7/25 Practice report

[patfanken]

I wasn't going to go until tomorrow when they put on the pads, but it was such a beautiful morning and I couldn't wait another day to try out the new binocs and get a feel for how they are running camp thus far.

DISCLAIMER: It was still just a glorified walk thru with no contact, so these comments should be taken as pure speculation and personal impressions on my part. In other words take it all with a large grain of salt.

1. Kembrell Thomkins looked like the best WR in the house. Quick, elusive and makes the spectacular catches to boot. He along with Edelman and DA were the WR's who "popped"

2. Brandon LaFell did not. Its not like he did anything wrong, he just didn't pop. He had a chance to make one play, going up for a highly contested ball, got both hands on it, and couldn't hold it. That being said, its very early and thus far the defense is ahead of the offense IMO.

3 For those keeping track the starting OL was Solder, Mankins, Connolly, Kline and Cannon. It pained me that Cannon only played RT. Volmer only played LT on the 2nd team, and Stork only played RG.

4. Mayo was in the Middle again today. Collins was on the strong side, while Hightower was on the weak. They ran one D I found interesting where just before the snap they shifted the D down a man to the strong side which put HIghtower on the LOS coming off the weakside edge. Just sayin'

5. Collins was in coverage most of the morning and I have to say he was good. Whenever I focused on him (which was a lot) he was like glue on his man. He seems VERY good in space. IIRC he had 2 passes defended and zero completions. Very impressive.

6 Yes, after watching him in person for the first time Revis IS that good. One play stood out. Revis was on the outside playing loose man on Edelman when Edelman goes in motion to the inside presnap. When the ball is snapped Edelman and LaFell break downfield with Lafell running something inside, while Edelman breaks back outside.

What was so impressive (it was right infront of me) was I could swear that Revis planted to go back outside BEFORE Edelman made his cut. He clearly had read the pattern and was there waiting for Julian and swallowed him up. BB talked about Revis' brains, and he wasn't lying. Those times I watched him I never saw him make a false step or be fooled by a receiver. It was WOW, just WOW.

7. Gronk was a full participant in all the individual work. He ran full speed and made sharp cuts....but when they went to group and team work, he just watched.

8. Speaking of TE's Hooman tied with Thomkins for catch of the day. He has excellent hands and is a much better athlete than he's given credit for here. He's not anything great, but he could easily be a 30-40 catch guy if they gave him more targets

9. Jones is a better athlete than I expected. Seems like he has good hands and moves better than I thought. And he huge. He's very raw. I'd love to see him on the PS. BTW- all the TE's caught the ball well

10. I didn't understand all the hype about White....but I do now. He catches the ball like an experienced WR. I'm still wondering how he's going to be able to block at his size, but its easy to see why they'd want him on the field in passing situations. Very smooth.

11. Garapolo looked like a kid who is used to playing against Eastern ILL. He has quick feet, a lightening release and decent accuracy, but he looks very much the rookie he is. He's slow to read the D and find the open man, and threw 2 picks and could have had a couple more. He's going to have to come a long way in the next month before I'd be comfortable having him as my #2. That being said, Mallet had a pretty good day.

12. Guys like Hull, and Anderson have vastly improved our LB coverage this season. I thought they both had good day covering. The defense as a whole is ahead of the offense IMHO.

13. When they went to warm ups, I was at first very encouraged to see Vince leading those around him. However then I noticed something that disturbed me. Whenever everyone else would go to some kind of hopping or skipping kind of drill, Vince would just run. It could be nothing. He participated fully in everything they did. I just thought it was curious.

Tomorrow is the first day of pads. I can't wait. I don't know how I got along without binocs all these years. I'm glad I got a day to practice with them before the hitting starts.





3

 

[Horace's Ivories]

thanks for the report - love the Revis observation

oh - and Vince has a "no skipping" clause in his new contract..

 

[KDPPatsfan85]

Thanks for the report. I will be at training camp with my wife and kid tomorrow. If you hear a 3 yr ild kid constantly crying, it might be us.

 

[Section103]

For what it is worth, I was at TC two years ago and noticed that even a healthy Vince doesn't skip. (I recall Edelman and Welker the only players going all out for every rep in warm-ups)

 

[BradyFTW!]

3 For those keeping track the starting OL was Solder, Mankins, Connolly, Kline and Cannon. It pained me that Cannon only played RT. Volmer only played LT on the 2nd team, and Stork only played RG.

FWIW, Kline really grew on me over the course of last season. Partly because he was just atrocious in TC; so bad that his name basically became a punchline around here. But he actually looked competent to me in spot duty later in the season, to the point that I'm even a little intrigued by the possibility of a Solder-Mankins-Connolly-Kline-Vollmer line. He still has a ways to go, but if he's improved significantly lot over the offseason, that could be a real upgrade at both C and RG.

 

[Danger Zone]

I wasn't going to go until tomorrow when they put on the pads, but it was such a beautiful morning and I couldn't wait another day to try out the new binocs and get a feel for how they are running camp thus far.

DISCLAIMER: It was still just a glorified walk thru with no contact, so these comments should be taken as pure speculation and personal impressions on my part. In other words take it all with a large grain of salt.

1. Kembrell Thomkins looked like the best WR in the house. Quick, elusive and makes the spectacular catches to boot. He along with Edelman and DA were the WR's who "popped"

2. Brandon LaFell did not. Its not like he did anything wrong, he just didn't pop. He had a chance to make one play, going up for a highly contested ball, got both hands on it, and couldn't hold it. That being said, its very early and thus far the defense is ahead of the offense IMO.

3 For those keeping track the starting OL was Solder, Mankins, Connolly, Kline and Cannon. It pained me that Cannon only played RT. Volmer only played LT on the 2nd team, and Stork only played RG.

4. Mayo was in the Middle again today. Collins was on the strong side, while Hightower was on the weak. They ran one D I found interesting where just before the snap they shifted the D down a man to the strong side which put HIghtower on the LOS coming off the weakside edge. Just sayin'

5. Collins was in coverage most of the morning and I have to say he was good. Whenever I focused on him (which was a lot) he was like glue on his man. He seems VERY good in space. IIRC he had 2 passes defended and zero completions. Very impressive.

6 Yes, after watching him in person for the first time Revis IS that good. One play stood out. Revis was on the outside playing loose man on Edelman when Edelman goes in motion to the inside presnap. When the ball is snapped Edelman and LaFell break downfield with Lafell running something inside, while Edelman breaks back outside.

What was so impressive (it was right infront of me) was I could swear that Revis planted to go back outside BEFORE Edelman made his cut. He clearly had read the pattern and was there waiting for Julian and swallowed him up. BB talked about Revis' brains, and he wasn't lying. Those times I watched him I never saw him make a false step or be fooled by a receiver. It was WOW, just WOW.

7. Gronk was a full participant in all the individual work. He ran full speed and made sharp cuts....but when they went to group and team work, he just watched.

8. Speaking of TE's Hooman tied with Thomkins for catch of the day. He has excellent hands and is a much better athlete than he's given credit for here. He's not anything great, but he could easily be a 30-40 catch guy if they gave him more targets

9. Jones is a better athlete than I expected. Seems like he has good hands and moves better than I thought. And he huge. He's very raw. I'd love to see him on the PS. BTW- all the TE's caught the ball well

10. I didn't understand all the hype about White....but I do now. He catches the ball like an experienced WR. I'm still wondering how he's going to be able to block at his size, but its easy to see why they'd want him on the field in passing situations. Very smooth.

11. Garapolo looked like a kid who is used to playing against Eastern ILL. He has quick feet, a lightening release and decent accuracy, but he looks very much the rookie he is. He's slow to read the D and find the open man, and threw 2 picks and could have had a couple more. He's going to have to come a long way in the next month before I'd be comfortable having him as my #2. That being said, Mallet had a pretty good day.

12. Guys like Hull, and Anderson have vastly improved our LB coverage this season. I thought they both had good day covering. The defense as a whole is ahead of the offense IMHO.

13. When they went to warm ups, I was at first very encouraged to see Vince leading those around him. However then I noticed something that disturbed me. Whenever everyone else would go to some kind of hopping or skipping kind of drill, Vince would just run. It could be nothing. He participated fully in everything they did. I just thought it was curious.

Tomorrow is the first day of pads. I can't wait. I don't know how I got along without binocs all these years. I'm glad I got a day to practice with them before the hitting starts.





3

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

6 Yes, after watching him in person for the first time Revis IS that good. One play stood out. Revis was on the outside playing loose man on Edelman when Edelman goes in motion to the inside presnap. When the ball is snapped Edelman and LaFell break downfield with Lafell running something inside, while Edelman breaks back outside.

What was so impressive (it was right infront of me) was I could swear that Revis planted to go back outside BEFORE Edelman made his cut. He clearly had read the pattern and was there waiting for Julian and swallowed him up. BB talked about Revis' brains, and he wasn't lying. Those times I watched him I never saw him make a false step or be fooled by a receiver. It was WOW, just WOW.

That is very exciting to hear. I hope he is everything we thought he was and he reclaims his status as the #1CB in the league.

13. When they went to warm ups, I was at first very encouraged to see Vince leading those around him. However then I noticed something that disturbed me. Whenever everyone else would go to some kind of hopping or skipping kind of drill, Vince would just run. It could be nothing. He participated fully in everything they did. I just thought it was curious.

I hear there's a team of scientists in town to take seismic readings. Maybe they asked for him to hold off so they don't get off readings (just kidding, I love the big guy and happy to see return/improving health). Do you have nay idea how he looked compared to last year? someone said he lost weight, but is that compared to last years playing weight or after where it looked like he gained a little bit (or was it just baggy clothing).

If we can get VW back in form (2 seasons ago), this defense could get really scary.

 

[signbabybrady]

Great report and we seem to be seeing things similarly especially your WR and TE breakdowns.

 

[Urgent]

Thanks Ken.

And, as we bathe in the reports from training camp, let me send out cheers to Mrs. Bruschi, who was doing this seriously before any of us. Before the PFW blog, before ESPN Boston, before Patsfans or KFFL, Mrs. Bruschi (not like his wife, that was her screen name) set up her deck chair at every single practice and posted her thoughts.

 

[Kontradiction]

4. Mayo was in the Middle again today. Collins was on the strong side, while Hightower was on the weak. They ran one D I found interesting where just before the snap they shifted the D down a man to the strong side which put HIghtower on the LOS coming off the weakside edge. Just sayin'

Though I'm taking it with a grain of salt, this makes me happy.

 

[dales804]

Good stuff there. So excited for Revis and am interested to see if KT's good work continues with pads on. These impressions are better to read than anything I've seen from a reporter thus far.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

Good stuff, ready for Dobson to come back and play

 

[patchick]

These impressions are better to read than anything I've seen from a reporter thus far.

Yep. Thanks for doing this, Ken -- all those years of football practices have clearly made you a keen observer of the art!

 

[patfanken]

Good stuff, ready for Dobson to come back and play

Dobson was on the field during practice rooting on his fellow WR's. You can't help but notice how much bigger he is than them, even LaFell.

If its any solace, IIRC, the Pats usually hide away all their injured players and keep them away from practice. It could be taken as a sign that he's not too far away if he's allowed to be with the team. Any ways we can hope

 

[BradyFTW!]

Dobson was on the field during practice rooting on his fellow WR's. You can't help but notice how much bigger he is than them, even LaFell.

If its any solace, IIRC, the Pats usually hide away all their injured players and keep them away from practice. It could be taken as a sign that he's not too far away if he's allowed to be with the team. Any ways we can hope

That would be fantastic news if so. To this point, Dobson not being ready is pretty much the only news on the injury front that has been anything short of ideal. One of these years, the team is going to stay relatively healthy- maybe this is the one.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

I am starting to get a bad feeling about Lafell...yes after only 2 practices

 

[patfanken]

I am starting to get a bad feeling about Lafell...yes after only 2 practices

Most likely he's going to end up being what he is. A solid NFL WR. A good but not great receiver who is productive, but will drop a few more than you'd like ideally. On the other hand he's a bigger target in the red zone and an outstanding blocker

BTW- at the end of practice there was I guess you could call it an "opportunity period" where mostly the back ups could get snaps. ie Stork took snaps at C and guys like McCullers and Swanson got DB reps. During that same period LaFell took reps catching the ball in the drill where he has his back turned to the thrower and turns and finds the ball there. He knows its been an issue with him in Carolina, but at least he's working on it.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I gotta say that I got a little giggity-giggity reading about Revis. Really, the whole post was excellent. But the part about Revis gave me goosebumps. If we get "Jets" Revis, then this defense overall is going to be scary. If the Pats manage even a #3 offense like last year, then how can we not be right there at the end?