PP2
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Finally got a chance to attend TC, my first and last one for this year.
First off the bat, a lot of the beat writers are off with their remarks. Today was just a dreary Monday morning at the office- just one of those days where the team just doesn't have its **** together.
Also- the weather was quite unusual. It was wet, misty, blowing light rain that gets into your eyes. Wet, but not wet enough where surfaces once again becomes grippable- everything had a sheen of moisture on it, so things stay slicky instead of washing off. A lot of dropsies by EVERYONE. Everyone as in Gronk, Edelman, etc. Also notable were the number of passes that just went over the receivers's head- an indication of the ball coming out too early because of a lack of grip.
First player on the field, Bojorquez, the rookie kicker- maddening to watch. He has serious hang time but is plagued by inconsistency. For every beautiful kick, he'll brick one or two. If you had Allen and Bojorquez each kick 10 times. Allen would win out through sheer average since he is the more consistent kicker.
Eting on the field next- his mechanism is much improved but he still has somewhat of a sidearm delivery and doesn't "loft" the ball, something he must learn for the dumpoffs over the middle or the rusher which you want to "float" the ball over to avoid having it get batted down or intercepted.
PR duties were divided up between Edelman, Hogan, McCarron, Berrios.
I thought it noteworthy that Brady and Gronk don't really participate in the warmup/stretching, sort of in adherence with Guerrero's philosophy on avoiding biomechanical imbalance.
Today started with plenty of focus on fundamentals- OL blocking for handoffs with all three QB's, D working on establishing INT return formations, setting up blocking from the point of interception. WR evading or defeating press off the line, DBs working on trail tech, DL working on hand placement, exploding out of three point stance, etc. etc.
Some interesting drills as well. DB's catching backshoulder INT's, WR's as DB's
I watched the QB's warm up and go through the route trees, keeping an eye on Brady, quite closely. There is no falloff. Zip, nada, none, period. Still has zip on the ball. Still comes out of his hand with pop when necessary. He still has fire, cursing himself, cursing people, kicking the ball into the stand.
Then onto running installations for Thurs. night- fair amount of IZ runs, a handful of PA's, nothing too complicated- some things stood out to me. I was impressed with JC Jackson- his stock is rising fast, one INT, two close INTs (PBU's) and smothered his receivers. He also looks back to track the ball, a rare trait. He got beat by Hogan but ran him down and punched the ball out, so it was nice to see that kind of finish.
Edelman is back to his old self- snapping ankles and just outrunning DB's, including Gilmore, although he pulled up a bit towards the end of practice. Didn't look serious. His cuts are still sharp, and his aggressiveness is still there for the most part.
Bentley has had a lot dumped in his lap, and for good reasons I assume- he was nice to watch. He diagnoses play very well, almost as well as HT does, and scrapes/flows well. He also has an uncanny feel for where the hole for the RB opens up and twice, I saw him get to the RB at the LOS. He watches gaps not players, which is what you want to do. And as we all know, he has the green dot, and is likely going to be in the top 3-4 rotation with HT, Roberts, and KVN. Overall the communications between the LBers seem tighter this year, better- a lot less confusion and players being out of position. Although Travis didn't escape BB's wrath for failing to fill in an open lane.
Now, Decker- he is a good fit in our offense and will do well, depending on how good his gametime separation is. He has a high football IQ and despite his dropsies and missed passes, still understands the concepts- and more often than not was in the right place. He recognized and nested against a disguised zone. He finishes plays like the pro he is (unlike Lucien, who takes every other play off). Please note that he has only been here eleven days.
We have a talented DB corp, but blown coverages still remain an issue, especially zone. Gronk got wide open on a snap and reeled in a long completion.
Practice ended with gametime scenarios- live clock, plays called in from the sidelines, etc. BB retracted a beautiful double fake with a five yard penalty for false start, which I didn't see, but I think he was trying to stimulate or re-create the frustration that players sometimes get when there's a tacky call that negates a good play, and sometimes takes the air out of a good drive. Good situation for building mental toughness, I suppose. He also enforced a phantom holding call, offsetting another good gain. You could see the players react to that.
For thursday night, we'll see Jason McCourty start opposite Gilmore- it'll be his audition night. I didn't see anything about him that stood out, so to me, he's still on the bubble. We'll also see plenty of Decker and the other fringe players, and Wynn subbing in at RT (he is swing for this year, but probably takes over LT or RT full time next year).
First off the bat, a lot of the beat writers are off with their remarks. Today was just a dreary Monday morning at the office- just one of those days where the team just doesn't have its **** together.
Also- the weather was quite unusual. It was wet, misty, blowing light rain that gets into your eyes. Wet, but not wet enough where surfaces once again becomes grippable- everything had a sheen of moisture on it, so things stay slicky instead of washing off. A lot of dropsies by EVERYONE. Everyone as in Gronk, Edelman, etc. Also notable were the number of passes that just went over the receivers's head- an indication of the ball coming out too early because of a lack of grip.
First player on the field, Bojorquez, the rookie kicker- maddening to watch. He has serious hang time but is plagued by inconsistency. For every beautiful kick, he'll brick one or two. If you had Allen and Bojorquez each kick 10 times. Allen would win out through sheer average since he is the more consistent kicker.
Eting on the field next- his mechanism is much improved but he still has somewhat of a sidearm delivery and doesn't "loft" the ball, something he must learn for the dumpoffs over the middle or the rusher which you want to "float" the ball over to avoid having it get batted down or intercepted.
PR duties were divided up between Edelman, Hogan, McCarron, Berrios.
I thought it noteworthy that Brady and Gronk don't really participate in the warmup/stretching, sort of in adherence with Guerrero's philosophy on avoiding biomechanical imbalance.
Today started with plenty of focus on fundamentals- OL blocking for handoffs with all three QB's, D working on establishing INT return formations, setting up blocking from the point of interception. WR evading or defeating press off the line, DBs working on trail tech, DL working on hand placement, exploding out of three point stance, etc. etc.
Some interesting drills as well. DB's catching backshoulder INT's, WR's as DB's
I watched the QB's warm up and go through the route trees, keeping an eye on Brady, quite closely. There is no falloff. Zip, nada, none, period. Still has zip on the ball. Still comes out of his hand with pop when necessary. He still has fire, cursing himself, cursing people, kicking the ball into the stand.
Then onto running installations for Thurs. night- fair amount of IZ runs, a handful of PA's, nothing too complicated- some things stood out to me. I was impressed with JC Jackson- his stock is rising fast, one INT, two close INTs (PBU's) and smothered his receivers. He also looks back to track the ball, a rare trait. He got beat by Hogan but ran him down and punched the ball out, so it was nice to see that kind of finish.
Edelman is back to his old self- snapping ankles and just outrunning DB's, including Gilmore, although he pulled up a bit towards the end of practice. Didn't look serious. His cuts are still sharp, and his aggressiveness is still there for the most part.
Bentley has had a lot dumped in his lap, and for good reasons I assume- he was nice to watch. He diagnoses play very well, almost as well as HT does, and scrapes/flows well. He also has an uncanny feel for where the hole for the RB opens up and twice, I saw him get to the RB at the LOS. He watches gaps not players, which is what you want to do. And as we all know, he has the green dot, and is likely going to be in the top 3-4 rotation with HT, Roberts, and KVN. Overall the communications between the LBers seem tighter this year, better- a lot less confusion and players being out of position. Although Travis didn't escape BB's wrath for failing to fill in an open lane.
Now, Decker- he is a good fit in our offense and will do well, depending on how good his gametime separation is. He has a high football IQ and despite his dropsies and missed passes, still understands the concepts- and more often than not was in the right place. He recognized and nested against a disguised zone. He finishes plays like the pro he is (unlike Lucien, who takes every other play off). Please note that he has only been here eleven days.
We have a talented DB corp, but blown coverages still remain an issue, especially zone. Gronk got wide open on a snap and reeled in a long completion.
Practice ended with gametime scenarios- live clock, plays called in from the sidelines, etc. BB retracted a beautiful double fake with a five yard penalty for false start, which I didn't see, but I think he was trying to stimulate or re-create the frustration that players sometimes get when there's a tacky call that negates a good play, and sometimes takes the air out of a good drive. Good situation for building mental toughness, I suppose. He also enforced a phantom holding call, offsetting another good gain. You could see the players react to that.
For thursday night, we'll see Jason McCourty start opposite Gilmore- it'll be his audition night. I didn't see anything about him that stood out, so to me, he's still on the bubble. We'll also see plenty of Decker and the other fringe players, and Wynn subbing in at RT (he is swing for this year, but probably takes over LT or RT full time next year).
