense on the field. It was spectacular and reminded me alot of Baltimore's D. They were swarming all over the offense! I'd say this unit has the best cohesion on our team and I wouldn't be surprised if this year they do enough to get noticed as an elite D. Despite already being good and at the top of the stats, they are not satisfied and exude hunger. I was very impressed with them. By the way, the offense did end up scoring when they finally went to McGahee with a run up the middle. Although the defense felt they stopped him just before the line to the endzone, the ref ruled it a touchdown. The defense laughed and semi kidded about them not being able to do a *real* tackle, or Willis wouldn't have scored - That's how intense they were about not allowing scores!
That's about all the notes I took and all I can remember. These are my observations and my opinions...sorry for such a long post, but I felt since I can't provide pictures or videos, I can atleast be descriptive of what I saw.
I thought the RBs were tremendous. Lee was much better than I thought he would be. He catches very well, runs hard and strong, is definitely not slow, cuts quickly etc. He also impressed me with his blocking ability. In one of the drills the LBs had to go through a blocker to get to the QB position. Lee did not allow any LB through him. Even his body language said you weren't going to get through him! They worked the LBs also in blocking. Campbell looked solid and strong. If you were worried about our TE situation, worry no more. Campbell has apparently made a full recovery as has Euhus. They were both blocking full force, running hard, catching balls, etc. Neufeld looked good in blocking also.
As for passing, I know they are veterans, but Moulds and Evans appeared to have suction cups in their hands! Campbell and Euhus were solid at catching and suprisingly, Cieslak made some pretty good catches also. Jon Goldberry struggled quite a bit catching passes as did Haddad who dropped a couple. Another fan close to me mentioned that Haddad has been dropping a few these past couple of days. I doubt he will be here after the 1st cut. Burns also stuggled with catches.
Losman was off a bit on some of his throws and even underthrew a few. But I did like that when the 2nd and 3rd string QBs came in to work with the groups, he wasn't satisfied and began throwing to McGahee on the side. While he's not completely solid at the passes yet, I like that he has the determination to succeed. He missed Reed alot and it's like he and Reed were off by a bit. I wonder if he has gotten used to Evans and Parrish's speed...he seems to lead Reed a bit too much. Holcomb was solid, accurate and crisp in his passes. He is also more mobile than I thought. While he strictly stays in his pocket most of the time, during a redzone drill against the defense he was forced out of the pocket and eluded a defender well and ran it in toward a corner of the endzone. He surprised me...I was thinking he was just as slow as DB but he's not.
Overall the offense tended to look bad when they tried to pass too much. When they went to the run, they looked solid. I guess that should not be surprising considering we are a run 1st team. But they are trying alot of the other WRs also which may account for my observation. As I mentioned before...Moulds and Evans had suction cups and caught everything that came their way. As did Campbell and Euhus. I am also trying to keep in mind that we have a great defense and they can make any offense look bad. I felt the defense got the best of the offense most of the time.
Now...on to the line. My worries are alot lower now. I saw Gandy play and didn't think he was bad at all. He was fast, big, strong and in the defenders' face in every play. I also noticed the Bills playing with some traps calls. In a few instances, Gandy would pull toward the right and Euhus (playing TE next to him) would end up blocking Schobel or whoever was at the position (Gause played it from time to time). This was usually when the play was going the other way, although they did do a fake and roll JP out to the left after the fake - it worked okay, but these freaking LBs are fast and recovered quicky and didn't give JP much of a run. :) Still, it might have worked for a huge gain against another team. Bennie Anderson was solid. Nobody got through or by him that I noticed. He is humongous. In fact, when I 1st walked in to TC, he was sideways to me and I couldn't see his numbers well. I thought he was MW. Speaking of MW...I never thought I would use his name and the word "slim" in the same sentence. I can't believe how much thinner he looks. Of all years, this has got to be his breakout year. He looks big and trim much like my favorite hopeful-to-be-developed Jason Peters. I really must be honest in saying Peters wasn't where I was hoping he'd be. He has improved and can handle backup DEs with ease. But against a premier DE like Schobel, he does struggle. If I were to guess at the problem I would say that he tries to lay a pop on a player as soon as contact is made (with his hands). A LB (when he played TE) would get leveled, but a DE is going to be able to take alot more. A good DE will use the pop he gives to get space and will then run around him. I think he needs to be more like Gandy and engage at the spot and keep them there. I'm sure McNally will continue to work on him.
On to the middle of the line...Teague played and snapped fine today. However, his successor to be had a horrible day. Preston was outmatched all day long by virtually everyone they put in front of him. The play of the day was when the O-line 1st started doing drills against DTs. Sam Adams anticipated the snap, jumped in-between Duke and the lineman next to him and was literally in the QB's face before Duke had even moved. It was very impressive and not so much a knock on Duke as a fantastic defiance of gravity and how Adam's body can move that quickly despite being so big. For the next several plays, Adam took Duke to school and in one play, Adams literally man-handled Duke where he pretty much slammed him to the ground. Adams was taken out after that - not as a reprimand, but b'cse it was clear that there was no point to continue. Adams had way outclassed him to the point that there was no need to see anymore...instead they rested him and put in a 2nd or 3rd stringer. Kudos to Sam for the fantastic domination!!!
I didn't get to see much on Parrish. He didn't get many calls to him outside of drills and when he did, the ball wasn't very well thrown to him. So I can't really comment on anything positive or negative about him.
I was mostly looking at the offense to see where we stood, so I didn't get to look at the defense much. That being said, I can tell you that when the 1st string offense played the 1st string defense on some Red Zone drills, the defense got a serious look on their face and fully intended not to let them score. Kelsay made a terrific play to break into the pocket and disrupt the play being developed. And the defensive players that were on the line watching began to cheer and chant loudly - pumping up the defense on the field. It was spectacular and reminded me alot of Baltimore's D. They were swarming all over the offense! I'd say this unit has the best cohesion on our team and I wouldn't be surprised if this year they do enough to get noticed as an elite D. Despite already being good and at the top of the stats, they are not satisfied and exude hunger. I was very impressed with them. By the way, the offense did end up scoring when they finally went to McGahee with a run up the middle. Although the defense felt they stopped him just before the line to the endzone, the ref ruled it a touchdown. The defense laughed and semi kidded about them not being able to do a *real* tackle, or Willis wouldn't have scored - That's how intense they were about not allowing scores!
That's about all the notes I took and all I can remember. These are my observations and my opinions...sorry for such a long post, but I felt since I can't provide pictures or videos, I can atleast be descriptive of what I saw.
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