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A Few Camp Notes - 8/2


stevewin

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They practiced on the field closest to the shade which was nice for the fans. I didn't think it was too bad in the shade - there was a nice breeze blowing as well. I'm sure it was plenty hot for the players though. Among those who came this time were my kids and my brother's two kids - they went off to do the kids interactive thing for a while. After a bit I get a call from my wife, who went with them, saying my nephew wasn't feeling well and was blowing chow everywhere. He came back and we were forcing the liquids in him. I told him he needed to hydrate - we didn't want him to go all McCargo on us... :devil:

 

No pads today. I thought the beginning of practice the players looked a bit more lethargic which is understandable given they got done w/ the late practice yesterday. JP looked off to me again - even on 7-7 he overthrew Parrish a couple times and one time overthrew Davis deep. I thought Holcomb looked more comfortable w/ pressure on him. once again And once again the storied Holcomb-to-Aiken combo was clicking. For me - Aiken has been the best receiver period in the two practices I have seen. Holcomb does have a tendency to put his ball down the middle a little high at times - and Aiken just goes after it and grabs it with his vice-grip hands and brings it down - he just looks so strong going after and catching the ball with his hands extended away from the defense - he has really impressed me. Peerless also had a good day with a few good catches.

 

On the 7-7 stuff they had Tight Ends lined up everywhere - a few times Royal was split out wide. One play the TE started in the backfield and went downfield and made the catch.

 

They did some ST coverage stuff today - and went back for more 11-11. the practice picked up some at that point. I still love Fewell constantly yelling for them to hustle back after every play - and every time a ball is on the ground he is screaming for them to get it regardless of how dead the play may seem. Greer had a nice interception off Holcomb on a kind of busted play which started with a couple guys jumping way off sides. Regardless - Greer was really quick to close on a ball Holcomb dumped to the flat and just made a great play on it. JP had one ball stripped from him, but no fumbled exchanges from center today. The best I thought he looked was on a nice little roll out pass to Reed. For some reason the times I've seen JP it just doesn't seem like the ball is getting out really fast and he seems to be getting smothered by the pocket. At one point he was hesitating and finally overthrew someone and there were some mumbles in the crowd about getting rid of it earlier. On one play he was under pressure and threw a ball low to the sideline which Reed made a nice diving play on. I noticed though that on that play #73 Joshua Cooper (?) had somehow come untouched and actually was just politely standing there while JP lined up to throw. On full contact I think JP would have gotten killed - didn't notice who was playing RT then unfortunately - they were swiching guys around a lot. On the last play of the regular 11-11 Ryan Neill *completely* pancaked Cieslak - or maybe "hotcaked" is a term more appropriate for today....

 

Parrish had another one of his patented jump-up-make-the-catch-in-the-flat-then-land-and-cause-jockstraps-to-litter-the-field. He is one quick MF.

 

Kollar is constantly coaching during the team drills. He is animated but not in a over-the-top cartoonish beserk kind of way.

 

At the end they did the two minute drill. Holcomb got them to a 4th and 3 right away but converted the first and drove them down the field. Aiken may have had a couple catches and I think Peerles had one as well. They ran the ball once to keep the defense honest. They got down to about the 15yd line w/ 19 seconds left and Holcomb threw an interception to Bowen. It didn't look like a great pass - Bowen may have also lulled KH into making the throw and then made a good play on it. I think I remember Bowen breaking up another play at some point during the day.

 

JPs two minute drill didn't last very long. I think he threw like a 1 yard pass then I think an incompletion and then got 'sacked' and wasn't able to convert on 4th and forever. I don't think JP was very happy w/ his performance today.

 

At the end of practice Willis was again running sprints the width of the field w/ Fowler and this time it was Nance and Chris Denney who joined. After a couple sprints they were all obviously winded and catching their breath - and after a minute Nance starts walking to the fence presumably to start signing and Willis goes "Hey - where do you think you're going?" at which point a chastised Nance jumped right back to start the next one. When they were done Willis came over to the fence to say hello to someone he knew and a crowd soon gathered. My kids and my neice and nephew (all ages 7-9) were already standing there and damned if Willis didn't start signing then and both my kids' very first pro football autograph was none other than Willis McGahee. Here's the other ones they got today - not a bad bounty for first time ever - they were all pretty excited:

 

McGahee

Fowler

Nance

McGee

Greer

Lindell

Moorman

 

The players were kind of all scattered over the field. McGee drew a big crowd and patiently signed for a very long time. Lindell was a very nice guy.

 

Spikes and some linebackers stayed out again to go over some positional things. It looed like one of the drills the linebackers were doing when they broke out at one point in the practice was going over roles/position for man-in-motion scenarios.

 

Youboty was jogging back and forth next to Willis' group when they were running after practice.

 

McFarland stayed out on the field for a while with a coach going over technique for his first step in pass protection.

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Great report!

 

It sounds like you are doing your part to bring in the NextGen of fans too. How did they like camp?

 

Next week I am taking the wife in with her daycare and my daughter and grandkids - annual event!

 

They practiced on the field closest to the shade which was nice for the fans.  I didn't think it was too bad in the shade - there was a nice breeze blowing as well.  I'm sure it was plenty hot for the players though.  Among those who came this time were my kids and my brother's two kids - they went off to do the kids interactive thing for a while.  After a bit I get a call from my wife, who went with them, saying my nephew wasn't feeling well and was blowing chow everywhere.  He came back and we were forcing the liquids in him.  I told him he needed to hydrate - we didn't want him to go all McCargo on us... :devil:

 

No pads today.  I thought the beginning of practice the players looked a bit more lethargic which is understandable given they got done w/ the late practice yesterday.  JP looked off to me again - even on 7-7 he overthrew Parrish a couple times and one time overthrew Davis deep.  I thought Holcomb looked more comfortable w/ pressure on him. once again  And once again the storied Holcomb-to-Aiken combo was clicking.  For me - Aiken has been the best receiver period in the two practices I have seen.  Holcomb does have a tendency to put his ball down the middle a little high at times - and Aiken just goes after it and grabs it with his vice-grip hands and brings it down - he just looks so strong going after and catching the ball with his hands extended away from the defense - he has really impressed me.  Peerless also had a good day with a few good catches.

 

On the 7-7 stuff they had Tight Ends lined up everywhere - a few times Royal was split out wide.  One play the TE started in the backfield and went downfield and made the catch.

 

They did some ST coverage stuff today - and went back for more 11-11.  the practice picked up some at that point.  I still love Fewell constantly yelling for them to hustle back after every play - and every time a ball is on the ground he is screaming for them to get it regardless of how dead the play may seem.  Greer had a nice interception off Holcomb on a kind of busted play which started with a couple guys jumping way off sides.  Regardless - Greer was really quick to close on a ball Holcomb dumped to the flat and just made a great play on it.  JP had one ball stripped from him, but no fumbled exchanges from center today.  The best I thought he looked was on a nice little roll out pass to Reed.  For some reason the times I've seen JP it just doesn't seem like the ball is getting out really fast and he seems to be getting smothered by the pocket.  At one point he was hesitating and finally overthrew someone and there were some mumbles in the crowd about getting rid of it earlier.  On one play he was under pressure and threw a ball low to the sideline which Reed made a nice diving play on.  I noticed though that on that play #73 Joshua Cooper (?) had somehow come untouched and actually was just politely standing there while JP lined up to throw.  On full contact I think JP would have gotten killed - didn't notice who was playing RT then unfortunately - they were swiching guys around a lot.  On the last play of the regular 11-11 Ryan Neill *completely* pancaked Cieslak - or maybe "hotcaked" is a term more appropriate for today....

 

Parrish had another one of his patented jump-up-make-the-catch-in-the-flat-then-land-and-cause-jockstraps-to-litter-the-field.  He is one quick MF.

 

Kollar is constantly coaching during the team drills.  He is animated but not in a over-the-top cartoonish beserk kind of way.

 

At the end they did the two minute drill.  Holcomb got them to a 4th and 3 right away but converted the first and drove them down the field.  Aiken may have had a couple catches and I think Peerles had one as well.  They ran the ball once to keep the defense honest.  They got down to about the 15yd line w/ 19 seconds left and Holcomb threw an interception to Bowen.  It didn't look like a great pass - Bowen may have also lulled KH into making the throw and then made a good play on it.  I think I remember Bowen breaking up another play at some point during the day.

 

JPs two minute drill didn't last very long.  I think he threw like a 1 yard pass then I think an incompletion and then got 'sacked' and wasn't able to convert on 4th and forever.  I don't think JP was very happy w/ his performance today.

 

At the end of practice Willis was again running sprints the width of the field w/ Fowler and this time it was Nance and Chris Denney who joined.  After a couple sprints they were all obviously winded and catching their breath - and after a minute Nance starts walking to the fence presumably to start signing and Willis goes "Hey - where do you think you're going?" at which point a chastised Nance jumped right back to start the next one.  When they were done Willis came over to the fence to say hello to someone he knew and a crowd soon gathered.  My kids and my neice and nephew (all ages 7-9) were already standing there and damned if Willis didn't start signing then and both my kids' very first pro football autograph was none other than Willis McGahee.  Here's the other ones they got today - not a bad bounty for first time ever - they were all pretty excited:

 

McGahee

Fowler

Nance

McGee

Greer

Lindell

Moorman

 

The players were kind of all scattered over the field.  McGee drew a big crowd and patiently signed for a very long time.  Lindell was a very nice guy.

 

Spikes and some linebackers stayed out again to go over some positional things.  It looed like one of the drills the linebackers were doing when they broke out at one point in the practice was going over roles/position for man-in-motion scenarios.

 

Youboty was jogging back and forth next to Willis' group when they were running after practice.

 

McFarland stayed out on the field for a while with a coach going over technique for his first step in pass protection.

733911[/snapback]

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Great report!

 

It sounds like you are doing your part to bring in the NextGen of fans too. How did they like camp?

 

Next week I am taking the wife in with her daycare and my daughter and grandkids - annual event!

733963[/snapback]

I think the part they got the biggest kick out of was going to the fence and seeing the players up close and of course getting the autographs. It helped also that the first was McGahee - a real 'superstar' they actually knew. They liked the two minute drill too I think because it made more sense to them to be more like a game and see the time ticking down and ball moving up the field. I was also really counting on the interactive area to break it up for them - I think they had fun the short time they went but it was just so hot they didn't get to do that as much as they normally probably would have.

 

Going to the Panthers-bills game next week - it will be the first pro football game for my kids. Coming up in Oct. for the Minn game (an annual event where me and my brother come up to take my Dad to a game near the first week of Octoer for his birthday) - and this time we are both taking our sons as well so that will be my son's first game at RWS.

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