Astrobot Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Day 3 of Training Camp: Sunday. Another beautiful sunny day here at St. John Fisher, with less humidity and a slight breeze, making us almost forget about 17” of snow in my driveway 6 months ago. I acquainted myself with a Bills fan next to me, Paul Rinehardt, who I find out is also a retired teacher. Thanks to him, we were able to cover both sides of the field in Greg Roman's 2-spot drills. So much is happening you need an extra pair of eyes. Session 1: Punt practice for most of the players. The gunners were Rod Sweeting, Justin Brown, Deonte Thompson, and Mario Butler. In the second kickoff, the gunners were Dez Lewis, Tobais Palmer, Andre Davis, and Andrew Hudson. Mario Butler got a talking-to, so we'll give him the special teams dunce cap of the day. Returners were Goodwin, Thigpen, and Sammy Watkins, who muffed one. Session 2: Positional drills. The OL is Glenn, Incognito, Wood, Miller, and Kujo. The WRs work on "man-on" drills, where a ball is thrown to them with another WR defending. I like this as a teacher because yesterday we diagnosed that the WRs were having some difficulty battling for catches in traffic, and this was the prescriptive teaching. The WRs went on to work on stop and go routes, and Harvin is amazing at looking like he is going to stop and hook in, then just taking off. I was worried we wouldn't have a Stevie Johnson any more. Harvin is a faster Stevie on his routes. TEs worked on blocking, RBs worked on hitting specific gaps. The QBs worked on accuracy, so I tracked them. Tyrod won this session. ---Cassel had two stars for great passes, had 5 accurate passes, 2 thrown too far and 1 thrown too near. ---EJ had one star for a great pass, had 5 accurate passes, one too far and one too near. ---Tyrod had 3 great passes, 6 accurate passes, and one too near. ---Simms had 2 great passes, 4 accurate passes, and three too near. Next we looked at QB timing. Simms was in a different drill.Tyrod won this session. ---Cassel threw 4 passes too late, 2 too early, and 2 on time. ---EJ threw 5 passes too late, 0 too early, and 6 on time. However, 4 throws were behind the WR. ---Tyrod threw 2 passes too late, 0 too early, and 7 on time. One throw was a missed pass. Session 3: More positional work. The second-string OL looked like LT (Didn't get), OGs rotating in (William Campbell, Alex Kupper), C Kraig Urbik, RG Darryl Johnson, RT Tyson Chandler. Tyrod and Cassel were working with the 1's vs air, with Hogan, Woods, Charles Clay, and Boobie Dixon at first. As expected Cassel was more accurate than Simms, with Cassel throwing 4 perfect passes to Simms' 1, and Cassel throwing one lousy pass to Simms' 2. Boobie Dixon had the most trouble receiving, and Bryce Brown is better this year. Mulligan dropped a pass, and Clay looks great as a receiver. Tyrod can lead receivers and tight ends well. WR's were clearly working on downfield blocking, again something that needed work clearly getting remediated. Session 4: 11 on 11 work. Cassel is with the 1's with Tyrod. We again looked at accuracy on both fields at the same time. Tyrod won this session. ---Simms had 2 applause-producing throws, with the TD to Easley, 1 bad. ---Cassel had 1 applause-producing throw to Deonte, 2 bad throws. ---Tyrod had 3 applause-producing throws, best to Woods, 2 bad. ---EJ had 1 applause-producing throw to Gragg, 3 bad. Observations: ---There were lots of early jumps called (Henderson, Wynn, Buchanan). ---There were 3 would-be sacks at the very least. ---There were at least 3 tackles for loss. ---Cassel demonstrated nice pocket presence, once climbing the ladder up in the pocket to complete the pass under duress. ---Tyrod had a great fake handoff on one play, and a great fake toss and go. ---EJ scored another TD on the same play Tyrod threw to the underneath man. ---Deonte Thompson lined up on the wrong side twice today (after lining up wrong once yesterday). On the other hand, he caught a TD. Session 5: Kick Returns Tobais Palmer got the work, but Gay kicked it into the end zone on 6 successive plays. And he's a bubble player. Karlos Williams was talked to. Meanwhile, QBs are throwing over a 6 1/2 foot fence. Tyrod did not have trouble passing the ball accurately. Later, EJ passed the ball into a double-high garbage can from the 15, then turned and hit the rim on the other side of the field. I was impressed. Session 6: 11 on 11 again You have the same OL and the DBs were Gilmore-Darby, AWilliams-Graham. Highlights were: ---Rambo blitzing up the middle unabated against Cassel and the 2's. ---There were more than this one safety blitz. They were coming from everywhere. This will get our line better--or paranoid. We're good on D. ---Hamilton, a DT I don't expect to make the team, barged right in on the QB , forcing the whole team to move back 5-8 yards. Fun to see. ---Manuel dropped a hiked ball ---Gilmore sniffed out a QB keeper, instantly released from his man and had the QB in the backfield. TFL. ---Cockrell got burned by Watkins with one move, causing an instant 3 yard cushion. ---Goodwin drops yet another roster-securing bomb. ---Cassel's throw to Easley for 15 yards was a thing of beauty, causing Sweeting to get an earful from Donnie Henderson. I'll return for Wednesday's practice... Dean Kindig, DraftTek Bills Analyst On Twitter: @TCBills_Astro Email: Bills@Drafttek.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks Rastro!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandius Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks, Astro. Tyrod starting to give me a stiffy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Ranks Rastro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Great report as always! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 As usual, a big thank you. Since it seems like EJ isn't making the progress we need, hopefully Tyrod starts making some separation. Having a decent young QB to develop into our system would be a life saver for the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thank you Astro. If you have time - which QB do you think could best succeed in this offense? I know it's early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrobot Posted August 2, 2015 Author Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thank you Astro. If you have time - which QB do you think could best succeed in this offense? I know it's early. Great question. Up to today, I thought Cassel would be QBing first game this season. But this is a question Greg Roman is surely thinking about: "Which QB could best succeed in this offense?" First, read this article about Greg Roman's offense: http://billsmafia.com/2015/02/25/breaking-buffalo-bills-oc-greg-romans-power-run-game/ Roman needs a QB that can: ---physically wear down opponents ---never turn the ball over ---orchestrate the variety of looks and motion at the line of scrimmage ---create a "10th gap" with his legs (a la Kaepernick) ---create misdirection with bootlegs ---exhaust the D-Line and OLBs with roll-outs and keepers ---operate the play action fake with mastery ---have a very good downfield throw ---very occasionally operate the pistol and read-option It's becoming clear that Tyrod is mastering the playbook and its nuances, all four QBs have the footwork, and none have incredible accuracy, so what else does Tyrod provide? He provides Greg Roman with all of those others, except possibly physically wearing down opponents with sheer size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan-4-Ever Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks for a detailed breakdown Astro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon Grundy Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Why the hell can EJ hit garbage cans, but not his WRs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmotionallyUnstable Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 You rock. Love the news about the chaos our defense will cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous Guy Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Why the hell can EJ hit garbage cans, but not his WRs 'cause they ain't garbage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Jabber Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thank you again Astro for another great detailed report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Great question. Up to today, I thought Cassel would be QBing first game this season. But this is a question Greg Roman is surely thinking about: "Which QB could best succeed in this offense?" First, read this article about Greg Roman's offense: http://billsmafia.com/2015/02/25/breaking-buffalo-bills-oc-greg-romans-power-run-game/ Roman needs a QB that can: ---physically wear down opponents [/size] ---never turn the ball over[/size] ---orchestrate the [/size]variety of looks and motion at the line of scrimmage[/size] ---create a "10th gap" with his legs (a la Kaepernick)[/size] ---create misdirection with bootlegs[/size] ---exhaust the D-Line and OLBs with roll-outs and keepers[/size] ---operate the play action fake with mastery[/size] ---have a very good downfield throw[/size] ---very occasionally operate the pistol and read-option[/size] It's becoming clear that Tyrod is mastering the playbook and its nuances, all four QBs have the footwork, and none have incredible accuracy, so what else does Tyrod provide?[/size] He provides Greg Roman with all of those others, except possibly physically wearing down opponents with sheer size.[/size] Based on this list how does Cassel fit in Roman's offense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heitz Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks again Astro - once again, the best report on camp of the day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#34fan Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 This thread is easily worth Russell Wilson-type money. Danke, Astro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 as always thanks astro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourbonboy Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Session 3: More positional work...Mulligan dropped a pass.... Doesn't he get a do-over??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Doesn't he get a do-over??? I see what you did there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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