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Training camp - Pittsburgh style


YoloinOhio

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Something crazy. So I go to sharkys very often, I am a regular. I saw today that bills beat writers were there last night. Normally I would have been upset. Talking to them would have been really awesome, I'm a big TG fan. Anyways, I went to KFC instead. Standing in there waiting for my 'to-go' order, in walks latrobe's best export. Arnold Palmer. Unbelievable. No autographs, no pictures. Just talked for a few min, me, my gf, and Arnold. So tonight will be my sharkys night and I hope anyone who is coming today follows suit and goes there!

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It's the hometown of Arnold Palmer.

Something crazy. So I go to sharkys very often, I am a regular. I saw today that bills beat writers were there last night. Normally I would have been upset. Talking to them would have been really awesome, I'm a big TG fan. Anyways, I went to KFC instead. Standing in there waiting for my 'to-go' order, in walks latrobe's best export. Arnold Palmer. Unbelievable. No autographs, no pictures. Just talked for a few min, me, my gf, and Arnold. So tonight will be my sharkys night and I hope anyone who is coming today follows suit and goes there!

Called it.

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Here's a full write up, play by play, by a Steelers blogger. (Odd no one from the Buffalo blogger community does this)

 

http://www.steelersd...teen-wednesday/

 

Overall, looks like an up and down day. Some good, Sammy Watkins TD, finding the TE's between the seams especially a wide open Scott Chandler for a TD. And some bad, missing throws low by EJ.

 

I really liked the recap of the OL/DL drills. Eric Wood/Cordy Glenn sound like they are in mid season form.

The steelers allow zero video of the practice. I was talking to Chris Brown and he was concerned about getting a report filed due to no highlights. I told him me and a guy I met at practice could do a re-enactment if he wanted. So I think the only way the fans get anything useful out of what's going on is for someone to transcribe it. Actually, I know Astro does some work for us and there is that Mike guy who does something similar for another website but I haven't seen much of that this year.

 

Just some of my non-professional report observations:

Out of the injured Bills, I only saw Meoki and Goodwin working with the trainer, performing some foot skill drills etc.

 

I was watching the steeler lbs on the bills rb/te in 1 on 1 drills from field level and we did pretty well. Freddie looked like he saw stars at one point, but didn't go down or anything. I should have watched Spiller more, but I did not think about it and I ended up walking around the field to the bleacher side in order to get a better look at the overall practice.

 

The 1 on 1 drills with the db/wr's were interesting and I thought the steelers wr's got open more than they should have. I saw the Moye catch on Gilmore and it just looks like Gilmore takes a few extra steps, almost looping around to get back to the wr. He did it when another guy ran a slant on him too. I will say most (not all) of the plays made seemed to be against our guys likely to not make the team. Robey made a couple good plays in this session.

 

The main thing I took from the 7 on 7 drills was we were getting the ball out pretty slowly. There were some nice throws but also some bad ones and at least one occasion where the ball never came out at all.

 

Offense:

I watched the Bills offense vs the Steelers D primarily in the 11 on 11 drills and the Bills had execution problems in the passing game. Whether the throws were off or the passes dropped, it looked sloppy to me. I was not encouraged by the work any of the qbs put in. EJ has a long way to go and Tuel/Thad were up and down. Consistency is a big deal at any of the positions and we didn't have much yesterday between the qb's/wr's. Balls were thrown to the wrong hips or at the knees or on the outside of the catchable arc. I worry about our guys' ribs at this point, some of the balls had hospital written all over them. The one Sammy dropped had him outstretched in the middle of the field and I thought if he had made the catch he could have protected himself, it would have been close.

 

I thought the running game was decent, and Spiller showed his explosiveness a couple times. The steelers should still have a pretty good run defense this year so I was happy with what we did against them even though every play wasn't a home run. I didn't think Rodriguez had a good practice, I think he missed a pass blocking assignment and dropped at least one ball. Wingo didn't do well either but I think both of these guys aren't making it anyway.

 

QB's

I thought EJ had his up and downs but it looked like he is getting some coaching to try and help. While I was disappointed, I don't think he's that far off of where he should be. I don't think he has the accuracy to be in the P Manning/Rodgers/Brady/Brees class of qb I think he could still get to the Flacco type qb. He needs to keep improving and he's certainly the best we have, but I do not think he will put it together until later in the season. I thought Tuel looked like the #2 and Thad the #3. Thad had too many poor throws to go with his couple of good throws/runs and Tuel was less extreme and slightly better with the good verus bad throws. Dixon just wasn't getting much done out there. EJ and Hogan threw about 10 passes after practice working on an square in and stop route. I was guessing one of them had an issue on it during practice. I was actually hoping I would see some more throws but that was about it.

 

WR's

At the beginning of practice TJ was warming up with the top wr's and not participating in the kickoff coverage unit walk thru and I think he is not making the team. He did do some punt returning during the team portion, dropping one ball and running a couple others back. He has good plays and bad during team work, but I will also join the "I don't see how he makes the team" crowd. I hope he does well enough on punt returns during these last preseason games to where someone will give us a low round pick for him but I'm not banking on it. Hogan caught the ball consistently, he was the only one that I saw doing that. Out of the practice squad candidates Tori Gurley caught my eye a couple times and I thought Roosevelt had a decent day. I expected more from Elliot and no one else caught my eye.

 

Overall I was disappointed with the offense and the qb play along with the wide receivers as detailed above. I couldn't really see the oline enough to comment on the pass blocking, but I think the ball wasn't coming out too quickly and that didn't help. I can see why the reporters were not happy but since this was my first bills camp practice ever I don't have much to compare it to.

 

Defense

When I did look over to the defensive side of the practice field on 11 on 11's it seemed to go better because there wasn't a lot of cheering from the crowd and most of the time when I looked over the defense was making a play, either a run stop or a tackle/pass breakup. But take it for what it is, me stealing glances over there in between offensive plays. I am excited about the first team run defense, to me they have looked for real and should get that part of our d into the top half of the league.

 

So in the end watching practice took a little of that offseason hope out of me, and while our passing game will be better I just don't know if we'll have enough to make the playoffs. It was one practice, but it confirmed for me some of he things that have been written that were identified as problems. Hopefully our passing game will be good enough to hurt teams playing 8 in the box. If we can do that I think we can win some games. We just need better execution.

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Gotta laugh at WGR. First, Buscab hates EJ and hopes he is replaced asap, then you have the Lap and Shoe fumbling about over what is football really? And finally, you have Simpleton Sal wrapping things up like a drunk with a babe in arms. Of course, every one of them is cringing that JBJ might win the bid and they would all have to then suck up to him. What a joke of a station for a proud city.

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Mike Rodak@mikerodak 2m

As Marrone said, Manuel completed 60% of his passes in 11-11s -- was 12-for-20. Including 7v7s, he was 14-for-28. So 50% overall practice.

 

Mike Rodak@mikerodak 1m

Marrone said Manuel's 60% comp rate in 11-11s was his best day of camp. Would rank 26th in NFL last season.

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