Hey Now Tonite's practice was under the lights in front of the bleachers. Although they were in shorts and pads, there was a moderate amount of contact on the LOS for it not being a full pad workout. The inactive/bike area population increased with the addition of Jones and D.Coleman. TJ did not have his leg wrapped at all; Tutt did have his ankle braced. Justin Miller participated in some of the stretching/ warmups, in the coaches lane. Watching Tony Wise going through the stretching/ Rockette line with Miller was somewhat, how can i put this...fun to watch? Miller looks to me as though he is getting pretty close to returning. Eric Smith does not. Drew Coleman does not appear to be seriously injured and also appears close to returning to action. His knee was wrapped in a green bandage. I could not get a read on Kowaleski's status. Tonite's show was more crisp than yesterday's was, and a lot of time was spent on individual unit drills. The DL was beating up on the tackling dummies, and the offense was working on red zone offense. The Dbs were working with themselves on running downfield with their backs to the QB and practicing knocking the ball out of the WR's hands as it came down. More work was put in on the punting team. They had Graham kicking out of the EZ and from deep in his own territory. Harris was back getting reps on the LOS as a blocker. Leon muffed a punt and took a lap. Coach Westhoff had a few wrinkles he put into the punt game tonite. I'd tell you, but then I'd have to....oh all right...here's a hint: Brad Smith. There was a lot of 7 on 7 work on red zone passing offense/defense. Later on they went 11 on 11 doing the same red zone offense/defense. In between, they called the FG team out, and on the first snap...another Westhoff wrinkle. This is confidential stuff, but I trust you, so I will mention here that Graham threw a pass that was completed for a first down, and Westhoff showed his satisfaction with the execution of the play in a very animated way! They then proceeded to run 11 on 11s for a pretty good amount of time. First team and then second. Back and forth. Smith took no snaps at QB but had perhaps his strongest practice as a WR. The offense did well moving the ball tonite, as both Pennington and Clemens looked sharper than they did yesterday. Then they ran a situation 11 on 11, where the offense started on its own 30, with 35 seconds left, no timeouts, and down 24-20, and then more reps down 24-23. Both QBs were able to move the team into FG range and Nugent hit 3-4 as time ran out. The last FG was good through the skinny goalposts from well over 50+. Someone thought it was closer to 60! The team was whooping it up when it went through the uprights. They were impressed! Random Notes -Clemens' pump fake allowed Wallace Wright to get behind Kozer and the 45 yard pass was completed for a TD. -Wright had a big night, catching several balls, including a TD in the red zone scrimmage. -Brad Smith had a major night, playing WR on all three units and catching balls from all three QBs. -Coles was rested a bit tonite, and didnt see much run with the first team until the last two drives. -Ware continued to get reps with the first and second units. I thought Leon was overworked yesterday after TJ's injury, but they paced him better tonite. He looked a little tired I thought. -Hollings was splitting reps with Banks on the second unit. Banks looked good coming out of the backfield and grabbing a catch in full stride. -44 continues to see the field in Eric Smith's absence. -35 also seeing the field a lot with Miller on the sideline. -Harris and Spencer got a lot of reps with the second unit in the dime- a 3-2-6. -Cotchery had a nice catch on a long pass from CP, but he also seemed to be rested a bit tonite as well, as McCairens, Smith and Wright took a lot of snaps at WR. Stuckey seemed to have a quiet night. -The OL shuffle rotation continues. First unit seems set with Brick, Clark, Mangold, Moore (who took a lap for a false start) and Clement. -Kendall split snapping the ball with Missant on the second unit. Most of the time it was Jones at LT, Missant at G, Kendall at C, Bender at LG, and Goddard, who got a lot of reps at T. -Interesting moment, when Mangold broke through Kendall's solitude and walked over to him while the third team was on the field. Moore also came over, and with a smile on his face, engaged Kendall in some conversation. J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
I'm just glad to hear that Kellen is getting better because I don't know how long Chad is going to be able to stay healthy.
Great report as usual. I know its hard to tell because you cant hit the QB, but did it look like the D was generating a lot pressure?
The DL and OL do not go full throttle against each other in tc, so it is difficult to say. Usually, when there is pressure, it is from a blitz, but even when a blitzer has a clear path to the QB, he pulls up, allowing the play to continue. They were also using different combos on the DL tonite. 77, 91, 93 and 94 were in quite a bit. I am sure they look for things on the films, as the tc's are all filmed by three cameras, but what i am seeing is not a full out pass rush. Sorry I have to be so vague, but i dont want to be misleading just to answer your question, because i would just be talking out of my azz if I said otherwise.
~Interesting moment, when Mangold broke through Kendall's solitude and walked over to him while the third team was on the field. Moore also came over, and with a smile on his face, engaged Kendall in some conversation. Maybe the comradery will break him. I got a feeling that Kendall might be here for the start of the season. The way they are letting him play with the first team just makes it seem that if he doesn't get any offers he'll be ready to play. He's not the best but he is part of the jelly. That would be a great turn of events. Here's to wishing.:wink:
He's listed as 6'5" on the tc roster. It's apparent that they want guys to be able to be versatile, to help the OL depth, and to give them experience playing at more than one spot on the OL. Bender is going to be good, and if they can rotate him in the lineup to give other guys a rest, that's okay by me.
Because he's a late round draft pick and does what people ask him to do because he's trying to make the team?
That's why they are practicing it. ;-) The fake FG worked well. Graham threw a nice pass over the defenders to Leon in the flat. The ball floated some, but had some nice touch on it.
maybe instead of chatting it up on the sidelines, Moore should ask himself, "Why do I still suck and get hit with false start penalties, as I also did last year?"
The problem is he doesn't realize he sucks, much like RaiderJoe doesn't realize he's mentally challenged. Remember this clown was also asking for a pay increase? He thinks he's good KOZ.
Because Kendall is Old and Moore sucks. Plus in college his team ran the ball 95% of the time. He can always Grow into a tackle, but he's probably ready to play guard.
