Aug 2 Training Camp

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I think McGee is as good as gone, and I actually feel really sorry for him.

Me too. Sounds like he was very frustrated today from the setback.

 

But at least McGee's made millions of dollars and thousands of fans.

 

He's one of the most admired Bills of the last decade and he's a rich man.

 

 

[Boludo]

nice write up on today's activity

 

thanks OP

[Cotton Fitzsimmons]

Great to see you, Cotton.

 

You were missed around here.

 

I hope that the sun starts shining again for you. All the best.

 

Thank you my friend. Just taking things a day at a time right now. I've definitely missed the good folks here as well!

[Rubes]

Thanks for another great writeup. I can hardly express how appreciated these are.

 

And welcome back, Cotton.

[superbills315]

Some of the things I noticed at camp today:

 

----------Fitz was on fire. He had some beautiful DEEP throws that would've been TDs or at least HUGE gains. He was also as accurate as I've ever seen him. He had the ball on the money all over the field.... He did have one really terrible throw over the middle, but I think it might've been a busted route. I couldn't even tell who he was throwing to.

 

----------Is it too late to just cut VY and Pigpen now and look for another backup? They were both god awful. VY had a couple nice bullets over the middle, but was constantly over- and under- throwing receivers.

 

His timing was worse than I could ever describe.

 

One of his deep balls was so under-thrown that by the time it got near the receiver who had beaten his man, THREE defenders were in the area, and the FS made an easy pick. It looked like a shanked punt.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd think he won a radio contest to win a chance to practice with the Bills. JUST TERRIBLE. I was excited when he was signed and defended him and the FO, but I can no longer do so. VY does still have his legs, so if he makes the team and Fitz goes down, expect to see a QB option offense.

 

----------Mario is every good thing anyone has ever said about him.

 

----------Merriman appears to be 100%. He got a lot of time in the nickel package during the 11v11s. Even if he isn't 100%, he was still disruptive and I expect everyone will soon agree that Buddy's gamble finally paid off.

 

---------Gilmore is everything everyone has been saying: fast, physical, and smart......But... he was getting abused on back shoulder throws on hitches. I'm guessing that there was some emphasis on testing him in that area, and that it is something correctable. Even then, he was right on his man and I think he can be coached to make the proper adjustments. Otherwise he was all over the field and looked like a #1 NFL corner.

 

---------Easley is a beast. Maybe it's the 81, but he looked like TO out there- deceptively fast and was catching everything in his radius..

 

---------Cordy Glenn is huge. Merriman was giving him some problems at times, but Glenn looks like he can start.

 

---------Searcy LABELED Roosevelt, but Roosevelt popped right back up.

 

---------I take back every bad thing I ever said about Tashard Choice. The guy looked super nimble- I even mistook him for Fred once. He also faked Sukay (I think) out of his jock for a would be touchdown after some nifty moves to get into the second level.

 

---------Potter looks like he's about 15 years old. The kid has a leg. But Lindell was banging some deep ones too- even a 50 yarder one of the field goal scramble drills.

 

---------TJ Graham could easily be the #2 receiver. I don't know if was just Fitz playing his heart out or what, but TJ, Easely, and Donald Jones ALL looked really good. I think they ALL will get significant time this year and ALL make solid contributions.

 

--------Nelson was doing push-ups on the side line during most of the practice. A set of 5, then chill for a couple minutes, then do 10, then wait a minute, do 5 more, and so on... it didn't seem to correspond with anything happening on the field, but it was weird how he'd start and stop really abruptly, as if it did relate with something else. Seemed random, tho.

 

-------The Stache is very active- running around and talking to individual players in between plays and during drills. I like it.

 

-------Jim Leonard was on the sideline, tho I'm sure you heard about that already

 

-------John Murphy looks noticeably older than the last time I remember seeing him.

 

I think that's it. I'm gonna review the pics I took on my phone and post them if any look good.

 

Got any ?s I will do my best to answer!

 

 

 

PS I havent been to camp since it was held in Fredonia, and I must say they are doing it RIGHT at SJF. Great atmosphere, plenty of friendly staff, and you can tell the Bills et al are making a concerted effort to make camp a destination for fans. I truly recommend it to all.

 

 

awesome report thank you

[Zulu Cthulhu]

Thanks for another great writeup. I can hardly express how appreciated these are.

 

And welcome back, Cotton.

 

Agreed. Uncle Flap should go to camp more; one of the best recaps i've ever read on here.

 

VY at least has a decent excuse for sucking so far - he's never run a offense like Chan's before. Thigpen can't say that, he has no excuse for his performances.

[The Wiz]

And Chan the man has the quote of the day as usual at camp in reference to the second team offense:

 

 

 

But they were a lot better, and looked as though they took a step forward. Gailey actually put it best after practice.

 

"I think they did. It's hard to go the other way."

[uncle flap]

Agreed. Uncle Flap should go to camp more; one of the best recaps i've ever read on here.

 

VY at least has a decent excuse for sucking so far - he's never run a offense like Chan's before. Thigpen can't say that, he has no excuse for his performances.

 

 

Thank you, and thanks to everyone else for the kind words!

 

Unfortunately, I don't think I will make any more practices this year.

 

Thigpen wasn't really that bad, he did have a couple of nice throws. However, he didn't really do anything that gives me any confidence in his ability to step in and lead the offense. Overall, he was too inconsistent in the team drills to impress me at all, and even as a backup, I expect more from an NFL caliber player. Then again, Fitz was playing so well, Thigpen might've just looked that bad in comparison.

 

When they were running drills with just the QBs throwing to WRs, both Thigpen and VY had some nice throws. Then again, so did Brad Smith. No pass rush and no safeties/over the top coverage can make any QB look pretty good.

 

I didn't really elaborate on this earlier, but the the good/bad news about Young is that during the team drills, VY would seemingly make the right read and find the open receiver... but then he'd either over/under throw the ball, and any advantage gained by the receiver getting open would be negated by a mistimed/inaccurate pass. Many of his deeper balls were these floating touch passes that seemed to hang in the air forever- so even if they were somewhat accurate, the D would have a chance to recover before the ball got there.

 

Maybe even worse than VY's inaccuracy was that he doesn't seem to have that zip on the longer throws. Which is weird because he obviously has a cannon for an arm, as evidence by some lasers thrown over the middle on some short and intermediate routes. But down the sidelines and on deep posts and flags, he would just throw these fade type tosses that were too late getting there.

 

I think if VY is going to throw these long lobs, he might as well just throw them 60 yds in the air and hope the WR can outrun the coverage because he seems incapable of dropping it in between the corner and safety. Which sucks because it seems that he is picking up the offense as far as making the right reads. His timing was just horrendous.

 

As I said earlier, I am no VY "hater," I initially liked the signing. After watching practice though, I don't see him as much more than an option QB. He was very elusive when he pulled the ball down and ran with it. Rather than try to push the ball downfield, I think he would be best served by making one read on a quick slant or skinny post, and if it's not there- tuck and run. Or maybe call some play action and hope the safety bites so he can simply throw up a prayer past the defense and hope a speedster like Graham can track it down.

 

Thanks again, everybody!

[twist_to_open]

Great Job Uncle! Thanks for taking the time to share all that!

 

---------Easley is a beast. Maybe it's the 81, but he looked like TO Bobby Chandler out there- deceptively fast and was catching everything in his radius..

[Dorkington]

BB.com reported that Merriman had a good practice... confirm?

[eball]

I would answer this completely stupid, paranoid post but he's ignoring me (more paranoia)so why bother?

 

I wonder who else here is on his Nixonian ignore list.

Hey, I'd like to hear your answer. Why DID you feel the need to post what you did?

 

 

Great camp report, uncle! Thanks so much for taking the time to write that up for us out-of-towners.

[Wayne Cubed]

BB.com reported that Merriman had a good practice... confirm?

He's washed up and steroids has destroyed his career. Not to mention he rolled his ankle earlier, so there is no way possible he had a good practice.

 

Also, thanks for the report uncle

 

I appreciate everyone who gives TC updates seeing as I'm currently abroad and unable to get updates otherwise.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Wayne Cubed

[The Poojer]

Yet another member of this community to send mucho grassy ass to....these camp reports are outstanding. y'all are making us feel as though we are there watching it. the excitement is certainly building and it almost seems like it might be worth it this year....

 

keep the camp reports coming for those of us unable to be there! :worthy:

 

:beer:

[PromoTheRobot]

I will be at TC Aug 11. I'll try to give a report.

 

PTR

[CodeMonkey]

---------I take back every bad thing I ever said about Tashard Choice. The guy looked super nimble- I even mistook him for Fred once. He also faked Sukay (I think) out of his jock for a would be touchdown after some nifty moves to get into the second level.

 

 

PS I havent been to camp since it was held in Fredonia, and I must say they are doing it RIGHT at SJF. Great atmosphere, plenty of friendly staff, and you can tell the Bills et al are making a concerted effort to make camp a destination for fans. I truly recommend it to all.

I was very impressed with Choice at the end of last season when he got some touches. I actually thought he looked better than Spiller at the time, went north instead of east/west (and was scolded mercilessly here for even thinking such blasphemy ). How nice would it be to have a solid #3 RB that didn't make you cringe whenever he got the ball?

 

I couldn't agree more about camp at SJF. A class act from top to bottom.

[Jerry Jabber]

Kyle Williams was hardly on the field. I dont think he was in the 7v7 or 11v11s at all. I think they're playing it safe.

 

Same with Wood. He got a few reps in the team drills, but I didn't see a lot of him. Unless I'm mistaken, I did see him get quite a bit of push on a couple of run plays.

 

I was mostly watching Gilmore or the D line (especially Merriman and Mario) when I wasn't watching the ball, so I kinda neglected the interior.

 

I did see Dareus looking strong in some one on one drills, and for such a big guy, he was remarkably quick and shifty. Dwan Edwards was in Kyle's place a lot of the time and I did notice him creating some pressure next to Dareus in the team drills.

 

Nice! I hope Wood & KW are able to come back 100% and can stay healthy. Thanks again!!

[Dorkington]

He's washed up and steroids has destroyed his career. Not to mention he rolled his ankle earlier, so there is no way possible he had a good practice.

 

Right? Whenever there is good Merriman news, it's radio silence here. If he blinks the wrong way, the hounds come out.

[Speedy G]

Great report! thanks for the hard work wish you could be at every practice, we need more reports like this, it's gonna be a fun season !

[Hapless Bills Fan]

I would answer this completely stupid, paranoid post but he's ignoring me (more paranoia)so why bother?

 

Wait, let me get this straight. You answered SJBF's post to announce that you're not going to bother to answer?

 

Count me with eball in being curious about why you felt the need to insert the post about the Giant's SB trophy into a training camp report that took significant effort to produce and that many of us enjoy.

(And by the way many thanks, Uncle Flap!) .

 

Thigpen wasn't really that bad, he did have a couple of nice throws. However, he didn't really do anything that gives me any confidence in his ability to step in and lead the offense. Overall, he was too inconsistent in the team drills to impress me at all, and even as a backup, I expect more from an NFL caliber player. Then again, Fitz was playing so well, Thigpen might've just looked that bad in comparison.

 

That would be a nice thought (Fitz playing well, Thigpen looking bad in comparison). I think the point of having a backup is...you don't want too much drop-off between the starter and backup.

 

I didn't really elaborate on this earlier, but the the good/bad news about Young is that during the team drills, VY would seemingly make the right read and find the open receiver... but then he'd either over/under throw the ball, and any advantage gained by the receiver getting open would be negated by a mistimed/inaccurate pass. Many of his deeper balls were these floating touch passes that seemed to hang in the air forever- so even if they were somewhat accurate, the D would have a chance to recover before the ball got there.

 

Maybe even worse than VY's inaccuracy was that he doesn't seem to have that zip on the longer throws. Which is weird because he obviously has a cannon for an arm, as evidence by some lasers thrown over the middle on some short and intermediate routes. But down the sidelines and on deep posts and flags, he would just throw these fade type tosses that were too late getting there.

 

I think if VY is going to throw these long lobs, he might as well just throw them 60 yds in the air and hope the WR can outrun the coverage because he seems incapable of dropping it in between the corner and safety. Which sucks because it seems that he is picking up the offense as far as making the right reads. His timing was just horrendous.

 

Trying to be positive here, I wonder if his timing might be off because he is still learning the offense - he's making the right read, but it still takes him longer to do it thus, the delayed timing?

Perhaps as he becomes more familiar and comfortable with the offense, his timing will improve.

 

The reason I suggest this is because from what you said about his performance on drills, it doesn't seem to be an intrinsic issue of accuracy or timing. It sounds plausible that something he has to do (make reads, elude the D) in 11-on-11 is throwing his timing off.

 

I seem to recall at the start of training camp last year, without OTAs and minicamp, Fitz's timing was atrocious but he "got it together" by opening day. So it may be fixable for VY, let's see how he progresses as training camp goes on.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Hopeful

[PearlHowardman]

Hey, I'd like to hear your answer. Why DID you feel the need to post what you did?

 

So we can imagine what Bills camp would look like if/when the Bills win the Super Bowl.

 

I was going to start a thread about the Denver Broncos with Peyton Manning as QB because I intend to follow them this year. Doing so doesn't make me a Broncos fan.