May 31st, 2007
Practice wrap
Posted by Albert Breer at 12:50 pm
Here’s what we saw at practice this morning …
– All eyes were on Randy Moss. As he says — “my microscope is big.” At the outset, he was sidled up to Tom Brady, playing catch and messing around with the quarterback on the sideline. During passing lines, he slipped and fell, shouting his frustration. But he recovered to make a nice catch in skeleton drills, on a corner route from Brady over his outside shoulder. But he did have a drop there, and on a fade route in 2-minute drills, when he went down the sideline and safety Rashad Baker came over to knock him off his feet. The ball came tumbling out as he hit the ground. A couple plays later, he caught a bomb on a fade from Brady, over Tory James. As promised, Moss worked at both the X and Z, and out of the slot. Most commonly, he was lined up as the Z, with Jabar Gaffney at the X and Wes Welker and Kelley Washington manning the slot.
– Probably more significant was the use of Adalius Thomas. While Mike Vrabel seemed to be attached to playing on the edge, Thomas got most of his snaps at the “Mike” (weakside inside) alongside Tedy Bruschi. He worked some opposite Vrabel, with Junior Seau coming in and Rosevelt Colvin coming off. Thomas also saw reps as a 3-technique tackle in the 2-minute defense. Seau still has a soft cast covering his right arm.
– None of the receivers were particularly impressive, which is normal for this time of year. Typically, the defense is ahead of the offense at this juncture, and that was certainly the case here. Washington, had a drop over the middle that became one of Matt Cassel’s two picks (Willie Andrews caught the deflection) during the 2-minute work.
– Rodney Harrison, in sub packages, is working some as a nickel linebacker. That’s not unusual, as the team has used James Sanders in that role in the past. When the defense was running its passing skeleton, LB Larry Izzo played quarterback.
– TE/FB Garrett Mills flashed the quick feet that got him here in the first place. He moves very well, and seems to be ticketed for an H-back type role.
– Some of the absences: Chad Jackson, Donte’ Stallworth, Randall Gay, Asante Samuel, Mel Mitchell, Sanders, Laurence Maroney, Eric Alexander, Brian Barthelmes, David Thomas, Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green. Also, Sammy Morris was wearing a red non-contact jersey. Gay, Alexander and Green are already in New Orleans for Marquise Hill’s service.
We’ll have more after Seymour, Kevin Faulk and Ty Warren take the podium.
