PP2
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Was at today’s TC session, and observations are off the top of my head, so please excuse any errors or possible misinterpretation of what happened, as there is naturally no way to review replay or look at the all-22.
First off, those thinking that we might go 4-0. Please get that out of your head, now. It’s not happening, period. This isn’t a knock on Garo by any means, but he still has a long way to go. More on that later.
QB drills. 3, 5, and 7 drop step. Hit the short, flat, and out. Watching Brady and his flawless mechanics. A Michelangelo in motion, not one single wasted motion. Nobody creates tight spirals like he does, and we’ve all been spoiled by that, no question. Garo was a close second, but every now and then, his balls flutter- sometimes throws flat-footed, off his back heel. Now, Briskett- I have no idea what they see in him, but he really defines “raw.” His mechanics are ugly to look at, and no two throws are the same, and as for accuracy let me just say that he moves the ball boy off his spot every single freaking time.
Watched Edelman- he is without question, 100%. His cuts are hard and clean, he snaps in and out of his breaks. No hesitation whatsoever, so Pats Nation can take a deep breath and exhale. He did not play in the scrimmage, so obviously being very cautious here.
I paid close attention to Scar and the OL, and he was back in fine form, taking notes, chewing out his linemen, getting in their faces, talking to them. Just flat out communicating. Just seeing that makes me feel much better- a great contrast to what we saw with Guggy who didn’t even carry around a notepad. The line seems to be a lot more consistent (although I’ve only had one day to look at it). Run blocking drills- saw good fundamentals, good movement, strong pulling, whams, logs- this is a sharp squad. Linemen squaring up, good anchor, not losing leverage. Barring any changes, we’ll be seeing Solder-Thuney-Andrews-Karras-Cannon this coming Thursday (although I prefer Waddle over Cannon). Andrews has the C job, no question. He is also noticeably larger and bulkier and definitely is above the 300 mark. Not sure what they’ll do with Stork- he was there but a DNP. Watching from the sidelines. I think he’ll make the roster as a utility man, if at all. Andrews and Thuney have a good rapport.
The scrimmage today was interesting, and as you know there was loud music on and that was not only great practice for the players as far as substitutions and communications (think OL) but moreso for the OC and DC staff, communicating schemes and packages from the sidelines. I think that’s where the real practice was, forcing the coordinators to adjust on the fly based on what they see from the sidelines, as far as downs, distances, packages, formations and alignments, and adding to the confusion was BB, arbitrarily dictating down and distance (Goodell, anyone?). He even reversed a Brady scramble that was clearly a first down, which left Brady pissed, but gave ST more reps. In short, a real mental workout, especially for Kuhn who came to the sideline looking quite confused, as if a truck had just hit him. Looks like he never had anything like this in New York.
And as for the scrimmage itself and the two quarterbacks facing off heavy on handoffs as that seems to be something BB wanted to work on. On paper you will see that Brady was 14 for 25 with 1 TD and 1 INT, and Garo, 15-24, 1 TD, 0 INT. And these stats are quite misleading. First and foremost, they kept taking good players from Brady. It clearly chafes Brady to be working with the 2nd and 3rd string stiffs, having to talk routes and timing with players who will not make the roster, and more importantly having to work with players who just don’t have the drive, determination, talent, and focus of the first stringers. The pick he threw looks like it “sailed” over AJ Derby’s head, but the guy just can’t read the field to save his life. He half assed a seam route on a MOFO look, which led to an animated lecture by Brady on the sideline that paid dividends on the last drive.
Garo, on the other hand, nearly had a bunch of picks. He sometimes telegraphs, has a tendency to lead, doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head, and still hasn’t mastered the art of moving DB’s with his eyes. He also is having a bit of trouble progressing through his reads without locking. McCourty was all over this, and I don’t know if someone had told him to back off and not give Garo such a hard time, but he was nearly always in the general area of most of Garo’s throws and that’s never a good sign. (He did drop a would be INT.) Now this isn’t to bag on Garo, but we all have to temper our expectations! and remember he still has a long way to go. We definitely aren’t going to go 4-0, but it won’t be a disaster either. Our defense will win games. Hightower and Collins continue to be in a league of their own- it’s ridiculous watching them moving before the snap and just having an uncanny nose for where the play is going, anticipating the POA, or reading the handoff and getting into the backfield before the tackles could even engage to ride them out of play.
The last drive of the day was vintage Brady. They gave him the bottom half of the roster to work with, and yet, and yet, he found a way- he always does. He found a way to drive those 3rd string bums downfield (who the **** is Devin Lucien?), a backup OL against the 1st string defense, starting Kline at C. Hit Harper on a dig, hitch, AJ Derby on a long seam (dividends), Carter on a double move low drag out of the smash, and while being rushed, converted a 2 point play to “win.”
I have no idea what is wrong with Gost- three misses today. Hopefully just a bad day.
I have more observations and thoughts but wanted to get this post out of the way.
First off, those thinking that we might go 4-0. Please get that out of your head, now. It’s not happening, period. This isn’t a knock on Garo by any means, but he still has a long way to go. More on that later.
QB drills. 3, 5, and 7 drop step. Hit the short, flat, and out. Watching Brady and his flawless mechanics. A Michelangelo in motion, not one single wasted motion. Nobody creates tight spirals like he does, and we’ve all been spoiled by that, no question. Garo was a close second, but every now and then, his balls flutter- sometimes throws flat-footed, off his back heel. Now, Briskett- I have no idea what they see in him, but he really defines “raw.” His mechanics are ugly to look at, and no two throws are the same, and as for accuracy let me just say that he moves the ball boy off his spot every single freaking time.
Watched Edelman- he is without question, 100%. His cuts are hard and clean, he snaps in and out of his breaks. No hesitation whatsoever, so Pats Nation can take a deep breath and exhale. He did not play in the scrimmage, so obviously being very cautious here.
I paid close attention to Scar and the OL, and he was back in fine form, taking notes, chewing out his linemen, getting in their faces, talking to them. Just flat out communicating. Just seeing that makes me feel much better- a great contrast to what we saw with Guggy who didn’t even carry around a notepad. The line seems to be a lot more consistent (although I’ve only had one day to look at it). Run blocking drills- saw good fundamentals, good movement, strong pulling, whams, logs- this is a sharp squad. Linemen squaring up, good anchor, not losing leverage. Barring any changes, we’ll be seeing Solder-Thuney-Andrews-Karras-Cannon this coming Thursday (although I prefer Waddle over Cannon). Andrews has the C job, no question. He is also noticeably larger and bulkier and definitely is above the 300 mark. Not sure what they’ll do with Stork- he was there but a DNP. Watching from the sidelines. I think he’ll make the roster as a utility man, if at all. Andrews and Thuney have a good rapport.
The scrimmage today was interesting, and as you know there was loud music on and that was not only great practice for the players as far as substitutions and communications (think OL) but moreso for the OC and DC staff, communicating schemes and packages from the sidelines. I think that’s where the real practice was, forcing the coordinators to adjust on the fly based on what they see from the sidelines, as far as downs, distances, packages, formations and alignments, and adding to the confusion was BB, arbitrarily dictating down and distance (Goodell, anyone?). He even reversed a Brady scramble that was clearly a first down, which left Brady pissed, but gave ST more reps. In short, a real mental workout, especially for Kuhn who came to the sideline looking quite confused, as if a truck had just hit him. Looks like he never had anything like this in New York.
And as for the scrimmage itself and the two quarterbacks facing off heavy on handoffs as that seems to be something BB wanted to work on. On paper you will see that Brady was 14 for 25 with 1 TD and 1 INT, and Garo, 15-24, 1 TD, 0 INT. And these stats are quite misleading. First and foremost, they kept taking good players from Brady. It clearly chafes Brady to be working with the 2nd and 3rd string stiffs, having to talk routes and timing with players who will not make the roster, and more importantly having to work with players who just don’t have the drive, determination, talent, and focus of the first stringers. The pick he threw looks like it “sailed” over AJ Derby’s head, but the guy just can’t read the field to save his life. He half assed a seam route on a MOFO look, which led to an animated lecture by Brady on the sideline that paid dividends on the last drive.
Garo, on the other hand, nearly had a bunch of picks. He sometimes telegraphs, has a tendency to lead, doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head, and still hasn’t mastered the art of moving DB’s with his eyes. He also is having a bit of trouble progressing through his reads without locking. McCourty was all over this, and I don’t know if someone had told him to back off and not give Garo such a hard time, but he was nearly always in the general area of most of Garo’s throws and that’s never a good sign. (He did drop a would be INT.) Now this isn’t to bag on Garo, but we all have to temper our expectations! and remember he still has a long way to go. We definitely aren’t going to go 4-0, but it won’t be a disaster either. Our defense will win games. Hightower and Collins continue to be in a league of their own- it’s ridiculous watching them moving before the snap and just having an uncanny nose for where the play is going, anticipating the POA, or reading the handoff and getting into the backfield before the tackles could even engage to ride them out of play.
The last drive of the day was vintage Brady. They gave him the bottom half of the roster to work with, and yet, and yet, he found a way- he always does. He found a way to drive those 3rd string bums downfield (who the **** is Devin Lucien?), a backup OL against the 1st string defense, starting Kline at C. Hit Harper on a dig, hitch, AJ Derby on a long seam (dividends), Carter on a double move low drag out of the smash, and while being rushed, converted a 2 point play to “win.”
I have no idea what is wrong with Gost- three misses today. Hopefully just a bad day.
I have more observations and thoughts but wanted to get this post out of the way.
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