I think that you guys did a great job with the practice. Ill take a few quick hits. I took 2 of my boys and 2 of my nephews to the practice. Started at 845; done at 11:05 or so (perhaps a bit later). They enjoyed it -- they started to wonder -- but the fan fest -- is small but fun and opened when they started getting bored. Here are my observations: 1. No time is wasted at all. (I would like to hear from others who went to Walton/Coslet/Kotite/Herm practices what those were like in comparison to Mangini's) 2. Im not sure if it was the secondary coach or an assistant -- but in the 11 v 11 2 minute drills -- he went nuts every time his guys made a play. 3. ONe of the OLINE coaches -- an older guy with a big floppy hat -- was mixing it up with the huge o line guys -- it was pretty funny. 4. Its really hard to see exactly who is doing well and who is not -- unless there is a huge screw up. I think Brad Smith did not look so good in his qb reps -- but i think they want him to be a real threat there. Last year he took more than a few snaps but never threw. 5. The times i saw Thomas Jones he looked like he would break every run. 6. Leon W looked very very fast. 7. Jason P. , the TE was doing extra catching work after practice with the ball being shot to him from about 10 yards 8 Bender is large. SOme posted that he was terrible. I could not tell. 9. They play that music the whole time -- not only for the noise -- for counts and stuff but im pretty sure so that we dont hear all the yelling and coaching going on. It is effective for the 2 minute drill where they played Pressure and Under Pressure.
Herm's practices were slow.... in fact easy compared even to my high school football days. BIG difference between a Mangini camp and an Edwards camp. Players jogged through wind sprints under Edwards, and the stretching excersizes were joke time. Mangini's coaches are out there all the time, even helping players stretch, and making sure they have proper technique. A couple of us dubbed the Edwards TC as camp Marshmellow. I'll be going tomorrow, and will compare last year's camp to this.
It is very hard to tell. They were running all three QB's out there == and he is playing with the lesser talent against the lesser talent. He certainly did not do anything so terrific that you thought he was ready. On the other hand -- Mike Francesa (you can keep all the Mike and the Mad Dog rants) -- has pointed out correctly -- that when Vinny T was playing -- any time his job came down to Training Camp competition he would win -- because his arm was so strong and he was so impressive in that settting. So -- although Vinny had some good (and very good) pro years -- training camp is only one part of the equation. One of the things that you do notice in Training Camp is speed. Its hard to follow everything b/c there is so much going on -- but speed is something that sticks out at you. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington both looked really good yesterday.
