PlantPage55
07-29-2006, 09:24 PM
I wrote a HUGE training camp review over at Football's Future. It's really too massive to copy and paste over here...so check it out if you want over here:
From Footballs Future: (http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=73633)
Brett Favre – He looks like a kid again out there. Of course, I say that about him every year, but it never fails to surprise me. His passes were all VERY sharp and his decision-making seemed good. He wasn’t afraid to check down to a running back and even took off running when he had no one open. (in practice!!!)
Aaron Rodgers – Was quick to run once or twice during scrimmage. He seems to rely quite heavily on the check downs and is hesitant to make longer passes. He does, however, have the cadence and carries himself like a starter – he just needs to get a little more confident IN the play. His passes were still very sharp. He underthrew a WIDE OPEN Robert Ferguson in scrimmage.
Ingle Martin – By far the name I heard most today, just because people were going “Who’s this #7?†Come on people, pick up a paper. Anyway, his passes were usually sharp – but he overthrows receivers like crazy. It’s amazing…he clearly has a pro caliber arm, but when you watch Wrobel and Ingle in the quarterback drills where they throw back and forth with Brett and Aaron – how much more on target BOTH Favre and Rodgers are.
Favre and Rodgers’ passes consistently hit Martin and Wrobel in the chest area, where Martin and Wrobel’s were often low or high.
Samkon Gado – He looked to be in great spirits and also was never afraid to ask for help. A couple of times he hit the holes with a burst and had one or two long runs. No matter what though, he ALWAYS ran to the end of the field. He does look like he is in great shape now as well.
Noah Herron – Let me just say, I am not a Herron fan like some are. HOWEVER, he definitely surprised me today. Dare I say, he actually showed me some explosiveness and had a good day as well.
Arliss Beach – Had one good run of note. Probably 15+ yards – but on that play I think the offensive line had the most to do with that. He got ate up once or twice besides that.
Najeh Davenport – Had one REALLY REALLY bad drop. The ball just plain hit him in the numbers and ricocheted off his hands. Right in front of Ted Thompson…ouch. TT just shook his head. Naj still looked a little injury hesitant today anyway.
AJ Cooper and Ben Brown both had some bad drops in the flats, BOTH followed by expletives. Heh heh.
William Henderson – His dependable self. Funny story though…a Favre pass sailed HIGH over his head in the flat. Although it was clearly out of reach, Hendy patted his chest as if to say “My bad, everybody…†ha ha…too funny.
All in all, I’m not impressed. I can’t wait to get Ahman Green back as he looks like he wants it so badly out there. He’s also ripped as hell right now.
The Donald – If Brett Favre is the King of Green Bay, then Driver is the prince. EVERYONE loves him and cheer at his every catch. And there’s good reason for it, because he caught EVERYTHING thrown his way – even if it was poor. He’s also the court jester, and would make a great prop comic, because he uses the ball and the sideline flags for endless entertainment of the crowd. He’s pure class. Not only that, but he does a great job of being a leader, motivator, and TEACHER for the other WRs
Greg Jennings – I may sound like a broken record, but everything you’ve read about this kid is true. He has great hands, and made what was perhaps the best adjustment of the day in individual drills. He went left with a post pattern, looked into the air for the ball, and quickly spun and took two steps back to the right to catch it. He beat Woodson on a crossing route and would have taken it a LONG ways if it were a real game. I also watched his feet in amazement, as his route running IS as precise as prescribed. He’s my “WINNER of the Dayâ€Â
Marc Boerighter – Surprisingly, my number 3 WR of the day. He looks even bigger in person, than they tell you. He caught a deep - ball in 1-on-1 after beating out Horton (I think). Otherwise, nothing amazing, but he was very consistent.
Robert Ferguson – ah Robert…the story is the same with him. He has talent. He showed flashes, but that injury is clearly still bothering him. He stepped to the sidelines after not being able to finish a route in individual drills. He looked hesitant for a little bit after that, but then came back strong in the second half of practice. He caught one on the sidelines, but was ruled out. I couldn’t see it from where I was after he came down, but he did a little posturing to the crowd and they quickly took his side against the ref. He felt he was pushed out. Then, as I mentioned earlier, he absolutely TORE through the secondary and was streaking – would have scored had A-Rod not underthrew him...
Ruvell Martin and Cory Rodgers – Very routine...a drop or two…and didn’t CHALLENGE for the ball in 1-on-1.
Francies and Russell both had a few drops – both on slant routes where they beat the corner inside, but couldn’t catch the ball.
Bubba – looks to be in great shape. He did have a false start during scrimmage and seemed totally embarrassed. However, in individual drills, he showed some TE speed and was VERY fluid in making a deep over the shoulder grab. Impressed, was I.
Lee and Martin – very routine…nothing stood out
Zac Alcorn – Made a tough catch between his knees. He juggled it, but caught it.
O-LINE
Chad Clifton – looked to be in especially good shape.
Daryn Colledge – very impressive for a rookie today. Very little got by him.
Jason Spitz – eh, not so much. Mediocre. Handled some, got worked by others. He looks the part though, so I think he’ll step it up sooner or later.
As a whole, they made some surprisingly nice holes for Gado and Beach. Othertimes, they fell apart and got Beach, Gado, and Najeh killed. They gave Herron enough to work with whenever he ran. In pass blocking, they held their own, and only had Favre and Rodgers in danger once or twice.
However, there is a DEFINITE gap between the awesomeness of our OTs and the mediocrity of our OGs…that’s to be expected though. I say this, because the DEs couldn’t do much…and the DTs were often penetrating first.
Corey Williams – looks really lean and mean. I was surprised at his enthusiasm and condition.
Pickett – As most of you probably know, was in a car accident, but just in case you don’t…he was in a car accident and wasn’t there.
Cullen Jenkins – He absolutely WRECKED whoever he was going up against on one scrimmage play. He burst through and drilled Beach.
Our DTs looked great. Maybe that was the interior line’s doing, but whatever the case, they looked enthusiastic and active. A breath of fresh air from the usual garbage piles every used to have to step around as they were actually practicing. Keeping them in rotation could produce great things.
Aaron Kampman – looked like a leader and often gave advice (even to Woodson at one point! )
Otherwise…where were they?! They didn’t show much explosiveness at all…and I’m hard pressed to think of anything KGB did. Montgomery had an offsides penalty at one point and was immediately replaced.
AJ Hawk: He’s a rockstar. Everyone cheered and eyes were always on him. Somebody should have told him it was in the 90s for temperature, because he was wearing long sleeves. Heh heh. Anyway, he looked quick, decisive, but only one play STOOD OUT at me. He would have blown up one of the FBs on one play, but I don’t remember who it was. Even though he didn’t have any BIG plays, he was always in the vicinity of the ball and practiced hard. They had him doing everything…punt coverage…punt blocking…and he was in EVERY First team defensive set…even as the lone LB.
Barnett: He helped out Hawk on his first day, and looked good in coverage. He ran hard and was always around the ball as well. He and AJ will be fighting for tackles if he’s not moved to the outside.
Abdul Hodge: ALWAYS worked at 2nd team MLB. He looked very cerebral and diagnosed the play very well. He only aided my opinion (one of my few opinions that I will sit strongly on) that he should eventually be made MLB and Barnett SSLB. He would have absolutely LIT Ben Brown up on one pass – had Brown actually caught it.
Tracy White – Made a great play on an Arliss Beach run.
Goodwell – Awesome pursuit on a Jennings reverse. That’s it though.
Ben Taylor didn’t do anything exceptional, but was always there.
I feel like I’m being redundant, but REALLY all our LBs swarmed to the ball. If our DTs can keep blockers off of them even halfway decently, it’s going to be an exciting year for our LBs.
Charles Woodson – Very on and Off. Disappointed me just a little. My first impression of him was great though, because while the offense and defense were separate he was not at all afraid to ask questions of both the coaches and players. I like his attitude – he really seemed like he wanted to help the team become a strong unit.
His play, on the other hand, let’s just say it was a little rusty. A little better than Cliff Christl made it seem yesterday, but not great. First drill, he gets burned by…someone I can’t remember and didn’t write down, but I remember he grabbed the WRs arm flagrantly (probably almost jokingly, because he was beat so bad) and the whole crowd just groaned. From then on he was okay, but never made a play on the ball.
Then, in 7-on-7, as I stated above – Jennings toasted him. However, not long after that, he covered Cory Rodgers like a damn blanket! It was very impressive…and this was the play that Favre had to scramble on. Cory tried every thing he could but Charles was his shadow as they zig-zagged around the secondary. THAT play impressed me. Charles never got to make a play on any ball though
Al Harris – Got beat BADLY in individual drills by Jennings (I think…) Otherwise did a regular job.
Carroll – Again, burned RIGHT AWAY. That seemed to be the story of our CBs. They all got burned the first time up. Carroll was pretty handsy…as always…but never got called for anything. I’m not worried, unless refs start specifically targeting him again. He also didn’t talk any crap, like he usually does.
None of the other corners stood out at all to me. I think it’s pretty obvious that our starters are Al and Charles. Then Ahmad. Then Hawkins. Then it’s just kind of…bleh, for everyone else. I wish Blackmon wasn’t sidelined…I’m excited to see him.
Safeties…on the other hand…
Nick Collins – Looked simply OKAY in 1-on-1. He was step for step with the WR one time, was beat on the other, but the ball was out of reach of the WR. In 7-on-7 he was always active and hustling…but still never able to make a big play or stand out. Hopefully, that means it was solid play…heh heh
Marviel Underwood – I think he stood out and played admirably. He made the interception on the underthrown Rodger’s pass…although he did let Ferg get by him. From my point of view, the CB got burned and Marviel simply broke on the pass rather than stay with Ferg…I don’t think the burnage was Marviel’s fault. It seemed that every time a safety made a play, I was looking at the number 25…
I just wish I could have seen Marquand Manuel step in there to compare them. Marviel looked better in coverage than he did last year…I remember shaking my head at him during the Baltimore game last year, but his play seems MUCH improved.
Tyrone Culver – He didn’t seem to be in position to MAKE a lot of plays. BUT his hustle was absolutely outstanding. He ran into his position between plays, lost his SHOE in pursuit from one side of the field to the other, and just seemed like he wants a roster spot pretty badly.
Tra Boger – Looked like he knew what he was doing too, but also, didn’t make any plays.
All-in-all, with Manuel thrown into the mix, I think we may be surprised by our safety play as well. I’ll be watching these guys closely during pre-season games.
Now...I know everything that I said sounded overly positive. After reading that, you'd think I thought we were going to go and mow our way to the superbowl. But remember, I am keeping in mind that it's the first week...we're all a little rusty.
I do, however, think that these practices are a full head above what I saw last year out of Sherman's practices.
I saw more enthusiasm. I saw A LOT less standing around. I saw more yelling and motivating (LB coach Winston Moss is great!)
Take this as a comparision:
Sherman practice: assisstant's throw passes to WRs in individual drills.
McCarthy practice: QBs throw to WRs, even in individual drills.
McCarthy's practices rarely have one unit working solely by itself...unless it's necessary - like OL blocking dummy drills. I really think this team is more lively, and will...by the end...have better chemistry and cohesiveness.
Whether they can actually produce versus other teams remains to be seen.
Partial edit - Added that for you. Thanks for the write-up!
From Footballs Future: (http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=73633)
Brett Favre – He looks like a kid again out there. Of course, I say that about him every year, but it never fails to surprise me. His passes were all VERY sharp and his decision-making seemed good. He wasn’t afraid to check down to a running back and even took off running when he had no one open. (in practice!!!)
Aaron Rodgers – Was quick to run once or twice during scrimmage. He seems to rely quite heavily on the check downs and is hesitant to make longer passes. He does, however, have the cadence and carries himself like a starter – he just needs to get a little more confident IN the play. His passes were still very sharp. He underthrew a WIDE OPEN Robert Ferguson in scrimmage.
Ingle Martin – By far the name I heard most today, just because people were going “Who’s this #7?†Come on people, pick up a paper. Anyway, his passes were usually sharp – but he overthrows receivers like crazy. It’s amazing…he clearly has a pro caliber arm, but when you watch Wrobel and Ingle in the quarterback drills where they throw back and forth with Brett and Aaron – how much more on target BOTH Favre and Rodgers are.
Favre and Rodgers’ passes consistently hit Martin and Wrobel in the chest area, where Martin and Wrobel’s were often low or high.
Samkon Gado – He looked to be in great spirits and also was never afraid to ask for help. A couple of times he hit the holes with a burst and had one or two long runs. No matter what though, he ALWAYS ran to the end of the field. He does look like he is in great shape now as well.
Noah Herron – Let me just say, I am not a Herron fan like some are. HOWEVER, he definitely surprised me today. Dare I say, he actually showed me some explosiveness and had a good day as well.
Arliss Beach – Had one good run of note. Probably 15+ yards – but on that play I think the offensive line had the most to do with that. He got ate up once or twice besides that.
Najeh Davenport – Had one REALLY REALLY bad drop. The ball just plain hit him in the numbers and ricocheted off his hands. Right in front of Ted Thompson…ouch. TT just shook his head. Naj still looked a little injury hesitant today anyway.
AJ Cooper and Ben Brown both had some bad drops in the flats, BOTH followed by expletives. Heh heh.
William Henderson – His dependable self. Funny story though…a Favre pass sailed HIGH over his head in the flat. Although it was clearly out of reach, Hendy patted his chest as if to say “My bad, everybody…†ha ha…too funny.
All in all, I’m not impressed. I can’t wait to get Ahman Green back as he looks like he wants it so badly out there. He’s also ripped as hell right now.
The Donald – If Brett Favre is the King of Green Bay, then Driver is the prince. EVERYONE loves him and cheer at his every catch. And there’s good reason for it, because he caught EVERYTHING thrown his way – even if it was poor. He’s also the court jester, and would make a great prop comic, because he uses the ball and the sideline flags for endless entertainment of the crowd. He’s pure class. Not only that, but he does a great job of being a leader, motivator, and TEACHER for the other WRs
Greg Jennings – I may sound like a broken record, but everything you’ve read about this kid is true. He has great hands, and made what was perhaps the best adjustment of the day in individual drills. He went left with a post pattern, looked into the air for the ball, and quickly spun and took two steps back to the right to catch it. He beat Woodson on a crossing route and would have taken it a LONG ways if it were a real game. I also watched his feet in amazement, as his route running IS as precise as prescribed. He’s my “WINNER of the Dayâ€Â
Marc Boerighter – Surprisingly, my number 3 WR of the day. He looks even bigger in person, than they tell you. He caught a deep - ball in 1-on-1 after beating out Horton (I think). Otherwise, nothing amazing, but he was very consistent.
Robert Ferguson – ah Robert…the story is the same with him. He has talent. He showed flashes, but that injury is clearly still bothering him. He stepped to the sidelines after not being able to finish a route in individual drills. He looked hesitant for a little bit after that, but then came back strong in the second half of practice. He caught one on the sidelines, but was ruled out. I couldn’t see it from where I was after he came down, but he did a little posturing to the crowd and they quickly took his side against the ref. He felt he was pushed out. Then, as I mentioned earlier, he absolutely TORE through the secondary and was streaking – would have scored had A-Rod not underthrew him...
Ruvell Martin and Cory Rodgers – Very routine...a drop or two…and didn’t CHALLENGE for the ball in 1-on-1.
Francies and Russell both had a few drops – both on slant routes where they beat the corner inside, but couldn’t catch the ball.
Bubba – looks to be in great shape. He did have a false start during scrimmage and seemed totally embarrassed. However, in individual drills, he showed some TE speed and was VERY fluid in making a deep over the shoulder grab. Impressed, was I.
Lee and Martin – very routine…nothing stood out
Zac Alcorn – Made a tough catch between his knees. He juggled it, but caught it.
O-LINE
Chad Clifton – looked to be in especially good shape.
Daryn Colledge – very impressive for a rookie today. Very little got by him.
Jason Spitz – eh, not so much. Mediocre. Handled some, got worked by others. He looks the part though, so I think he’ll step it up sooner or later.
As a whole, they made some surprisingly nice holes for Gado and Beach. Othertimes, they fell apart and got Beach, Gado, and Najeh killed. They gave Herron enough to work with whenever he ran. In pass blocking, they held their own, and only had Favre and Rodgers in danger once or twice.
However, there is a DEFINITE gap between the awesomeness of our OTs and the mediocrity of our OGs…that’s to be expected though. I say this, because the DEs couldn’t do much…and the DTs were often penetrating first.
Corey Williams – looks really lean and mean. I was surprised at his enthusiasm and condition.
Pickett – As most of you probably know, was in a car accident, but just in case you don’t…he was in a car accident and wasn’t there.
Cullen Jenkins – He absolutely WRECKED whoever he was going up against on one scrimmage play. He burst through and drilled Beach.
Our DTs looked great. Maybe that was the interior line’s doing, but whatever the case, they looked enthusiastic and active. A breath of fresh air from the usual garbage piles every used to have to step around as they were actually practicing. Keeping them in rotation could produce great things.
Aaron Kampman – looked like a leader and often gave advice (even to Woodson at one point! )
Otherwise…where were they?! They didn’t show much explosiveness at all…and I’m hard pressed to think of anything KGB did. Montgomery had an offsides penalty at one point and was immediately replaced.
AJ Hawk: He’s a rockstar. Everyone cheered and eyes were always on him. Somebody should have told him it was in the 90s for temperature, because he was wearing long sleeves. Heh heh. Anyway, he looked quick, decisive, but only one play STOOD OUT at me. He would have blown up one of the FBs on one play, but I don’t remember who it was. Even though he didn’t have any BIG plays, he was always in the vicinity of the ball and practiced hard. They had him doing everything…punt coverage…punt blocking…and he was in EVERY First team defensive set…even as the lone LB.
Barnett: He helped out Hawk on his first day, and looked good in coverage. He ran hard and was always around the ball as well. He and AJ will be fighting for tackles if he’s not moved to the outside.
Abdul Hodge: ALWAYS worked at 2nd team MLB. He looked very cerebral and diagnosed the play very well. He only aided my opinion (one of my few opinions that I will sit strongly on) that he should eventually be made MLB and Barnett SSLB. He would have absolutely LIT Ben Brown up on one pass – had Brown actually caught it.
Tracy White – Made a great play on an Arliss Beach run.
Goodwell – Awesome pursuit on a Jennings reverse. That’s it though.
Ben Taylor didn’t do anything exceptional, but was always there.
I feel like I’m being redundant, but REALLY all our LBs swarmed to the ball. If our DTs can keep blockers off of them even halfway decently, it’s going to be an exciting year for our LBs.
Charles Woodson – Very on and Off. Disappointed me just a little. My first impression of him was great though, because while the offense and defense were separate he was not at all afraid to ask questions of both the coaches and players. I like his attitude – he really seemed like he wanted to help the team become a strong unit.
His play, on the other hand, let’s just say it was a little rusty. A little better than Cliff Christl made it seem yesterday, but not great. First drill, he gets burned by…someone I can’t remember and didn’t write down, but I remember he grabbed the WRs arm flagrantly (probably almost jokingly, because he was beat so bad) and the whole crowd just groaned. From then on he was okay, but never made a play on the ball.
Then, in 7-on-7, as I stated above – Jennings toasted him. However, not long after that, he covered Cory Rodgers like a damn blanket! It was very impressive…and this was the play that Favre had to scramble on. Cory tried every thing he could but Charles was his shadow as they zig-zagged around the secondary. THAT play impressed me. Charles never got to make a play on any ball though
Al Harris – Got beat BADLY in individual drills by Jennings (I think…) Otherwise did a regular job.
Carroll – Again, burned RIGHT AWAY. That seemed to be the story of our CBs. They all got burned the first time up. Carroll was pretty handsy…as always…but never got called for anything. I’m not worried, unless refs start specifically targeting him again. He also didn’t talk any crap, like he usually does.
None of the other corners stood out at all to me. I think it’s pretty obvious that our starters are Al and Charles. Then Ahmad. Then Hawkins. Then it’s just kind of…bleh, for everyone else. I wish Blackmon wasn’t sidelined…I’m excited to see him.
Safeties…on the other hand…
Nick Collins – Looked simply OKAY in 1-on-1. He was step for step with the WR one time, was beat on the other, but the ball was out of reach of the WR. In 7-on-7 he was always active and hustling…but still never able to make a big play or stand out. Hopefully, that means it was solid play…heh heh
Marviel Underwood – I think he stood out and played admirably. He made the interception on the underthrown Rodger’s pass…although he did let Ferg get by him. From my point of view, the CB got burned and Marviel simply broke on the pass rather than stay with Ferg…I don’t think the burnage was Marviel’s fault. It seemed that every time a safety made a play, I was looking at the number 25…
I just wish I could have seen Marquand Manuel step in there to compare them. Marviel looked better in coverage than he did last year…I remember shaking my head at him during the Baltimore game last year, but his play seems MUCH improved.
Tyrone Culver – He didn’t seem to be in position to MAKE a lot of plays. BUT his hustle was absolutely outstanding. He ran into his position between plays, lost his SHOE in pursuit from one side of the field to the other, and just seemed like he wants a roster spot pretty badly.
Tra Boger – Looked like he knew what he was doing too, but also, didn’t make any plays.
All-in-all, with Manuel thrown into the mix, I think we may be surprised by our safety play as well. I’ll be watching these guys closely during pre-season games.
Now...I know everything that I said sounded overly positive. After reading that, you'd think I thought we were going to go and mow our way to the superbowl. But remember, I am keeping in mind that it's the first week...we're all a little rusty.
I do, however, think that these practices are a full head above what I saw last year out of Sherman's practices.
I saw more enthusiasm. I saw A LOT less standing around. I saw more yelling and motivating (LB coach Winston Moss is great!)
Take this as a comparision:
Sherman practice: assisstant's throw passes to WRs in individual drills.
McCarthy practice: QBs throw to WRs, even in individual drills.
McCarthy's practices rarely have one unit working solely by itself...unless it's necessary - like OL blocking dummy drills. I really think this team is more lively, and will...by the end...have better chemistry and cohesiveness.
Whether they can actually produce versus other teams remains to be seen.
Partial edit - Added that for you. Thanks for the write-up!