TC afternoon session 8/10 observations: Pats and Saints

[Patspsycho]

I think detailed camp reports whether by media or fans while awesome have to be viewed in the context of what the teams and coaches are actually looking for or trying to accomplish. Remember, these are scripted sessions with no live tackling and the QB's are off limits and aside from the occasional selfish player looking to make an impression, nobody is trying to hurt anybody.

Then by that logic, Brady should have been able to drive his offense downfield with the same ease that Brees did.

 

[Patspsycho]

Great writeup. Thanks!

I have a theory about the umpire -- the rule change says something about doing it the old way the last two minutes of the half.

I really hope that this is the case, because our hurry up offense, or the 2 min drill is one of the best. Having the umpire run in from the offense side to pick up and to spot the ball is going to burn valuable seconds off the clock.

On the other hand, maybe that is why Hernandez got cussed out for leaving the ball on the field. It may be that players are being asked to carry the ball back to the LOS.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Then by that logic, Brady should have been able to drive his offense downfield with the same ease that Brees did.

Not necessarily. Not if the play they are attempting to execute happened to be exactly the play the NO D was prepped to cover. I don't think Brady is audiblizing in scrimmage... They are basically running STUFF. And as one analysis noted yesterday the OL was seeing 1 gap 4-3 for the first time in TC and that allowed them to work on some adjustments that we will hopefully see on Thursday. That is what camp is all about, preparation as opposed to winning the periods.

BTW the Saints apparently lost the kid they had penciled in as their short yardage RB this AM to an ACL. Practice was said to have been a little chippier...

 

[Krugman]

Thanks PatsPsycho,great report and much appreciated.!

 

[Leave No Doubt]

5) The best thing about today was that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd string got full workouts in every phase of the game, and getting a real challenge. You could not duplicate this in a preseason game. I can only think that with TWO joint team practices, that we are going to be one of the most prepared squads once the season starts. That will definitely offset the fact that we are a young, inexperienced team.

Great point psyco and thank you for your efforts, these reports by everyone are the best!

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

I think there is a difference between intensity and enthusiasm. Mayo is intense and driven and working hard at becoming a vocal leader. Calling for enthusiasm here at times seems almost counter intuitive. But I recall BB doing just that a couple of years ago because he apparently felt the team was a little to tight and robotic, and he encouraged them to do a little celebrating (preferably with teamates) to lighten the mood (because you should still enjoy playing the game in the process of playing it right). You need to find that balance between confident and arrogant that allows for remaining focused without becoming mentally ground down in the process. I know Bill has mixed emotions about the term swagger, he says swagger never won a thing.

Without reading too much into things, what has troubled me about this team both last year and frankly this year is that they just don't seem to want it bad enough. I read reports that the Saints are just way more fired up.

Brady is the only guy on this team that I know that I know that I know is going to be fired up. I love that he is slamming his helmet and swearing. Welker and Chung both show these traits...

Mayo, Maroney, Merriweather, these other guys I am not sure about yet. Maybe still waters run deep, but I want to see angry football players 24/7.

As if I have a clue anyway but that is my two cents on where this team is at mentally. And to me that is the difference between losing all your road games in the fourth quarter, and kicking last minute field goals on your way to a record NFL win streak.

 

[slam]

The joint practice sessions seem like such a win-win proposition, why doesn't the team do it every season? Too hard to put together? Don't want other teams to get too good a look at what we have? Increased risk of injury?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I think there is a difference between intensity and enthusiasm. Mayo is intense and driven and working hard at becoming a vocal leader. Calling for enthusiasm here at times seems almost counter intuitive. But I recall BB doing just that a couple of years ago because he apparently felt the team was a little to tight and robotic, and he encouraged them to do a little celebrating (preferably with teamates) to lighten the mood (because you should still enjoy playing the game in the process of playing it right). You need to find that balance between confident and arrogant that allows for remaining focused without becoming mentally ground down in the process. I know Bill has mixed emotions about the term swagger, he says swagger never won a thing.

Yes it's a fine line between swagger and enthusiastic leadership. The coaching staff is obviously intervening to shape the psyche of this franchise, seriously damaged when the stable emotional leaders retired and the malcontents polluted the locker room and practise field. Signing AD was a disaster of titanic proportions, not entirely visible to us until near the end and still hidden to certain sports writers.

 

[Patspsycho]

Not necessarily. Not if the play they are attempting to execute happened to be exactly the play the NO D was prepped to cover. I don't think Brady is audiblizing in scrimmage... They are basically running STUFF. And as one analysis noted yesterday the OL was seeing 1 gap 4-3 for the first time in TC and that allowed them to work on some adjustments that we will hopefully see on Thursday. That is what camp is all about, preparation as opposed to winning the periods.

BTW the Saints apparently lost the kid they had penciled in as their short yardage RB this AM to an ACL. Practice was said to have been a little chippier...

1) Brady audibled a few times. He audibled out of at least one run play when he saw and heard the Saints mike catch a low hat read and shifted the corp strongside and line up DE directly over Hernandez. Hoyer got in the same situation but did not audible out for some reason and the play got blown up in the backfield.

2) The OL first saw the 4-3 one gap in the morning practice. And prior to that they probably got briefed during classroom session. I attended the afternoon practice.

 

[Sicilian]

The joint practice sessions seem like such a win-win proposition, why doesn't the team do it every season? Too hard to put together? Don't want other teams to get too good a look at what we have? Increased risk of injury?

My guess is that the benefits are mostly for the younger players who just haven't seen as much competition in the league yet. For the veterans, the benefits of these joint sessions are smaller, and thus may be outweighed by the negatives you listed.

For this team, it seems to be well well worth it.

 

[Patspsycho]

Without reading too much into things, what has troubled me about this team both last year and frankly this year is that they just don't seem to want it bad enough. I read reports that the Saints are just way more fired up.

Brady is the only guy on this team that I know that I know that I know is going to be fired up. I love that he is slamming his helmet and swearing. Welker and Chung both show these traits...

Mayo, Maroney, Merriweather, these other guys I am not sure about yet. Maybe still waters run deep, but I want to see angry football players 24/7.

As if I have a clue anyway but that is my two cents on where this team is at mentally. And to me that is the difference between losing all your road games in the fourth quarter, and kicking last minute field goals on your way to a record NFL win streak.

I believe Spikes is going to be the answer to all this. He is going to emerge as the emotional leader and the heart of this D. Right now, the D is still looking for its identity.

 

[Kontradiction]

Good stuff as usual, Psycho. I'm glad to see what you're saying about my Gators in the line-up as well. With that said, and I know it's just TC, but were you able to get any read on what appears to be our starting D-Line at the moment vs. their starting O-Line? What sort of push were they getting in the passing game? Were they holding their own in the running game?

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Thanks for the report.

When I saw Brady earlier in camp, he looked spectacular and way ahead of last year. In retrospect, I guess throwing against our cheese whiz secondary makes lots of QB's look spectacular.

 

[Patspsycho]

Thanks for the report.

When I saw Brady earlier in camp, he looked spectacular and way ahead of last year. In retrospect, I guess throwing against our cheese whiz secondary makes lots of QB's look spectacular.

Our secondary is not cheese whiz; they are much better than last year and they know it which is probably why they had a little over-confidence thing going and got taken down a notch by the NFL's best team, which was very good for them. It was the best thing that could happen to them.

 

[Patspsycho]

Good stuff as usual, Psycho. I'm glad to see what you're saying about my Gators in the line-up as well. With that said, and I know it's just TC, but were you able to get any read on what appears to be our starting D-Line at the moment vs. their starting O-Line? What sort of push were they getting in the passing game? Were they holding their own in the running game?

Whenever Spikes was in there, the run stopping improved tremendously. The Saints were not able to break out in the running game, so yes- to answer your question, they were holding their own, and the fact that Cunningham and Nink were able to beat the edge on Brees was, I thought, significant because it meant that the Saints OL was really tied up in the middle.

In the 3-4 I notice that Gerard Warren is consistently in there as LDE. I think he will start there until the other Warren comes back.

I think that our 4-3 is pretty potent, it seemed to be consistently DE: Murrell, DT: Wright DT: Pryor DE: G. Warren up front. Wilfork repped in Pryor's place every now and then. Whenever Cunningham lined up on Murrell's side, I liked the results we had.

Also saw a 2 man front that was intriguing (2-3-6/dime). Was surprised to see BB throw this in the red zone on Brees. I thought that was daring, but it worked. I remember one play where Mayo, Spikes, and I think maybe Murrell or Woods suddenly stacked up behind Wright who lined up as 3 tech and they crashed in on a strongside A/B blitz in to collapse the left flank and get to Brees.

 

[JSn]

Also saw a 2 man front that was intriguing (2-3-6/dime). Was surprised to see BB throw this in the red zone on Brees. I thought that was daring, but it worked. I remember one play where Mayo, Spikes, and I think maybe Murrell or Woods suddenly stacked up behind Wright who lined up as 3 tech and they crashed in on a strongside A/B blitz in to collapse the left flank and get to Brees.

WHERE ARE YOU THURSDAY!?!?!?! Argh!

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Great report but this line not good at all:
>But there were good things- quite good things. Gronk showed he can absorb massive hits and keep chugging. By all appearances he is 3rd on the depth chart, but I

 

[efin98]

Great report but this line not good at all:
>But there were good things- quite good things. Gronk showed he can absorb massive hits and keep chugging. By all appearances he is 3rd on the depth chart, but I

How the heck can it not be good?

 

[PatsBoy12]

My guess is that the benefits are mostly for the younger players who just haven't seen as much competition in the league yet. For the veterans, the benefits of these joint sessions are smaller, and thus may be outweighed by the negatives you listed.

For this team, it seems to be well well worth it.

Bingo! I commented in another thread that that's exactly why BB is doing this. He realizes that the team is young and needs to grow up fast, and there really is no better way to do that this time a year without outside competition, especially from teams like the Saints and Falcons. This experience for our young players is invaluable.

 

[Patspsycho]

Great writeup. Thanks!

I have a theory about the umpire -- the rule change says something about doing it the old way the last two minutes of the half.

You are correct. I just found out that the umpire does go back to his old position in the last two minutes of each half.