It was nice to be back in Flag for camp; we skipped last year because of the newfan crowds. I used to work this camp when I was an NAU student (it's how I became a Cards fan), so it's always a fun time.
We camped out by Mormon Lake, combining a camping trip and training camp visit into a 24 hour period, and it worked awesome. I loved the rain, mostly fell while we were sleeping, and though I enjoy the outside practices more it was nice to sit in the dome.
There were a few players/things I wanted to focus on today, in no particular order:
Leinart
Beanie
The D-Line
LBs
Toler
O-Line
Attitude
I actually thought the practice was more laid back than most - not as physical as I was expecting based on reports and less intense than I've seen before. I think a lot of that was due to the weather, the indoors and having 10K people in the stands after signing autographs for an hour and a half. Felt "off" a bit to me until the very end.
The QB Battle or Operation Flagstaff Storm
I'll say first off, there is no real battle, just like US v. Iraq. However, the rope Matt has is going to be short. The two QBs are very different - Matt has better touch on his throws, while DA has enormous velocity on his. DA looked good today in the first run with the O, and not as good the second time around. He makes quick decisions, but doesn't adapt when the rush is on him. I don't see him making a strong push on Matt this year, but he's damn good enough to win games if Matt goes down and to push Matt to protect his job.
Matt's footwork is good, and he's making the right reads as well. However, he's taking too long (IMO) to make the decision and that is hurting him. He's also off the page thismuch with his WRs. For example, he overthrew Breaston on a sure TD on the sidelines (SB hesitated a bit, but it was still an overthrow). Then he had Fitz open for a TD, and instead of putting it on the outside shoulder, he put it on the inside (which leads Fitz into the coverage instead of away. Fitz was looking outside, turned back to find it inside and wasn't able to make the completion. PERFECT throw to the wrong spot.
I don't doubt the arm right now, I doubt the placement. On the DRC near pick, Matt threw behind instead of in front. Not much, but against DRC that's enough to get burned. His throws look good, his footwork looks good, and when the rush came, he was able to move and create opportunities. He even ran a two yard rollout for a TD called back on a holding call.
Are these the kind of things that camp is for - getting in line with your WRs? Or is this something deeper that won't be fixed?
Skelton is useless...threw balls at WRs feet during simple patterns against no coverage. Looked bad. Hall looked much better.
Grade: concerned, but not worried. Likely case, Matt will do ok. Good but not great...bad games and good ones.
Beanie, Baby
Timmy was fine, solid player and hardnosed. But he's not Beanie. First I was impressed at his physique. He looks lighter and faster...and it shows. He didn't really get many touches, but when he did they were productive. On one, the DL was already in the backfield (more on this later) and he threw a spin move one step after the hand off, upfield and a juke to the outside where he went down the line. Likely a scoring play in a real game with a stiffarm coming on a safety. It was an OOOOH from the crowd. Only downside in the run game was they got STONED 4 straight times at the goalline to finish practice. 3 by TH, one by BW at the end. Unfortunate...I wanted one of them to punch it in.
Howling looked good, hitting holes hard..but I saw the same in preseason last year and it never translated to the field. He's better out of the backfield catching passes and getting in open space, but in practice he hits the holes aggressively. We'll see if he can do it in a regular season game someday.
Grade: Cocky...these two are going to be a holy terror and LSH in the open field is scary good.
The WR corps
Fitz is a stud, no bones about it. He'll make any QB look good. However, Breaston didn't impress me with his play today to my suprise. He held up a bit on an overthrown ball that he should have been able to get to if he went all out, and dropped another pass. But he's done it at full speed in the regular season and I trust him.
The player that REALLY stood out to me today was #14, Williams from Toledo. The guy was smoooth out there today. Caught everything, including a tough TD and another tough catch in traffic, and ran really clean routes. I was impressed, and the second time I looked at my roster to see who number #14 was I realized it was the same guy, and he kept on making plays. I hope he makes the team...there's something special about him, and an UDFA that runs routes already that well, with THAT size and good hands...well, playing with Fitz can only make him better. 4WR might be his.
I didn't even notice Andre Roberts, and that's not a good thing because I was kind of looking for him out there. I did notice Gant, who was having a pretty nice day.
Grade: Confident. This is a good and deep group.
The Elephant(s) in the Room
I understand, it takes a while to gel as an OL. That you get better with time. That Keith hasn't started a game yet. Levi switched. Wells switched. Faneca is new to the mix. I get it. I even know that our DL is easily one of the top 10, maybe top 5 in the NFL, so it makes it that much harder. I expect some growing pains and some issues.
I don't expect you to let the defense in to the QB without so much as an "excuse me." The offensive line play is atrocious, which is surprising to me because from a pure talent perspective, this is a good bunch. But over and over again, the D was at the QB, sometimes two or three at a time. On one of them, DA had to be happy it was the Red/White practice and not the Texans, because he had both ends meeting him on both sides. That would have been sayonara, season in a real game, or a preseason game even.
Beanie had to spin to avoid pressure just after handoff, 5 yards deep. That simply can't happen. The pressure came from every angle, so nobody gets an attaboy from me. They better get on the same page fast, because if they don't it won't matter who starts at QB...it will matter who we'll call from the practice squad to QB us in week 8.
Grade: More terrified than a 5 year old watching Nightmare on Elm Street while sitting at home alone in the dark
The Other Side
DRC is lockdown, fast and an elite corner and showed it by toying with Matt and almost picking off a "just a bit outside" ball that most corners wouldn't have gotten. You can't take chances around DRC. Nobody is going to throw his way much...but.......
....the other side will be picked on non-stop, all day and without mercy. Toler is set to take on that role. I am afraid, but he had a VERY solid day today. Tipped a pass for a pick, ran with Fitz and fought him for a jump ball in the endzone that he knocked down, broke up a PERFECTLY thrown ball to Fitz with a spectacular play to get his hand in there, one that made the crowd go ooooh! uuuhhhAAAAHHH...then applaud both the throw and the defensive play. It was a very good outing for him and it might get him running in the first team spot we all know he'll have at the end of camp.
Grade: Cautiously optimistic, I think?
Thank you Rolle, but we have another.
Rhodes is a superior safety to Rolle. Rolle is a much better guy with the ball in his hands. Since a safety spends 97% of his time keeping the ball away from his guy, I'm happy with the decision, and I was a fan of Rolle's.
AW is the same...his wallet still says BMF.
Grade: Improved
The second line of defense
I wasn't expecting a lot out of the LB crew, and they beat my expectations. Still a weak spot, but the DL should help cover. The loss of Dansby will be felt, but the addition of Porter helps bring more swagger. You can see them playing with more fire out there, and that's 9-0 and 55 getting a mentality going.
Washington is ridiculously fluid, but not quite ready, still a bit raw and out of position from time to time. Learning the speed of the game. He moves extremely well, and in cone/shuttle type drills you can really see how agile he is. He will be starting next year for sure, and if he's brought along like DRC was, perhaps the end of this season...but yeah, he's solid.
Baggs was another guy who made plays and I looked down to see who he was more than once. Not sure about his chances of making the roster, but he brings it for sure.
None of the other LBs really stood out to me...but they also didn't get beat badly. Seem to be a competent but not excellent group.
Grade: Cautiously..uhm..cautious. Mediocre on talent, A+ on tenacity and effort. Sadly, the last two work better in conjunction with better talent. We'll see.
My Line can Beat up Your Line
OMG. They better take some lawyers on the road with them because our Dline might get arrested for assaulting QBs.
9-0 is unblockable with one man. He is a terror, all over the place and has seemed to have rewired his already overachieving engine. One play in the line on line drills, he bowled through the interior, shredded both the guys trying to contain him (read, holding) and was then pulled down from behind horse collar style. Yep, that's how you will have to deal with this freaking monster, San Fran. Good luck.
CC is nearly as untameable...and is learning how to work off Dockett well. I was trying to watch both of them but it's so hard to take your eye off either of them when they are at work...they are good.
And in the 11 on 11s, the entire DLine, starters, second unit, third...all of them, absolutely DESTROYED the offensive lines. They just ruined them over and over. 3 guys in the backfield. Getting there at the point of handoffs. Didn't matter, they were getting ridiculous pressure. I can't wait to see this unleashed on enemy teams, because if they are truly as good as they appear it is going to take A TON of pressure off of the LBs and Toler. And that is needed.
Grade: Are you kidding?
The Guys Who Put the Foot into Football
Howling keeps his return job, but I was hoping to see Roberts do something. They had Justin Miller fielding some kicks, and he was terrible. After bobbling the first one for what seemed like hours (should have had Benny Hill music), he then caught some and proceeded to run as fast as a snail straight at guys. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it seemed a waste to even have him back there. He isn't going to have that job.
Feely was nailing a few from 55 yards out, from 4 feet inside the sidelines. Pretty nifty, with that ridiculous angle on it. Crowd dug that.
Grade: Incomplete. Not much focus here.
We camped out by Mormon Lake, combining a camping trip and training camp visit into a 24 hour period, and it worked awesome. I loved the rain, mostly fell while we were sleeping, and though I enjoy the outside practices more it was nice to sit in the dome.
There were a few players/things I wanted to focus on today, in no particular order:
Leinart
Beanie
The D-Line
LBs
Toler
O-Line
Attitude
I actually thought the practice was more laid back than most - not as physical as I was expecting based on reports and less intense than I've seen before. I think a lot of that was due to the weather, the indoors and having 10K people in the stands after signing autographs for an hour and a half. Felt "off" a bit to me until the very end.
The QB Battle or Operation Flagstaff Storm
I'll say first off, there is no real battle, just like US v. Iraq. However, the rope Matt has is going to be short. The two QBs are very different - Matt has better touch on his throws, while DA has enormous velocity on his. DA looked good today in the first run with the O, and not as good the second time around. He makes quick decisions, but doesn't adapt when the rush is on him. I don't see him making a strong push on Matt this year, but he's damn good enough to win games if Matt goes down and to push Matt to protect his job.
Matt's footwork is good, and he's making the right reads as well. However, he's taking too long (IMO) to make the decision and that is hurting him. He's also off the page thismuch with his WRs. For example, he overthrew Breaston on a sure TD on the sidelines (SB hesitated a bit, but it was still an overthrow). Then he had Fitz open for a TD, and instead of putting it on the outside shoulder, he put it on the inside (which leads Fitz into the coverage instead of away. Fitz was looking outside, turned back to find it inside and wasn't able to make the completion. PERFECT throw to the wrong spot.
I don't doubt the arm right now, I doubt the placement. On the DRC near pick, Matt threw behind instead of in front. Not much, but against DRC that's enough to get burned. His throws look good, his footwork looks good, and when the rush came, he was able to move and create opportunities. He even ran a two yard rollout for a TD called back on a holding call.
Are these the kind of things that camp is for - getting in line with your WRs? Or is this something deeper that won't be fixed?
Skelton is useless...threw balls at WRs feet during simple patterns against no coverage. Looked bad. Hall looked much better.
Grade: concerned, but not worried. Likely case, Matt will do ok. Good but not great...bad games and good ones.
Beanie, Baby
Timmy was fine, solid player and hardnosed. But he's not Beanie. First I was impressed at his physique. He looks lighter and faster...and it shows. He didn't really get many touches, but when he did they were productive. On one, the DL was already in the backfield (more on this later) and he threw a spin move one step after the hand off, upfield and a juke to the outside where he went down the line. Likely a scoring play in a real game with a stiffarm coming on a safety. It was an OOOOH from the crowd. Only downside in the run game was they got STONED 4 straight times at the goalline to finish practice. 3 by TH, one by BW at the end. Unfortunate...I wanted one of them to punch it in.
Howling looked good, hitting holes hard..but I saw the same in preseason last year and it never translated to the field. He's better out of the backfield catching passes and getting in open space, but in practice he hits the holes aggressively. We'll see if he can do it in a regular season game someday.
Grade: Cocky...these two are going to be a holy terror and LSH in the open field is scary good.
The WR corps
Fitz is a stud, no bones about it. He'll make any QB look good. However, Breaston didn't impress me with his play today to my suprise. He held up a bit on an overthrown ball that he should have been able to get to if he went all out, and dropped another pass. But he's done it at full speed in the regular season and I trust him.
The player that REALLY stood out to me today was #14, Williams from Toledo. The guy was smoooth out there today. Caught everything, including a tough TD and another tough catch in traffic, and ran really clean routes. I was impressed, and the second time I looked at my roster to see who number #14 was I realized it was the same guy, and he kept on making plays. I hope he makes the team...there's something special about him, and an UDFA that runs routes already that well, with THAT size and good hands...well, playing with Fitz can only make him better. 4WR might be his.
I didn't even notice Andre Roberts, and that's not a good thing because I was kind of looking for him out there. I did notice Gant, who was having a pretty nice day.
Grade: Confident. This is a good and deep group.
The Elephant(s) in the Room
I understand, it takes a while to gel as an OL. That you get better with time. That Keith hasn't started a game yet. Levi switched. Wells switched. Faneca is new to the mix. I get it. I even know that our DL is easily one of the top 10, maybe top 5 in the NFL, so it makes it that much harder. I expect some growing pains and some issues.
I don't expect you to let the defense in to the QB without so much as an "excuse me." The offensive line play is atrocious, which is surprising to me because from a pure talent perspective, this is a good bunch. But over and over again, the D was at the QB, sometimes two or three at a time. On one of them, DA had to be happy it was the Red/White practice and not the Texans, because he had both ends meeting him on both sides. That would have been sayonara, season in a real game, or a preseason game even.
Beanie had to spin to avoid pressure just after handoff, 5 yards deep. That simply can't happen. The pressure came from every angle, so nobody gets an attaboy from me. They better get on the same page fast, because if they don't it won't matter who starts at QB...it will matter who we'll call from the practice squad to QB us in week 8.
Grade: More terrified than a 5 year old watching Nightmare on Elm Street while sitting at home alone in the dark
The Other Side
DRC is lockdown, fast and an elite corner and showed it by toying with Matt and almost picking off a "just a bit outside" ball that most corners wouldn't have gotten. You can't take chances around DRC. Nobody is going to throw his way much...but.......
....the other side will be picked on non-stop, all day and without mercy. Toler is set to take on that role. I am afraid, but he had a VERY solid day today. Tipped a pass for a pick, ran with Fitz and fought him for a jump ball in the endzone that he knocked down, broke up a PERFECTLY thrown ball to Fitz with a spectacular play to get his hand in there, one that made the crowd go ooooh! uuuhhhAAAAHHH...then applaud both the throw and the defensive play. It was a very good outing for him and it might get him running in the first team spot we all know he'll have at the end of camp.
Grade: Cautiously optimistic, I think?
Thank you Rolle, but we have another.
Rhodes is a superior safety to Rolle. Rolle is a much better guy with the ball in his hands. Since a safety spends 97% of his time keeping the ball away from his guy, I'm happy with the decision, and I was a fan of Rolle's.
AW is the same...his wallet still says BMF.
Grade: Improved
The second line of defense
I wasn't expecting a lot out of the LB crew, and they beat my expectations. Still a weak spot, but the DL should help cover. The loss of Dansby will be felt, but the addition of Porter helps bring more swagger. You can see them playing with more fire out there, and that's 9-0 and 55 getting a mentality going.
Washington is ridiculously fluid, but not quite ready, still a bit raw and out of position from time to time. Learning the speed of the game. He moves extremely well, and in cone/shuttle type drills you can really see how agile he is. He will be starting next year for sure, and if he's brought along like DRC was, perhaps the end of this season...but yeah, he's solid.
Baggs was another guy who made plays and I looked down to see who he was more than once. Not sure about his chances of making the roster, but he brings it for sure.
None of the other LBs really stood out to me...but they also didn't get beat badly. Seem to be a competent but not excellent group.
Grade: Cautiously..uhm..cautious. Mediocre on talent, A+ on tenacity and effort. Sadly, the last two work better in conjunction with better talent. We'll see.
My Line can Beat up Your Line
OMG. They better take some lawyers on the road with them because our Dline might get arrested for assaulting QBs.
9-0 is unblockable with one man. He is a terror, all over the place and has seemed to have rewired his already overachieving engine. One play in the line on line drills, he bowled through the interior, shredded both the guys trying to contain him (read, holding) and was then pulled down from behind horse collar style. Yep, that's how you will have to deal with this freaking monster, San Fran. Good luck.
CC is nearly as untameable...and is learning how to work off Dockett well. I was trying to watch both of them but it's so hard to take your eye off either of them when they are at work...they are good.
And in the 11 on 11s, the entire DLine, starters, second unit, third...all of them, absolutely DESTROYED the offensive lines. They just ruined them over and over. 3 guys in the backfield. Getting there at the point of handoffs. Didn't matter, they were getting ridiculous pressure. I can't wait to see this unleashed on enemy teams, because if they are truly as good as they appear it is going to take A TON of pressure off of the LBs and Toler. And that is needed.
Grade: Are you kidding?
The Guys Who Put the Foot into Football
Howling keeps his return job, but I was hoping to see Roberts do something. They had Justin Miller fielding some kicks, and he was terrible. After bobbling the first one for what seemed like hours (should have had Benny Hill music), he then caught some and proceeded to run as fast as a snail straight at guys. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it seemed a waste to even have him back there. He isn't going to have that job.
Feely was nailing a few from 55 yards out, from 4 feet inside the sidelines. Pretty nifty, with that ridiculous angle on it. Crowd dug that.
Grade: Incomplete. Not much focus here.
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