My camp report and pictures (7/27/07 AM)

[Crowpointer]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Great Job. Looked crowded in that pic you had of the hillside crowd. Were they selling the $4 waters ?

 

[PATSNUTme]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

I was surprised at how big AD. I was also surprised at the size of Kyle Brady...I didn't expect him to be so big.

And man is Junior Seau in shape.

K. Brady is suppose to be the size of another OL who can catch adn run if needed.

 

[patsox23]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

pats1, thanks for your observations, the pics, and also for the insight into new drills, letting us know what "was" and what "is," etc... GREAT stuff, much appreciated.

 

[rabthepat]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Thanks allot.

 

[tedylb]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Awesome job, pats1! I echo the others. You're the next best thing to being there.

 

[pats1]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Great Job. Looked crowded in that pic you had of the hillside crowd. Were they selling the $4 waters ?

They were down to $3.75 this year!

(You can probably get a 24-pack for that price though, still)

Also up for auction were Gatorades and "Hershey downhill chillers" - a/k/a freeze pops.

Didn't hear that clever vendor this year, though, who makes up little Patriots-related pitches for his products.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Report:

-Practiced opened up as usual, with punting drills. Here were the gunner pairs (left, right): (Washington, Williams), (Anam, Andrews), (Baker, Kight), (Richardson, Gay) - I might have mixed a few of the pairs up, both those were definitely the 8 out there. Nice mix of speed and size in this crowd.

-Third OL: Hilliard, RANDOM, Elgin, Barthelmes, Oldenburg Interesting, I'd have figured Oldenburg ahead of Hilliard at LT based on the pre-draft write-ups and draft position. Did Barthelmes and Elgin rotate between C/G at all?

-Second LBs: Brown/Rogers (LOLB), Lua/Izzo (SILB), Mays (WILB), Woods (ROLB) Now here's the first raised eyebrow - Woods getting the reps behind Colvin, last season he worked most often on the left side and seemed to have the power to match up against the offense's strong side. I wonder how much his speed/explosion have improved with Woicik, Nash, & Davis working with him this off-season?

-Harrison had a wrap on his upper-right arm as well. He wore it last year after his shoulder injury, and it's also something Neal wears frequently. I believe Neal wears a harness for both shoulders that prevents him lifting his arms beyond a certain point. That wouldn't work for Rodney at Safety though.

-Bill O'Brien, the new offensive assistant coach, worked with Caserio on the WRs. In the in/out cut drill, he was close enough to be heard. Bam slipped in on of his cuts and then dropped the pass, so O'Brien made him take the drill over and told him to not spend so much time in his cut. This was a departure from the in-cut drill, where O'Brien had to remind a few of the guys to stutter-step more. If I'm following you right, the coach wants brisker out-cuts and more shimmy on the in-cuts? That would make sense - during NFLN's coverage of the coverage drills during Senior Bowl week the color guys are always pointing out how the defender needs to take the inside away from the WR, so the WR can be more decisive on an out, and has to work harder going inside.

-Lots and lots of falling down at the line today. The OL seemed to employ a "knock 'em over" strategy, and the DL was on their butts all day. It was a mosh pit at some points. PE's note makes sense, I just hope Dante tries to keep our beloved big guys a little cleaner compared to Gibbs' knee breakers.

Thanks Mike! :rocker:

 

[pats1]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Thanks Mike! :rocker:

As far as Barthelmes/Elgin goes, that was the first thing that intrigued me this morning. During the warmup session when players were coming out onto the fields, the 4 C's snapping to the 3 QB's were Koppen, Hochstein, Elgin, and Mruczkowski (watching). But no Barthelmes. And that was the way it stayed the entire practice. This is surprising, as you probably know, because Barthelmes played C last preseason while Elgin played G in college.

I also overhead O'Brien telling Bam and the rest to do those stutter steps on the in-cuts for the CBs don't know which way they're going. He only said this after all 4 guys went through the first time without much movement. Hopefully BB and BO (wouldn't want those initials) are on the same page.

 

[TripleOption]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

The Gibbs zone blocking system is predicated on "getting the D-linemen on the ground by any means necessary". If this 1st practice is an indication that the Pats are moving in that direction and away from the power blocking of the past, that's a good think considering their lead rb's strengths. This change was predicted in ProFW some months ago, and probably elsewhere on this board I missed. Definitely worth keeping an eye on...

No one who went can tell if they ran a Zone scheme? It's fairly distinctive, with a "pin and pull" technique on the Outside Zone (Stretch) Play and the Double and Release look to the Inside Zone. The Scheme blocking will have outside pulls (Power O) and traps.

 

[pats1]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

The more I think about it, the more I think it was Yates taking the snaps, not Hochstein in that first warmup.

But anyway, I didn't focus much on the DBs as I wanted to today. I'm going again a week from Monday, so I'll see how everything's going then. I wanted to see if Anam was playing CB or SS - I didn't catch that either.

 

[pats1]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

No one who went can tell if they ran a Zone scheme? It's fairly distinctive, with a "pin and pull" technique on the Outside Zone (Stretch) Play and the Double and Release look to the Inside Zone. The Scheme blocking will have outside pulls (Power O) and traps.

I knew it was a zone scheme when I saw that pileup on the ground multiple times. But the thing is, they weren't really cut blocks. Much more of a, shall we say, truck block. The OL just went whip-action and ran the DL into the ground.

I didn't notice any of the zone-specific blocks, but that was probably because this was a toned-down, slower-paced practice.

 

[TripleOption]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

I knew it was a zone scheme when I saw that pileup on the ground multiple times. But the thing is, they weren't really cut blocks. Much more of a, shall we say, truck block. The OL just went whip-action and ran the DL into the ground.

I didn't notice any of the zone-specific blocks, but that was probably because this was a toned-down, slower-paced practice.

One of the hallmarks of the Zone scheme is the backside "crush". Everyone away from the play gets cut or knocked down. It's what creates the huge windback lanes.

 

[Drewwho]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Guess 'Yankee Hat Gate' is hurting Brady !!!!!

 

[chowder]

Re: My camp report and pictures (7/27/07)

Hey Pats1! Outstanding report! Keep up the great work!