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I call this the snapshot edition because the practice was so well organized, with so much to see, that it was impossible to concentrate on anything well enough to feel comfortable making any good judgements (not that it will stop me. 
)
I got there a half hour before practice was due to start and the place was packed. My usual spots on the top row of the bleachers were long gone. Fortunately some kind people squeezed me in so I managed a seat about half way down. Good seats but I missed not being able to stand. Plus the teams rudely added another camera location mid-way between the 2 lined fields, which occasionally blocked my view.
BTW- when I say it was packed I was being conservative. It was packed to the point that about half way through the practice I looked up and there were several thousand fans watching the practice from the top of the stadium and the outside ramps. Pretty quick thinking by the Pats FO to allow the overflow of fans into the stadium. Kudos.
Below, in no specific order are my observations. Like I said, there was really a lot more to see, but it would take more than one man to pull it off. If you were there, feel free to fill in some of the blanks.
1. As a former coach I was curious to see the differences in how the Eagles and Pats organized their practices. The Pats as usual started practice walking through aspects of the kicking game, and new offensive and defensive plays and games. So the Pats were on the field for almost a half hour before the Eagles showed up. They went immediately into their warm up drills, while the Pats finished up their walk through. By the time the Pats started their own warm up routine, the Eagles were off doing individual a group drills.
Just an observation, but the Eagles seemed to take their warm up drills more seriously than the Pats do. Its a point of irritation to me.
2. Finally about an hour into the practice, the teams came together and the real work began. Frankly it was simple awesome watching how well the 2 teams co-ordinated their activities as they moved from individual competition, to group, to team. They got a lot accomplished. I don't think people realize how much preparation needs to go on prior to the practice to get this kind of result.
3. OK now (finally) into some actual football talk. First a mini report on the 3 new TEs. Hartsock, Maneri, and Miller. Of the 3 Miller is by far the most athletic and quick. Clearly he's the "move TE". Hartsock is big an lumbering with very soft hands. IIRC didn't PFF have him as the #1 blocking TE in the league very recently. He's clearly not a threat as a receiver, but he certainly can run the routes and catch those balls that are thrown to him. Maneri is interesting. He still moves like he started his career as an OT, but of the 3 he had the best catch of the day, with a deep seam route in traffic.
I still can see the Pats going with just 2 traditional TE's (plus Devlin) and it all will depend on who is healthy.
4. Speaking of Devlin, his maturation into a good receiving option is starting to become apparent. He has been flawless not only running dump offs and wheel routes, but all the QB's seem comfortable about going to him down field as well
5. Danny Amendola created the most space in individual man coverage drills, and never missed a ball. Edelman shined again and broke open on several occasions deep. In fact all the receivers seemed to do very well today even those guys who we will never hear of again in a couple of weeks. BTW- I think its a blessing that Tyms has a 4 game suspension. It might make it possible for the Pats to keep him. I really think this kid should be in the league.
6. Connolly got the nod as starting C, but it seemed the Pats were alternating 3 guys at a time on the OL every play, even with the first group Deveay got some run at RT. Much to my frustration Cannon was back at starting RT. But they were moving guys in and out of there so often, I gave up trying to figure out. Bottom line, who is going to start as the starting OL, is still to be determined.
7. As to performance, I'd give a slight edge to the Eagles DL today in both individual, group and team work. They clearly were more aggressive on the DL with their rush. Once again the Pats were in their 3-4 and did little more than rush 3 most of the day.
8. Nick Foles is certainly no fluke. The kid was deadly accurate with his passes. He made 2 passes to his RB on deap wheel routes right in front of me against VERY good coverage. One he dropped right there, another he put right on the hands of receiver. Interesting to note that the LB in coverage on both plays was Dante Hightower, and even his most severe detractor would have be proud of him for his position in coverage. It was outstanding both times. IIRC, he was in coverage against Sproles and McCoy on these plays. These are guys that a 270lb LB shouldn't be in the same area code with, but there Hightower was right on the hip of both.
9. Jimmy G's work on last Thursday was also not a fluke as he continued to show progress coming off that good night against the 3's. He looked like he split snaps with the 2's with Mallet (who also rebounded well, though the mediots have already made up their minds) Both Mallet and Garapolo seemed to move our 2nd and 3rd teams better than Philly\' back up QB's did.
10 Pats fans made sure that Mark Sanchez didn't forget about the "butt fumble" while he was in Foxboro. Though personally I think he'll do better in Philly now that he will get some proper coaching. But clearly Foles is the #1 and deserves to be.
11. We have 3 very good RB's on our team, but Philly has an Elite RB in McCou . He's good enough that you couldn't help but see the difference, even in a practice.
12. They had refs on the field today. I'm not sure if they were local guys, or official NFL guys, but either way they were flagging almost every play. I'm sure some were legitimate calls, but there were a few that I saw that were simply horrible. I'm all for calling holding, PI, and illegal contact when it occurs. BUT, common sense sense would dictate that two addenda be added to the official's point of emphasis. First that, before a foul is called, the official has to believe that the receiver's progress was impeded by the illegal contact. Just touching a receivers as he runs by, or missing a hold, should be a flag. 2nd, that the ball be catchable.
Like in today's worst example the Pats were rewarded when a bad play, bad throw, and poor execution were bailed out by a flag on a defender who had made incidental contact that didn't affect the receiver, nor the over thrown ball.
If the league continues this madness in what seems to be a sad attempt to get Manning that 2nd SB win, they will make it virtually impossible for ANY defense to stop even a merely competent offense
13. Nice to see Dobson, Easely and Gronk on the field in full pads. It also frustrating to see them finish their day about an hour into the practice and before any group work was done. Also notably not practicing today was Wilson, Stork, Hooman, and Mayo
14. When Practice ended, the Pats went to the far reaches to run the hill. It was very classy for Chip Kelly and the Eagles, that after they finished their end of practice stretching (something I wished the Pats did); he sent his entire team to sign autographs for the fan. The gesture was very well received by the locals, who appreciated act.
BTW- there is no hell horrid enough to justify what Corey Williams has been saying about our team. However much to my dismay, I feel honor bound to report that the LAST Eagle who left the autograph seekers, was the self same, Corey Williams
I'll now leave the floor open to others to fill in, and I promise to try and do better tomorrow
)I got there a half hour before practice was due to start and the place was packed. My usual spots on the top row of the bleachers were long gone. Fortunately some kind people squeezed me in so I managed a seat about half way down. Good seats but I missed not being able to stand. Plus the teams rudely added another camera location mid-way between the 2 lined fields, which occasionally blocked my view.
BTW- when I say it was packed I was being conservative. It was packed to the point that about half way through the practice I looked up and there were several thousand fans watching the practice from the top of the stadium and the outside ramps. Pretty quick thinking by the Pats FO to allow the overflow of fans into the stadium. Kudos.
Below, in no specific order are my observations. Like I said, there was really a lot more to see, but it would take more than one man to pull it off. If you were there, feel free to fill in some of the blanks.
1. As a former coach I was curious to see the differences in how the Eagles and Pats organized their practices. The Pats as usual started practice walking through aspects of the kicking game, and new offensive and defensive plays and games. So the Pats were on the field for almost a half hour before the Eagles showed up. They went immediately into their warm up drills, while the Pats finished up their walk through. By the time the Pats started their own warm up routine, the Eagles were off doing individual a group drills.
Just an observation, but the Eagles seemed to take their warm up drills more seriously than the Pats do. Its a point of irritation to me.
2. Finally about an hour into the practice, the teams came together and the real work began. Frankly it was simple awesome watching how well the 2 teams co-ordinated their activities as they moved from individual competition, to group, to team. They got a lot accomplished. I don't think people realize how much preparation needs to go on prior to the practice to get this kind of result.
3. OK now (finally) into some actual football talk.
First a mini report on the 3 new TEs. Hartsock, Maneri, and Miller. Of the 3 Miller is by far the most athletic and quick. Clearly he's the "move TE". Hartsock is big an lumbering with very soft hands. IIRC didn't PFF have him as the #1 blocking TE in the league very recently. He's clearly not a threat as a receiver, but he certainly can run the routes and catch those balls that are thrown to him. Maneri is interesting. He still moves like he started his career as an OT, but of the 3 he had the best catch of the day, with a deep seam route in traffic.I still can see the Pats going with just 2 traditional TE's (plus Devlin) and it all will depend on who is healthy.
4. Speaking of Devlin, his maturation into a good receiving option is starting to become apparent. He has been flawless not only running dump offs and wheel routes, but all the QB's seem comfortable about going to him down field as well
5. Danny Amendola created the most space in individual man coverage drills, and never missed a ball. Edelman shined again and broke open on several occasions deep. In fact all the receivers seemed to do very well today even those guys who we will never hear of again in a couple of weeks. BTW- I think its a blessing that Tyms has a 4 game suspension. It might make it possible for the Pats to keep him. I really think this kid should be in the league.
6. Connolly got the nod as starting C, but it seemed the Pats were alternating 3 guys at a time on the OL every play, even with the first group Deveay got some run at RT. Much to my frustration Cannon was back at starting RT. But they were moving guys in and out of there so often, I gave up trying to figure out. Bottom line, who is going to start as the starting OL, is still to be determined.
7. As to performance, I'd give a slight edge to the Eagles DL today in both individual, group and team work. They clearly were more aggressive on the DL with their rush. Once again the Pats were in their 3-4 and did little more than rush 3 most of the day.
8. Nick Foles is certainly no fluke. The kid was deadly accurate with his passes. He made 2 passes to his RB on deap wheel routes right in front of me against VERY good coverage. One he dropped right there, another he put right on the hands of receiver. Interesting to note that the LB in coverage on both plays was Dante Hightower, and even his most severe detractor would have be proud of him for his position in coverage. It was outstanding both times. IIRC, he was in coverage against Sproles and McCoy on these plays. These are guys that a 270lb LB shouldn't be in the same area code with, but there Hightower was right on the hip of both.
9. Jimmy G's work on last Thursday was also not a fluke as he continued to show progress coming off that good night against the 3's. He looked like he split snaps with the 2's with Mallet (who also rebounded well, though the mediots have already made up their minds) Both Mallet and Garapolo seemed to move our 2nd and 3rd teams better than Philly\' back up QB's did.
10 Pats fans made sure that Mark Sanchez didn't forget about the "butt fumble" while he was in Foxboro. Though personally I think he'll do better in Philly now that he will get some proper coaching. But clearly Foles is the #1 and deserves to be.
11. We have 3 very good RB's on our team, but Philly has an Elite RB in McCou . He's good enough that you couldn't help but see the difference, even in a practice.
12. They had refs on the field today. I'm not sure if they were local guys, or official NFL guys, but either way they were flagging almost every play. I'm sure some were legitimate calls, but there were a few that I saw that were simply horrible. I'm all for calling holding, PI, and illegal contact when it occurs. BUT, common sense sense would dictate that two addenda be added to the official's point of emphasis. First that, before a foul is called, the official has to believe that the receiver's progress was impeded by the illegal contact. Just touching a receivers as he runs by, or missing a hold, should be a flag. 2nd, that the ball be catchable.
Like in today's worst example the Pats were rewarded when a bad play, bad throw, and poor execution were bailed out by a flag on a defender who had made incidental contact that didn't affect the receiver, nor the over thrown ball.
If the league continues this madness in what seems to be a sad attempt to get Manning that 2nd SB win, they will make it virtually impossible for ANY defense to stop even a merely competent offense
13. Nice to see Dobson, Easely and Gronk on the field in full pads. It also frustrating to see them finish their day about an hour into the practice and before any group work was done. Also notably not practicing today was Wilson, Stork, Hooman, and Mayo
14. When Practice ended, the Pats went to the far reaches to run the hill. It was very classy for Chip Kelly and the Eagles, that after they finished their end of practice stretching (something I wished the Pats did); he sent his entire team to sign autographs for the fan. The gesture was very well received by the locals, who appreciated act.
BTW- there is no hell horrid enough to justify what Corey Williams has been saying about our team. However much to my dismay, I feel honor bound to report that the LAST Eagle who left the autograph seekers, was the self same, Corey Williams
I'll now leave the floor open to others to fill in, and I promise to try and do better tomorrow
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