jerek
Pro Hobbyist
Some more personal observations from the sideline after attending the Sunday morning practice.
It's hot. Seriously. If you weren't there, I hope you were somewhere air conditioned. I was sweating in the shade. A lot of players continue to deal with dehydration/heat exhaustion.
Mario Williams was taking the entire O-line to school. In the one-on-one drills he was pretty much having his way with just about everyone. He looked really solid in the 7/7 11/11 drills as well. He seems very focused and is very much in learning mode, very hungry to be even better. Was great to see.
Seth Wand is struggling right now. He looks very unsure of himself, and was getting beat badly and repeatedly. Even Babin, who I do not think of as being that strong or possessing very good moves, got by him with ease on multiple reps. Sherman subbed him out of the first team multiple times. IIRC Spencer was taking some first team reps today at LT.
Moulds practiced but look like he was holding back; didn't take a lot of reps. The perks of being a veteran, I guess. He looks good though, pretty much what we expect and even hope he'll be; a strong, big, sufficiently fast receiver who runs good routes and has great hands. Teams will be hard pressed to double team AJ this year with Moulds on the opposite side.
Walter looks like a good 3rd WR. He's tall and got sure hands and will be good across the middle and on out routes.
Carr looks like he's doing well right now. They are running a lot of slant routes (Andre is going to slaughter the opposition with that this year) and short routes across the middle, including to Putzier. The playcalling still looks like an absolute 180 from last year; a lot of mixed formations and a lot of receiving options, lot of bootlegs and rollouts and PA's. I notice they are focusing a little more on shorter routes and in Carr making the quick, right read and getting rid of it; so far he is handling it well and still looks quite sharp.
Our O-line is getting absolutely dominated at this point. In fairness, I think our D-line is going to be a top-5 unit in the league this year; Weaver, Williams, and even Payne at DT and Babin/Peek at DE are going to make an amazing unit. As far as our O-line, it's way too early to hit the panic button; there are a lot of rookies getting reps and this is a unit that needs time to really play together and gel under their new coach. Just that FWIW (which IMO is not that much, at this point) they are struggling as a unit right now. Flanagan looked best in the 1/1 drills, and Wiegert looked alright as well.
N.D. Kalu caught my eye a couple times. He looked good in the 1/1 drills and got a lot of reps at, IIRC, at DT in second team. I still didn't catch DeMeco too much.
Robaire and Peek were absent today. I've heard rumor that Robaire was simply being treated for heat exhaustion and will be back soon. D-Rob sat out (as did Davis) but D-Rob was walking with only a very slight limp; I think he'll be back pretty quickly.
Buchanon looked much better; he is being much more physical and aggressive. He made a very athletic INT while covering AJ and looks like he is gaining confidence. Hoke is working a lot with him.
Rosenfels looked pretty good in 11 on 11, what little I saw of him. Doesn't have much of an arm but is pretty accurate and seems to find the open guy.
C.C. Brown looked really good today. He was great in coverage and was tackling really well. There wasn't a lot of full-on tackling drills today but he was frequently in good position and getting a good wrap-up, hitting low and strong.
Chris Taylor fumbled once and had a droppped pass IIRC, but he still looks great with the ball in his hands. Seems decisive and very fast vertically.
I'll post more as I think to add it, but that's what's fresh on my mind for now. This is probably the last session I'll go to until next weekend, since I unfortunately work a 9-to-5 and am short on PTO right now. I'm sure AJ and possibly Coach C and anyone else who might have been there will have something to contribute as well, and I'll be happy to try to answer any questions.
It's hot. Seriously. If you weren't there, I hope you were somewhere air conditioned. I was sweating in the shade. A lot of players continue to deal with dehydration/heat exhaustion.
Mario Williams was taking the entire O-line to school. In the one-on-one drills he was pretty much having his way with just about everyone. He looked really solid in the 7/7 11/11 drills as well. He seems very focused and is very much in learning mode, very hungry to be even better. Was great to see.
Seth Wand is struggling right now. He looks very unsure of himself, and was getting beat badly and repeatedly. Even Babin, who I do not think of as being that strong or possessing very good moves, got by him with ease on multiple reps. Sherman subbed him out of the first team multiple times. IIRC Spencer was taking some first team reps today at LT.
Moulds practiced but look like he was holding back; didn't take a lot of reps. The perks of being a veteran, I guess. He looks good though, pretty much what we expect and even hope he'll be; a strong, big, sufficiently fast receiver who runs good routes and has great hands. Teams will be hard pressed to double team AJ this year with Moulds on the opposite side.
Walter looks like a good 3rd WR. He's tall and got sure hands and will be good across the middle and on out routes.
Carr looks like he's doing well right now. They are running a lot of slant routes (Andre is going to slaughter the opposition with that this year) and short routes across the middle, including to Putzier. The playcalling still looks like an absolute 180 from last year; a lot of mixed formations and a lot of receiving options, lot of bootlegs and rollouts and PA's. I notice they are focusing a little more on shorter routes and in Carr making the quick, right read and getting rid of it; so far he is handling it well and still looks quite sharp.
Our O-line is getting absolutely dominated at this point. In fairness, I think our D-line is going to be a top-5 unit in the league this year; Weaver, Williams, and even Payne at DT and Babin/Peek at DE are going to make an amazing unit. As far as our O-line, it's way too early to hit the panic button; there are a lot of rookies getting reps and this is a unit that needs time to really play together and gel under their new coach. Just that FWIW (which IMO is not that much, at this point) they are struggling as a unit right now. Flanagan looked best in the 1/1 drills, and Wiegert looked alright as well.
N.D. Kalu caught my eye a couple times. He looked good in the 1/1 drills and got a lot of reps at, IIRC, at DT in second team. I still didn't catch DeMeco too much.
Robaire and Peek were absent today. I've heard rumor that Robaire was simply being treated for heat exhaustion and will be back soon. D-Rob sat out (as did Davis) but D-Rob was walking with only a very slight limp; I think he'll be back pretty quickly.
Buchanon looked much better; he is being much more physical and aggressive. He made a very athletic INT while covering AJ and looks like he is gaining confidence. Hoke is working a lot with him.
Rosenfels looked pretty good in 11 on 11, what little I saw of him. Doesn't have much of an arm but is pretty accurate and seems to find the open guy.
C.C. Brown looked really good today. He was great in coverage and was tackling really well. There wasn't a lot of full-on tackling drills today but he was frequently in good position and getting a good wrap-up, hitting low and strong.
Chris Taylor fumbled once and had a droppped pass IIRC, but he still looks great with the ball in his hands. Seems decisive and very fast vertically.
I'll post more as I think to add it, but that's what's fresh on my mind for now. This is probably the last session I'll go to until next weekend, since I unfortunately work a 9-to-5 and am short on PTO right now. I'm sure AJ and possibly Coach C and anyone else who might have been there will have something to contribute as well, and I'll be happy to try to answer any questions.
