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- Sep 11, 2007
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Well, I'm finally back from the office after taking care of the things I neglected this morning in order to take in some TC. I bought along a mental pad and pen, came solo, and really tried to focus on the practice like I was evaluating an opposing team. Here is what I have taken down.
Pre-Stretch Activities:
High Level: Offense worked most of the day in front of the fans, defense towards the press section. In the far end zone, the offense was working on some new blocking schemes. I am a huge fan of the running game, and feel that it is more eloquent than the passing game. It also doesn't hurt my bias that linebackers are primarily run defenders. I love seeing all of the pieces in motion, and this day was no different. I don't know what kind of info I can or should give up, so I will err towards the sign of caution. Suffice it to say that it was a hybrid scheme that utilized the strengths of both directional blocking and zone blocking. It was brilliant in it's design when I played out what it should attack in my head. The backs seemed adept in running it, the linemen were fully capable of running the play, and Shanahan pointed it out to BB resulting in the two bantering for about five minutes about it. Cool.
While working on a stack and shed drill, Mayo made the sled do a backflip on one jam. The power of these guys is simply remarkable.
Funny: People were cheering when Brady would jog five feet. He made what looked like a self depricating crack to one of the younger coaches while nodding to the bleachers. He then jogged ten yards then cut hard off of his injured knee without a hitch. The two of them cracked up.
Position Centric Activities: BB worked one on one with the defense, specifically linebackers. More specifically, he spent time with AD on containment nuances.
The recievers looked good. 11 didn't look spectacular in my mind, but it was only one practice. Galloway was making obscene cuts and moves, Moss was himself, and Welker was great as well. Tremendous footwork on 83. Even more so in person.
Opposing Position Work
Patrick Chung is a freaking athlete. He has spectacular speed for a safety, and had me confused for a corner for a minute. He drops his hips in tackling and drives through the runner while staying in control.
AD was blowing up linemen during an edge drill. The rest of the defense and offense looked generally lackluster. They clearly were sore. James Sanders made one spectacular play where he crashed the TE on an outside run at the TE. He stood the TE up, took outside leverage and drove the TE into the runner. Flawless execution.
My favorite part of the practice was a backs/'backers tackling drill. The ball carrier had about ten yards before the defender was to break down or pursue, depending on the path of the carrier. The backs dominated the drill, and Paris Lennon in particular was consistently beaten. Maroney won all three of his matchups with three different moves. He won one by juking the defender, another by simply bursting past him, the third by stutter stepping and laying an effective stiff arm on the defender. The second defender was Jerod Mayo. In addition, Fred Taylor's agility is insane. He was breaking ankles all over the field today.
During a D-Line on O-Line drill, one player stood out to me: Sebastian Vollmer, future Pro-Bowler. He was eating players alive at the POA, recording four pancakes on running plays. On passing plays, he was never beaten. While those plays alone were impressive, one specific play stood out to me. They were working on a backside step screen off of the play action inside zone at TE. After the playfake, Galloway stepped inside of Wheatley. As I watched the line play, a white jersey streaked towards the corner. In an instant, Vollmer had Wheatley sealed. Had the drill been full contact, Wheatley would have been smelling salt on the sideline in short order. Vollmer was seven yards laterally in three steps out of his playfake. He cut with tremendous agility and drove to the outside of the play with speed I have never seen in a lineman. If I was scouting the Patriots offense and asked to name their best lineman, I would have responded, "76, no question". He is insanely gifted.
Other than that, the practice was fairly routine, with the great players executing as expected. Vollmer was the standout and was joined by AD, Taylor, and Brace simply because of the volume of work he was getting. If anyone has any comments or questions, please post up!
Pre-Stretch Activities:
High Level: Offense worked most of the day in front of the fans, defense towards the press section. In the far end zone, the offense was working on some new blocking schemes. I am a huge fan of the running game, and feel that it is more eloquent than the passing game. It also doesn't hurt my bias that linebackers are primarily run defenders. I love seeing all of the pieces in motion, and this day was no different. I don't know what kind of info I can or should give up, so I will err towards the sign of caution. Suffice it to say that it was a hybrid scheme that utilized the strengths of both directional blocking and zone blocking. It was brilliant in it's design when I played out what it should attack in my head. The backs seemed adept in running it, the linemen were fully capable of running the play, and Shanahan pointed it out to BB resulting in the two bantering for about five minutes about it. Cool.
While working on a stack and shed drill, Mayo made the sled do a backflip on one jam. The power of these guys is simply remarkable.
Funny: People were cheering when Brady would jog five feet. He made what looked like a self depricating crack to one of the younger coaches while nodding to the bleachers. He then jogged ten yards then cut hard off of his injured knee without a hitch. The two of them cracked up.
Position Centric Activities: BB worked one on one with the defense, specifically linebackers. More specifically, he spent time with AD on containment nuances.
The recievers looked good. 11 didn't look spectacular in my mind, but it was only one practice. Galloway was making obscene cuts and moves, Moss was himself, and Welker was great as well. Tremendous footwork on 83. Even more so in person.
Opposing Position Work
Patrick Chung is a freaking athlete. He has spectacular speed for a safety, and had me confused for a corner for a minute. He drops his hips in tackling and drives through the runner while staying in control.
AD was blowing up linemen during an edge drill. The rest of the defense and offense looked generally lackluster. They clearly were sore. James Sanders made one spectacular play where he crashed the TE on an outside run at the TE. He stood the TE up, took outside leverage and drove the TE into the runner. Flawless execution.
My favorite part of the practice was a backs/'backers tackling drill. The ball carrier had about ten yards before the defender was to break down or pursue, depending on the path of the carrier. The backs dominated the drill, and Paris Lennon in particular was consistently beaten. Maroney won all three of his matchups with three different moves. He won one by juking the defender, another by simply bursting past him, the third by stutter stepping and laying an effective stiff arm on the defender. The second defender was Jerod Mayo. In addition, Fred Taylor's agility is insane. He was breaking ankles all over the field today.
During a D-Line on O-Line drill, one player stood out to me: Sebastian Vollmer, future Pro-Bowler. He was eating players alive at the POA, recording four pancakes on running plays. On passing plays, he was never beaten. While those plays alone were impressive, one specific play stood out to me. They were working on a backside step screen off of the play action inside zone at TE. After the playfake, Galloway stepped inside of Wheatley. As I watched the line play, a white jersey streaked towards the corner. In an instant, Vollmer had Wheatley sealed. Had the drill been full contact, Wheatley would have been smelling salt on the sideline in short order. Vollmer was seven yards laterally in three steps out of his playfake. He cut with tremendous agility and drove to the outside of the play with speed I have never seen in a lineman. If I was scouting the Patriots offense and asked to name their best lineman, I would have responded, "76, no question". He is insanely gifted.
Other than that, the practice was fairly routine, with the great players executing as expected. Vollmer was the standout and was joined by AD, Taylor, and Brace simply because of the volume of work he was getting. If anyone has any comments or questions, please post up!
