Okay, I thought I would post my two cents before I take a looong nap. I never actually played football beyond the collegiate intramural variety, so it's a little difficult for me to really gauge in on their practice sessions and understand how that will translate to a real game. I'll just point out the sessions I watched and what I saw.
WR 1 on 1 w/ CB. Andre Johnson was positively killing everyone, including D-Rob. He and Carr look very sharp, very in sync right now. Mind you this was just route running with no pass rush, but Johnson was using anyone and everyone and not really breaking a sweat. He looks very upbeat and I noticed a lot of the players with a, forgive me the corniness, but a spring in their step, despite the pretty stifling heat. AJ caught every ball thrown to him that I noticed. As Coach C pointed out, Moulds did not practice -- disappointing since I really wanted to see him in action -- but Walther looks pretty good. Buchanon was still getting beat a lot but he looks a lot better, a lot more physical, and Hoke seemed to like his progress. McKinzie is fast but really just too small; he easily kept up with people but would get outjumped for the ball. I think Hoke is trying to get into them about physical hits and it seems like they were catching on. Walther and Armstrong look good and as expected; they are big, run pretty good routes and have great hands, but don't get much separation, which may be an issue against DBs that are taller than 5'9".
My only real concern right now is that our DBs are small and somewhat inexperienced. All of them. Hopefully pressure up front will force bad throws and generate INTs, but our DBs are easily the weakest aspect of our D right now. But ... now that we're no longer going to be asking them to cover WRs for 4+ seconds per play ... I think that is going to make them look much better. Buchanon seems encouraged by the new rush and is playing up a lot more than he used to.
11 on 11. Carr was finding open receivers and throwing a lot of great passes. There were however a very few times he was pressured and threw a hurried pass or took off running where I might have liked to see him wait it out and let the play develop a little more. He was typically able to get rid of the ball pretty quickly. There were a lot of PA bootlegs and rollouts and these were executed beautifully and successfully. On the play Coach C mentioned, Carr PA'd and rolled right and hit AJ in stride for a good 40+ yards ... was poetry to watch. Carr for the most part looked pretty sharp and very upbeat today. I love our offensive playcalling; we are using a lot of 3 WR and sending more people out on routes in any formation. Carr to AJ on the quick slant sent shivers down my spine, and it looks like they are practicing that as a go-to play; saw it a good few times in the short 11 session. Wiegert was starting at RT most of the time IIRC on first team.
D-line vs O-line 1 on 1. Peek is a beast. He looks fast and very strong. He probably still plays a little emotionally and is prone to overpursue, but now that he is on the D-line, that's put to better use. I still don't know about his move repertoire (I'm not expert enough to really analyze him technique-wise) but for the most part he was getting by people with one quick move and charging through. Spencer is large; very large, but looked a little lost at times. He looked okay and I suspect he has a future with this team. I didn't notice Wand very much; not to say he didn't get their reps, just didn't happen to notice them very much. Mario looked good but he still looks like he's thinking too much; but hey, plenty of time to work on that, and it's just the nature of being a rookie any way. He is a physical specimen and absolutely steamrolled his blocker several times. Winston seems to have good footwork but he's not hitting the block quick enough and got beat inside several times.
D-line. I don't know if our D-line is just that good or if our O-line is just not that good, but our D-line was just dominating a lot of the time. Again I'm not expert enough to analyze them on fine points of technique, but the O-line was getting used by our first team D-line. I'm overjoyed that we have a real defensive line and a real pass rush this year. Peek looked like he was getting a lot of the firstteam reps at weakside DE.
D-Rob rolled an ankle, but he looks like he'll be able to walk it off. He sat out the rest of practice but looked like he was okay, just a tweak that'll take a day or two.
Chris Taylor is going to be good, I think. He is fast and he's a hard worker, and he makes good decisions. I like Antowain Smith too, as a short yardage power back. He's huge and he doesn't dance like friggin Jonathon Wells did; he takes the hole and goes. I think he is going to be hard to bring down. Domanick Davis looks good but just a half step shy of his full speed, but he didn't take a lot of reps. I hope we can avoid overusing him this year and let him bang out his 1,200 yards.
I didn't really watch DeMeco Ryans, but he played mostly on the second team today. I'ma watch him tomorrow and check him out in more detail.
I am really excited, after today's practice. It was hot as sin outside and for the most part, the players genuinely looked good, focused, and upbeat. There is a lot of rookie and offseason rust to be cleaned up and the team is going to need time to really gel and learn to play well together, but there is a lot to look forward to. The offensive and defensive playcalling looks incredible. I'm not exaggerating when I say I don't remember one off tackle right play all day. I was going back and forth between the different teams a lot, but we are looking good right now and good for only the second day of camp.
I'm tired and I reallly need to sleep.
For those that weren't there...
