vrabinec
08-01-2010, 03:05 AM
Notes from Saturday’s practice. Same disclaimer as every year. It’s only the first day of practice. If I say something bad about “your guy”, don’t take it personally. There’s no telling who gets serious at what point of the season among the veterans, and there’s no telling what affect first day nerves may have on a rookie. These notes are in chronological order. Sometimes you only get half of what happened because guys’ numbers are sometimes obstructed by the surrounding players or the fat dude sitting in front of me.
Jeff Reed is the first player down. That’s the first time in a while that a veteran was the first guy on the field at the first practice.
The next guys down are Kyle Jolly and Demetrius Taylor. Good hustle. These two better. The odds are against them.
The tight ends take a few flatfooted catches from the jugs machine. McHugh goes first. He catches the first five belt high, facing the machine. The next two balls get spit out at his ankles, and he makes nice, quick scoops on both. He takes one more in the chest, then turns to the side and catches the next five balls well placed, out front, then he turns the other way and catches the first one. The second one is a couple inches over his head, and it handcuffs him. The ball was a little high, but it was definitely catchable. It’s a drop. He catches the next two.
Spaeth takes a turn. Starts out square to the machine. He bobbles the first one at his waist, but holds on. Catches the next five, all at the chest. He still absorbs the ball well, but he has shortened up his motion so he doesn’t let the ball carry his hands as far as he used to which lets him tuck it away quicker. Smoother hands than McHugh. He turns to the side, the next ball is behind him and he makes a nice catch, contorting to scoop it from the small of his back. The next ball’s high and he pulls it down nicely. He looks the next two into his chest, then the following two are nice catches on a high passes. Turns to the other side. He catches the last three, one of which sailed over his head and he had to go up for it as high as he could.
Johnson’s next. He catches the first three, two in the chest and one off the hip. Numbers facemask, knees and one he scoops off the grass. Pretty good for him. Last year he dropped something like four out of the first seven. Maybe he worked on his hands. He turns to the side and catches the next eight balls, one a nice catch on a ball well over his head. He turns to the other side. And catches four in a row including one that was behind him and one that was high. Well, he’ll never be Antonio Gates, but he seems to have improved.
Miller takes his turn and shows us the surest hands in the business. Seven clean catches.
Eugene Bright takes a turn. He makes his first five catches including one low one and a high one. The next one’s at the waist and he bobbles it, but holds on. He catches the next three including a nice scoop on a low one, then drops the next one at the knees. He’s getting quite a slap when the ball arrives. He’s not absorbing the thing. He’s kind of overpowering the ball like a power forward on a rebound. He’s too animated, a lot of wasted motion. The coaches should beat that out of him inside a week. He catches the next four, but looks shaky. Hope he’s a hell of a blocker.
Next they take turns running crossing patterns in front of the machine.
Speath goes first, and catches it.
Miller makes a one handed catch, reaching way out in front of him.
Johnson drops one he should have had, forehead high.
McHugh catches one at the hip.
Bright catches one.
Safety Tuff Harris joins them and makes a one handed catch.
Spaeth coming back the other way makes the catch.
Miller makes the catch.
Johnson makes the catch.
McHugh bobbles the ball for two steps then pulls it in.
The next throw is out of Bright’s reach. No way he could have gotten to it.
Harris catches the next one.
Spaeth makes the catch, coming back the other way.
Miller makes the catch.
Johnson makes a stretching catch on a high ball.
McHugh makes the catch.
Bright drops another one. This one in the numbers.
Harris makes a catch on one behind him, reaching back nicely with both hands. This guy’s got good hands for a safety.
Spaeth, Miller, Johnson, and McHugh catch theirs, but Bright drops another one.
Harris drops one at the knees.
Speath and Miller catch the next two.
The next throw is too low for Johnson. No way he could have caught it.
McHugh makes the catch.
Bright makes the next catch, and probably breathes a sight of relief. The great eye in the sky, hoisted on a platform, is watching even this little drill. Make a mistake, and it lives forever.
Harris tries to showboat and tries a one handed catch. Drops it. Hopefully one of the coaches will tell him to stick to using two hands if you can.
Another one out of Johnson’s reach.
The next pass sails way over Harris’ head.
Harris takes the next three facemask high.
On the other end of the field, Reed hits one from 45.
The offense goes through its walk throughs. Ben’s running with the first team. Guess that’s to show it’s still his team. Good for Tomlin.
The first play is a pass to Ward on a ten yard come back route down the right numbers.
Flozel Adams is starting out at right tackle with the first team. You know the rest. Hartwig at center, Essex at RG, Kemo at LG.
Ben hits Wallace on a ten yard out to the right.
Leftwich runs with the second team. He hits Grisham on a short crossing pattern.
Hines lines up to the right and Battle to the left with Wallace in the slot. Grisham comes from somewhere behind the line and catches a short out pattern to the left from Lefty.
Battle splits right, Emmanuel Sanders splits left. Spaeth goes in motion then stops, Lefty drops back and hits Speath crossing deep in the middle.
Brandon London split left, Antonio Brown split right. Johnson the tight end on the right side. Dixon’s the QB. London goes in motion and gets it handed to him on the end around.
Dixon drops back to pass, hits London on an out pattern.
Dixon drops back to pass, hits London on an in pattern.
Batch comes in. Wallace and Ward split right. Randel El to the left. It’s a little screen for Wallace, with Ward leading the way.
Ward fakes going in motion, Batch throws it to him on the right, but Kemoeatu standing underneath to simulate the defense grabs an interception with surprisingly suptle hands and takes it back the other way, Ward catches him from behind and bear hugs him, then gets dragged along. Pretty funny. Remember, this is the walk through.
Wallace splits right, Ward’s in the slot. Randel El to the left. Wallace runs a fly down the right sideline and Batch hits him in the hands and Wallace drops it.
Battle goes in motion, Mendenhall gets it up the gut.
Battle and Sanders are split out left. Speath on the right TE spot. Grisham comes out of the slot, into the flat and Batch hits him in stride.
Grisham splits out right, goes in motion. Batch drops back and throws it to Sanders over the middle ten yards deep. Wow, Sanders is smooth jazz when he’s running his route and catching the ball. Very fluid, kind of like Swannie. No, I’m not saying he’s the next Lynn Swann, he just has some of that same grace. (It helps that they gave him 88. I wonder if someone did that on purpose.) No telling at this point if the kid can’t get off the line ala Willie Reid or implodes in real games like Lima Sweed.
Battle and Grisham split right. Sanders splits left. Batch drops back and hits Vincent swinging out of the backfield.
Batch has Grisham split right. He goes in motion. Battle and Sanders are split left. Batch drops back to pass, he’s looking, looking, never threw it. The horn sounds.
They practice the extra point. They start out with Bright blocking on the right side and McHugh blocking on the left. Reed pounds one down the middle and rattles the cameraman’s post with the kick. I get the sense that Reed loves to scare the cameramen by making their platforms wave way up high in the air. They move it back and try from 27, he nails it. They move to the other hash marks. Reed lines up, and hits another 27 yarder. He makes one from 33. The next 33 yarder makes it through, but it drifted far to the right and almost hit the post. He splits the uprights on a 38 yarder. He hits a 43 yarder. He hits another 43 yarder, this one drifted to the right again. Looks like he’s slicing just a bit.
They run four or five gadget play fakes out of the field goal formation, none of which look promising. In fact, they have a scary resemblance to the Zorn fake field goal call in Washington. On he last one Jeff Reed takes a pitchout. Please tell me that’s not really in our playbook.
On the far side of the field, several players are catching balls. Antonio Brown appears to be bobbling a few. Sanders is catching his.
Ben starts out the stretch period, stretching with the guys longer than he normally does. But eventually he drifts over to his usual place, standing next to Arians as the other players stretch.
The highlight of the practice, Hoke does his famous Russian dance, arms crossed, kicking his legs out and bouncing like he’s playing at the Bolshoi (Okay, maybe that’s a stretch)
QB’s backs and the o-line come out to dry run some plays at half speed with no defense in front of them.
Ben under center, handoff to Mendenhall.
Leftwich under center. Handoff to Moore to the left.
Dixon comes out with only enough linemen for half a line. Summers is the lead blocker in the backfield. Handoff to Mendy.
Lefty under center, handoff to Moore to the left.
Dixon under center, Antonio Brown goes in motion, Redman takes a handoff to the left.
They practice pitchouts. Ben pitches it to Mendy.
Lefty pitches it to Moore, a little behind him.
Dixon pitches it to Taylor, and it’s a little behind him.
New line coach Kugler, who walked around the fields earlier unnoticed by most of the fans, has the linemen over in one corner. He’s non-stop talking. With Zirlein there was a lot of standing around. Kugler gets very animated. I don’t know whether or not he’s a good coach, but I like how animated and intense he is. Zirlein was their buddy. This guy’s in their face.
Jeff Reed is the first player down. That’s the first time in a while that a veteran was the first guy on the field at the first practice.
The next guys down are Kyle Jolly and Demetrius Taylor. Good hustle. These two better. The odds are against them.
The tight ends take a few flatfooted catches from the jugs machine. McHugh goes first. He catches the first five belt high, facing the machine. The next two balls get spit out at his ankles, and he makes nice, quick scoops on both. He takes one more in the chest, then turns to the side and catches the next five balls well placed, out front, then he turns the other way and catches the first one. The second one is a couple inches over his head, and it handcuffs him. The ball was a little high, but it was definitely catchable. It’s a drop. He catches the next two.
Spaeth takes a turn. Starts out square to the machine. He bobbles the first one at his waist, but holds on. Catches the next five, all at the chest. He still absorbs the ball well, but he has shortened up his motion so he doesn’t let the ball carry his hands as far as he used to which lets him tuck it away quicker. Smoother hands than McHugh. He turns to the side, the next ball is behind him and he makes a nice catch, contorting to scoop it from the small of his back. The next ball’s high and he pulls it down nicely. He looks the next two into his chest, then the following two are nice catches on a high passes. Turns to the other side. He catches the last three, one of which sailed over his head and he had to go up for it as high as he could.
Johnson’s next. He catches the first three, two in the chest and one off the hip. Numbers facemask, knees and one he scoops off the grass. Pretty good for him. Last year he dropped something like four out of the first seven. Maybe he worked on his hands. He turns to the side and catches the next eight balls, one a nice catch on a ball well over his head. He turns to the other side. And catches four in a row including one that was behind him and one that was high. Well, he’ll never be Antonio Gates, but he seems to have improved.
Miller takes his turn and shows us the surest hands in the business. Seven clean catches.
Eugene Bright takes a turn. He makes his first five catches including one low one and a high one. The next one’s at the waist and he bobbles it, but holds on. He catches the next three including a nice scoop on a low one, then drops the next one at the knees. He’s getting quite a slap when the ball arrives. He’s not absorbing the thing. He’s kind of overpowering the ball like a power forward on a rebound. He’s too animated, a lot of wasted motion. The coaches should beat that out of him inside a week. He catches the next four, but looks shaky. Hope he’s a hell of a blocker.
Next they take turns running crossing patterns in front of the machine.
Speath goes first, and catches it.
Miller makes a one handed catch, reaching way out in front of him.
Johnson drops one he should have had, forehead high.
McHugh catches one at the hip.
Bright catches one.
Safety Tuff Harris joins them and makes a one handed catch.
Spaeth coming back the other way makes the catch.
Miller makes the catch.
Johnson makes the catch.
McHugh bobbles the ball for two steps then pulls it in.
The next throw is out of Bright’s reach. No way he could have gotten to it.
Harris catches the next one.
Spaeth makes the catch, coming back the other way.
Miller makes the catch.
Johnson makes a stretching catch on a high ball.
McHugh makes the catch.
Bright drops another one. This one in the numbers.
Harris makes a catch on one behind him, reaching back nicely with both hands. This guy’s got good hands for a safety.
Spaeth, Miller, Johnson, and McHugh catch theirs, but Bright drops another one.
Harris drops one at the knees.
Speath and Miller catch the next two.
The next throw is too low for Johnson. No way he could have caught it.
McHugh makes the catch.
Bright makes the next catch, and probably breathes a sight of relief. The great eye in the sky, hoisted on a platform, is watching even this little drill. Make a mistake, and it lives forever.
Harris tries to showboat and tries a one handed catch. Drops it. Hopefully one of the coaches will tell him to stick to using two hands if you can.
Another one out of Johnson’s reach.
The next pass sails way over Harris’ head.
Harris takes the next three facemask high.
On the other end of the field, Reed hits one from 45.
The offense goes through its walk throughs. Ben’s running with the first team. Guess that’s to show it’s still his team. Good for Tomlin.
The first play is a pass to Ward on a ten yard come back route down the right numbers.
Flozel Adams is starting out at right tackle with the first team. You know the rest. Hartwig at center, Essex at RG, Kemo at LG.
Ben hits Wallace on a ten yard out to the right.
Leftwich runs with the second team. He hits Grisham on a short crossing pattern.
Hines lines up to the right and Battle to the left with Wallace in the slot. Grisham comes from somewhere behind the line and catches a short out pattern to the left from Lefty.
Battle splits right, Emmanuel Sanders splits left. Spaeth goes in motion then stops, Lefty drops back and hits Speath crossing deep in the middle.
Brandon London split left, Antonio Brown split right. Johnson the tight end on the right side. Dixon’s the QB. London goes in motion and gets it handed to him on the end around.
Dixon drops back to pass, hits London on an out pattern.
Dixon drops back to pass, hits London on an in pattern.
Batch comes in. Wallace and Ward split right. Randel El to the left. It’s a little screen for Wallace, with Ward leading the way.
Ward fakes going in motion, Batch throws it to him on the right, but Kemoeatu standing underneath to simulate the defense grabs an interception with surprisingly suptle hands and takes it back the other way, Ward catches him from behind and bear hugs him, then gets dragged along. Pretty funny. Remember, this is the walk through.
Wallace splits right, Ward’s in the slot. Randel El to the left. Wallace runs a fly down the right sideline and Batch hits him in the hands and Wallace drops it.
Battle goes in motion, Mendenhall gets it up the gut.
Battle and Sanders are split out left. Speath on the right TE spot. Grisham comes out of the slot, into the flat and Batch hits him in stride.
Grisham splits out right, goes in motion. Batch drops back and throws it to Sanders over the middle ten yards deep. Wow, Sanders is smooth jazz when he’s running his route and catching the ball. Very fluid, kind of like Swannie. No, I’m not saying he’s the next Lynn Swann, he just has some of that same grace. (It helps that they gave him 88. I wonder if someone did that on purpose.) No telling at this point if the kid can’t get off the line ala Willie Reid or implodes in real games like Lima Sweed.
Battle and Grisham split right. Sanders splits left. Batch drops back and hits Vincent swinging out of the backfield.
Batch has Grisham split right. He goes in motion. Battle and Sanders are split left. Batch drops back to pass, he’s looking, looking, never threw it. The horn sounds.
They practice the extra point. They start out with Bright blocking on the right side and McHugh blocking on the left. Reed pounds one down the middle and rattles the cameraman’s post with the kick. I get the sense that Reed loves to scare the cameramen by making their platforms wave way up high in the air. They move it back and try from 27, he nails it. They move to the other hash marks. Reed lines up, and hits another 27 yarder. He makes one from 33. The next 33 yarder makes it through, but it drifted far to the right and almost hit the post. He splits the uprights on a 38 yarder. He hits a 43 yarder. He hits another 43 yarder, this one drifted to the right again. Looks like he’s slicing just a bit.
They run four or five gadget play fakes out of the field goal formation, none of which look promising. In fact, they have a scary resemblance to the Zorn fake field goal call in Washington. On he last one Jeff Reed takes a pitchout. Please tell me that’s not really in our playbook.
On the far side of the field, several players are catching balls. Antonio Brown appears to be bobbling a few. Sanders is catching his.
Ben starts out the stretch period, stretching with the guys longer than he normally does. But eventually he drifts over to his usual place, standing next to Arians as the other players stretch.
The highlight of the practice, Hoke does his famous Russian dance, arms crossed, kicking his legs out and bouncing like he’s playing at the Bolshoi (Okay, maybe that’s a stretch)
QB’s backs and the o-line come out to dry run some plays at half speed with no defense in front of them.
Ben under center, handoff to Mendenhall.
Leftwich under center. Handoff to Moore to the left.
Dixon comes out with only enough linemen for half a line. Summers is the lead blocker in the backfield. Handoff to Mendy.
Lefty under center, handoff to Moore to the left.
Dixon under center, Antonio Brown goes in motion, Redman takes a handoff to the left.
They practice pitchouts. Ben pitches it to Mendy.
Lefty pitches it to Moore, a little behind him.
Dixon pitches it to Taylor, and it’s a little behind him.
New line coach Kugler, who walked around the fields earlier unnoticed by most of the fans, has the linemen over in one corner. He’s non-stop talking. With Zirlein there was a lot of standing around. Kugler gets very animated. I don’t know whether or not he’s a good coach, but I like how animated and intense he is. Zirlein was their buddy. This guy’s in their face.