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Disclaimer: This was my first practice of the year, so it took me a while to start to see things out of the chaos. I still don't think I'm fully there yet, but hopefully my future posts will be more informative and insightful. So let's get started.
1. The practices field was filled for the start of practice but not packed. I arrived right at the start of practice so the best seat I could get at first was half way down on the 10. Usually I like to sit on the back row somewhere between the 40's. Eventually I managed to get to the top row on the ten.
2. I saw early on that I was seeing the feel really well, so I decided to concentrate on the offensive side since they were practicing closer than the D most of the time. Again these are more impressions than hard analysis.
3. The Practice itself seemed sluggish. There wasn't much crispness to it. I could have been the weather, but after a day off, you'd like to think they'd come out with more fire. They were in pads, but the hitting was very controlled especially in group and team drills
4. Among the noticeably missing was Julian Edelman. Volmer was on the field but did nothing in team and group drills. I'm sure someone post the full list of MIA's
5. Anyone know who #31 in blue is? He wasn't on my roster and he got a lot of run at CB. He had decent size and played pretty well. I'm curious
6. During group and half line drills I watch the interior OL very closely. These are my thoughts
a. Stork - I really believe he is going to be a monster in the middle. I loved Ryan Wendell's first step when he was a C. It's not easy being the first guy off the ball when you have the snap it in the opposite direction. Several time this afternoon Stork showed me a first step that was almost as good as Wendell's and he's 30 lbs heavier and stronger. On other thing to note: Bryan Stork never walks anywhere. He has to speeds, jogging and running.
b. Jackson - He's a BIG man, but has remarkably nimble feet. Quick off the ball, and agile enough to turn on a defensive player. I noticed in a drill that on inside running plays the OL was NOT using their hands at all. It was all head and shoulder contact at the waist. It was old school run blocking. Get lower than your opponent put your head/shoulder into his midsection and use that pivot point to push him back a step and then move him to one side or the other.. I saw Jackson do this on a few occasions I focused in on him.
In pass block, I thought he did real well, but I'm not sure how hard the D was coming. Both he and Mason tipped whether it was pass or run by their stances. I hope that will be pointed out in the film room
c. Mason- Standing next to Solder he looked like his little brother. In the run game, I think the kid is gong to be a monster. He' too is very quick off the ball, very powerful initial hits and also very nimble on his feet, and should have no trouble getting to the 2nd level or pulling. BTW - In today's practice I saw very little pulling, something the Pats did all the time last year.
In pass blocking he's behind Jackson. Too much forward lean. In the few time I concentrated on him, he always seemed to playing catch up with the rusher. But its very early and he rarely had to pass block at GT.
7. Cam Flemming got almost all of the first team RT snaps and looked very comfortable out there.
8. The WR's practiced a lot near me and these are my impressions.
a. With Edelman out, It was clear to me in the drills that Only Amendola and Boyce had any really extra quickness that we've come to expect over so many years with Welker, Edelman and now Amendola. Getting Edelman's snaps Amendola connected on several nice TD plays. This isn't so much a criticism of the talent. Its just much different.
c. Some receiver generalities. All of the receivers in this camp have excellent hands. I say no drops, not even a bobble. When Tyms went down late in practice, Gibson had a nice TD catch from Brady. Gronk saw a lot of time split outside. He is uncoverable. Even when a DB is in perfect position Gronk has the size and quick feet to get position. Chandler not so much. Chandler has the size and foot speed to be effective, but no so much wide (IMHO) I don't think Chandler has the agility to get off the LOS. Chandler never got thrown to when he was wide because he was so late getting into his route.
Chandler and Gronk weren't on the field much together this practice. I noticed one play on GL when Chandler lined up next to Gronk as a WB, but that was it.
d. The bad news was that Tyms went down and had to be carted off after being hurt in a one on one tackling drill. I have no idea of how bad this was.
9. I think JG is light years ahead of where he was last season, but I have always thought that JG it would be best for his career if he didn't have to play a meaningful game until 2016. Nothing I saw today made me change my mind. He is fine when his first read is open. He has a beautiful quick short release, but when he has to go to his second read, you can see the wheels turning in his head. I believe he simply needs more live reps. I do NOT want to see him on the field for that first game.
Brady looks sharp and threaded the needle to Amendola several times.
10. Blount was the first RB out there and looked slightly quicker in my mind coming off the ball. He looked in great shape. We know what we have in Blount. Jonas Gray impressed me with his quickness and effort. When he got the ball in drills he consistently ran 10-15 yds further than the rest of the RBs. He hit holes quickly and got what he could. Just like we saw in the Colt game. I really like our RB depth.
a. In the practice the Pats didn't throw to their RB's much, but Cadet and Lewis caught everything thrown to them, so did Bolden and White. I have no idea who will be the 3rd down back, but I think we will have it covered.
11. As far as the Defense goes I will promise to look more carefully at the defense here are a few assorted observations
a. Brown and Easely had the plays of the day when they stoned the first offense on GL twice.
b. Brown is going to be a starter right off the bat
c. Butler is still playing with his hair on fire. He had a couple of picks today, but the one that stood out to me was a play he got 2 hands on the ball to break up the play, and then stood on the sideline for over a minute clearly pissed at himself for not hanging on to the ball.
d. This was my first look at Cardona, and he is light years ahead of Aikens. This kid is looking at a 15 year career making a Million or more a year, snapping the ball.
More on the defense tomorrow.
1. The practices field was filled for the start of practice but not packed. I arrived right at the start of practice so the best seat I could get at first was half way down on the 10. Usually I like to sit on the back row somewhere between the 40's. Eventually I managed to get to the top row on the ten.
2. I saw early on that I was seeing the feel really well, so I decided to concentrate on the offensive side since they were practicing closer than the D most of the time. Again these are more impressions than hard analysis.
3. The Practice itself seemed sluggish. There wasn't much crispness to it. I could have been the weather, but after a day off, you'd like to think they'd come out with more fire. They were in pads, but the hitting was very controlled especially in group and team drills
4. Among the noticeably missing was Julian Edelman. Volmer was on the field but did nothing in team and group drills. I'm sure someone post the full list of MIA's
5. Anyone know who #31 in blue is? He wasn't on my roster and he got a lot of run at CB. He had decent size and played pretty well. I'm curious
6. During group and half line drills I watch the interior OL very closely. These are my thoughts
a. Stork - I really believe he is going to be a monster in the middle. I loved Ryan Wendell's first step when he was a C. It's not easy being the first guy off the ball when you have the snap it in the opposite direction. Several time this afternoon Stork showed me a first step that was almost as good as Wendell's and he's 30 lbs heavier and stronger. On other thing to note: Bryan Stork never walks anywhere. He has to speeds, jogging and running.
b. Jackson - He's a BIG man, but has remarkably nimble feet. Quick off the ball, and agile enough to turn on a defensive player. I noticed in a drill that on inside running plays the OL was NOT using their hands at all. It was all head and shoulder contact at the waist. It was old school run blocking. Get lower than your opponent put your head/shoulder into his midsection and use that pivot point to push him back a step and then move him to one side or the other.. I saw Jackson do this on a few occasions I focused in on him.
In pass block, I thought he did real well, but I'm not sure how hard the D was coming. Both he and Mason tipped whether it was pass or run by their stances. I hope that will be pointed out in the film room
c. Mason- Standing next to Solder he looked like his little brother. In the run game, I think the kid is gong to be a monster. He' too is very quick off the ball, very powerful initial hits and also very nimble on his feet, and should have no trouble getting to the 2nd level or pulling. BTW - In today's practice I saw very little pulling, something the Pats did all the time last year.
In pass blocking he's behind Jackson. Too much forward lean. In the few time I concentrated on him, he always seemed to playing catch up with the rusher. But its very early and he rarely had to pass block at GT.
7. Cam Flemming got almost all of the first team RT snaps and looked very comfortable out there.
8. The WR's practiced a lot near me and these are my impressions.
a. With Edelman out, It was clear to me in the drills that Only Amendola and Boyce had any really extra quickness that we've come to expect over so many years with Welker, Edelman and now Amendola. Getting Edelman's snaps Amendola connected on several nice TD plays. This isn't so much a criticism of the talent. Its just much different.
c. Some receiver generalities. All of the receivers in this camp have excellent hands. I say no drops, not even a bobble. When Tyms went down late in practice, Gibson had a nice TD catch from Brady. Gronk saw a lot of time split outside. He is uncoverable. Even when a DB is in perfect position Gronk has the size and quick feet to get position. Chandler not so much. Chandler has the size and foot speed to be effective, but no so much wide (IMHO) I don't think Chandler has the agility to get off the LOS. Chandler never got thrown to when he was wide because he was so late getting into his route.
Chandler and Gronk weren't on the field much together this practice. I noticed one play on GL when Chandler lined up next to Gronk as a WB, but that was it.
d. The bad news was that Tyms went down and had to be carted off after being hurt in a one on one tackling drill. I have no idea of how bad this was.
9. I think JG is light years ahead of where he was last season, but I have always thought that JG it would be best for his career if he didn't have to play a meaningful game until 2016. Nothing I saw today made me change my mind. He is fine when his first read is open. He has a beautiful quick short release, but when he has to go to his second read, you can see the wheels turning in his head. I believe he simply needs more live reps. I do NOT want to see him on the field for that first game.
Brady looks sharp and threaded the needle to Amendola several times.
10. Blount was the first RB out there and looked slightly quicker in my mind coming off the ball. He looked in great shape. We know what we have in Blount. Jonas Gray impressed me with his quickness and effort. When he got the ball in drills he consistently ran 10-15 yds further than the rest of the RBs. He hit holes quickly and got what he could. Just like we saw in the Colt game. I really like our RB depth.
a. In the practice the Pats didn't throw to their RB's much, but Cadet and Lewis caught everything thrown to them, so did Bolden and White. I have no idea who will be the 3rd down back, but I think we will have it covered.
11. As far as the Defense goes I will promise to look more carefully at the defense here are a few assorted observations
a. Brown and Easely had the plays of the day when they stoned the first offense on GL twice.
b. Brown is going to be a starter right off the bat
c. Butler is still playing with his hair on fire. He had a couple of picks today, but the one that stood out to me was a play he got 2 hands on the ball to break up the play, and then stood on the sideline for over a minute clearly pissed at himself for not hanging on to the ball.
d. This was my first look at Cardona, and he is light years ahead of Aikens. This kid is looking at a 15 year career making a Million or more a year, snapping the ball.
More on the defense tomorrow.
