The other thing that really flew under the radar yesterday, is the continued development of Ryan Mallet. He was firing on all cylinders, hitting all his receivers, and has again demonstrated to me the Brady-like ability to intuitively grasp the offense. He doesn’t have the fine-tuned master’s command that Brady does, but he grasps the meaning, the philosophy of the offense. He has even got to the point where he is correcting other players on their alignments- he scolded Ridley on a weakside HB alignment (apparently supposed to be strongside to dual-read, if I got that right). He also corrected Yeatman’s Y slot (backed him off LOS), and later on in the RZ drill found Yeatman on a drag and did the proverbial through the eye of the needle to beat the man coverage, after which he went up to Yeatman, whooping, banged helmet and chest bumped, and slapped him everything short of physical abuse.
The more I see of Mallet, the more I see that he really is going to be Brady’s successor. I have to admit this is bittersweet to me. On the one hand, we have an extremely gifted QB shooting up the ranks and by all early indications will not miss a beat once he steps in- but when he does it will have meant that a glorious chapter has come to a close.
I have been keeping my eyes on Price- he is my binky from last year, and he has not disappointed except on PR where he dropped yet another punt; I don’t think he will be utilized as a PR except in emergency. Otherwise he pretty much has jumped Tate on the depth chart and has earned Brady’s trust. That is one thing that is pretty obvious- if Brady doesn’t trust a receiver, it really shows on the field, even to the average fan. I saw Price taking off on go routes a few times, (flag, post)- so clearly being seen as a vertical threat. One thing that stood out to me is how well Price has the timing of the trips down- especially the cross (rub). He acquires well.
Camp fodder Jenkins made two beautiful catches, as he always seems to do every year he has been there, one a flying diving catch on a goal-line trips right.
My opinion of Scott O’Brien, ST coach is really going lower and lower every year- this guy is a screamer. He shouts. He doesn’t get his point across man-to-man, or confer individually or privately, he yells at you from 10 yards away. Consequently I have seen nothing to impress me on ST- the punt coverage unit isn’t really 100% there. This may be judgmental but I am willing to wager that this is a result of the manner in which he corrects those players, in the worst possible way.
