Camp Day 6 - War & Peace Edition - 08/08/05

Training Camp Notes – August 8th 2005 – Day 6 of Training Camp Practices open to the public.

Players took the field at 4pm in pads for upper body and shorts for lower body. We saw Evucci there and his mammoth camera that made my Nikkon Coolpix 8700 look like an infant amongst men. No wonder his photos are so much better than mine!

The daily injury update … Brandon Noble, Artrell Hawkins, and Lavar Arrington were both out on the field and doing agility exercises running/scatting from side to side and then pivoting and turning it into a run. Carlos Rogers was out there along with Sean Springs, but they did not participate either. #30, Dahrran Dedricks was out with what looked like a calf injury. Also, Cornelius Griffin was back out there along with Walt Harris playing today. Not sure what happened with Hawkins, but he was back with pads and playing during the 11v11 scrimmage.

Eric and I were allowed to go to the back fields and Eric watched the Offense go through setups and drills before stretching as I watched the Defense go through different activities. On the near field by the fans, the Kickers were going through a field goal competition. I didn’t watch them considering the view I had of the defense, but both kickers looked to be making their kicks from what I saw.

Cornerbacks and linebackers and then the D-line as well were lining up against dummy blocks that looked like upside down large grey trash cans with handles on them. These were set up so that the Defense could make sure they were lined up properly based on where the offensive line would be and also to space themselves out properly to practice different blitz packages and different stunts.

I still think I am pinching myself and must have been smoking something outrageous because I thought I saw a stunt package with the interior linemen as a CB came in on a blitz through the middle, not around the side. I don’t recall seeing a Corner blitz where the corner came through the middle. At the same time, because of camp numbers and such, it is very possible that it was a safety or a nickel doing it instead. They were also working on footwork around the weight looking things.

This whole drill had Greg Williams jawing and coaching the players non-stop except when they actually went at each other. As soon as play ended, substitutions ran in and out and Williams was out there walking around teaching technique.

Many different blitz packages were run. Marcus Washington was normally coming around the tackle or sometimes through the gaps between the guard and tackle. He is still extremely quick and gives his all on each play. His motor just doesn’t seem to quit. He really looks like he loves everything there is about football and seems to really have a lot of fun out there.

During these drills, some of the defensive players were wearing helmet wigs to simulate the offensive players for formation purposes. You would even see some motion mimicked by the D-Offense so that the D-Defense could match up appropriately and figure out their blitz package.

While the Defense continued to run blitz plays … and the mass of defensive players were between me and the action and I was not allowed to go far enough to the side for a good angle, but stay close enough to make out what was happening … so I took a look at the offense and watched some of their drills. At this point they were working on snaps and handoffs. Ramsey was lined up behind Rabach, Brunell was lined up behind Raymer, Campbell was lined up behind Freidman, and Spinner was lined up behind Tyler Lenda.

Back to the Defense … they were working on all sorts of blitz packages as well as run blitzes/stuffing up the middle. The D-Offense would line up and hand off the ball some of the time and that is when you would see LB’s and safety’s flood the gaps and penetrate. Greg Williams then came in to direct the defense on zone blitzing regarding which LB’s or CB’s would be rushing in as which DL player(s) would drop into coverage.

The next phase of the defense was disguising and pre-snap reads. He talked to the players about how to not give away what you are doing and to make it look like you are doing one thing and actually do another. This was practiced later on during the late afternoon scrimmage of 11v11 when many times Marcus Washington, Sean Taylor, or Ryan Clark would come up on the line of scrimmage or look like they were going to rush the passer. Sometimes none of the positions would blitz, sometimes the LB would blitz inside, sometimes the LB would blitz outside, sometimes the S would blitz inside/outside, and sometimes all positions came after the QB. Williams, true to his recent interviews about everyone having the mindset that they are all starters, was flushing people in and out all over the place. No one unit was kept in tact and no group of players had more time than another. He just kept on rushing players in and out of the lineup and going through the pre-snap adjustments and masks to hide the D’s true intentions. Williams continued to pound the message in that they should be able to blitz with abandon and hide what they are doing all day long!

After stretching and Blade’s interview with Larry Michaels on Redskins.comTV, we watched the Special Teams do punt drills on the near field. To the right of them were the gunners and DB/WR/RB players that participate on teams. They were practicing getting around their guys or blocking/double blocking gunners trying to get down field. On the far field we saw the O-Line doing sled drills and the QB’s warming up as normal. Meanwhile on the far field behind the turf field, we saw Lavar, Hawkins, and Noble working out on the agility drills that were mentioned with the injury update portion of this report.

While this was taking place, the D-Linemen were working on punch drills … squaring off against one another and practicing hand punches to simulate getting the O-Linemen off of them so that they could break blocks and try and make moves into gaps to stuff out a run, break into coverage, or go after the QB.

After a while, the O-Linemen stopped going against the sled and started going against each other in pass protection lockups and run blocking packages … but there was no pulling or trapping in these exercises.

When the Punt drills were over, Danny Smith had the Special Teams go through punt blocking drills where the punter would hold the ball and they would emulate a snap and the rush would come around and tap the ball as if they were going to stretch out to block a punt. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another blocked punt this year. Last year Sean Taylor blocked a punt in the Detroit game and in the scrimmage Jonathan Combs blocked a punt. Seeing how much focus Gibbs puts into Special Teams and the fact that some offseason player acquisitions were specifically for Teams, hopefully big things will come from this unit. In the post-practice press conference Gibbs mentioned that to make the team you have to most likely have to be able to start in either Offense, Defense, or Teams and that that is the best way players have to make this team.

Special Teams drills ended and it is time to start getting different groups to come together. The Defense went to the far field behind the turf to work on stuff. I stayed on the near field to cover the Offense v Offense drills and to the left the kickers were still on the field doing some field goals, but not for very long.

As much as Tony was wonderful with his play by play, there were times where I was more focused on taking pictures of the action and did not follow all of the plays. Here is what I did note:

Offense Drills – w/out any pressure and players going ½ speed to ¾ speed:

1.) Ramsey under center – hand off to Portis for minimal gain. Gibbs was all over it watching and studying and then came in to explain what was wrong.

2.) Brunell passed to D-Mac for 25 yards

3.) Campbell passed to Thrash for an out pattern which Thrash turned up field for a TD. The pass was a 20 yard throw.

4.) Spinner hands off to Nemo on a draw play

5.) Brunell zips a pass to James Ferris on the outside for 15 yards.

6.) Campbell launches a deep pass to Steven Harris that sends him into the end zone (maybe 30 yards)

7.) Spinner hands off to Ladell Betts who jumps over a squatting O-Lineman - # 79 Adrian Gonzalez …. It wasn’t Darrell Green over Cap Boso from the 87 Playoffs, but it was impressive to see Betts make such a move and in camp no less!

8.) Ramsey lofts the ball up high up to Jimmy Ferris for a go route down the sideline.

9.) Brunell throws a long ball to Steven Harris … again displaying zip and it was a nice completion.

The QB’s now broke out into 2 by 2 formations facing each other with about 30 yards in between them (maybe 40) and would each pass to a WR/TE running a go route to their outside position or a skinny post to a RB/HB on the inside. Ramsey was throwing Right as Campbell was throwing to his left. On the other side Brunell was throwing to his right as Spinner was throwing to his left. Most of the balls were caught as the players were only going about half speed.

Up through this part of camp, Brunell had zip and was not looking for the dump-off pass to the RB or HB as was so often viewed last week. Ramsey was displaying a lot of touch, almost too much … where occasionally the ball would hang up in the air a little bit, but it was clear that he was working on such things. Campbell has a major league arm, but his balls seem to arc nicely, get distance and do what they need to, but there is not a lot of zip on his throws so far.

One of the things we started to notice as we were watching Ramsey take snaps and got through the pitch and catch drills with the offense was that he is trying to give head fakes and look off receivers. As the 11v11 drills illustrate later on, during game situations he still telegraphs his plays way to easily and is making life easier on the defense, but we saw him trying to become more conscious of this and trying to work on looking off receivers during the drills before the 9v9 and 11v11 scrimmages.

During all this, the Offense line were going up against each other with blocking pads in between them … one lineman would hold up a pad while the other would run block towards them. Also the RB’s, HB’s, and TE’s were hitting the blocking sleds as the QB’s were just working with WR’s

On the far field the Defense was was split into groups where the LB’s and D-Linemen were working on footwork and more of the same drills from before as the DB’s were working on blitz packages. They had a blocking dummy (like a huge punching bag) setup and DB’s were running right into it and around it … as if the dummy were a RB in the backfield and they had to shed that tackle immediately to get to the QB.

Next the QB’s worked on footwork and rollout plays. Bill Musgrave would snap the QB the ball and they would have to roll around to the right and then launch the ball to the open receiver. The main problem I saw from this is that it mostly eliminates half the field for the QB. On these plays, none of the QB’s looked to the side away from where they rolled out to complete a pass. I may be dating myself here, but I still remember during the 1991 SuperBowl season several times where Rypien would roll out to is left and toss the ball across his body to a receiver that was either all alone or 1 on 1 coverage and hit bomb after bomb to Sanders and Monk. I hope that the QB’s check out the whole field and not just the half they are rolling out to. I know it is a super hard throw to go across your body, but that is why defenses usually don’t defend the weak side on those plays.

After the rollouts, Musgrave had the QB’s working on shotgun formation … Spinner was first with a pass down the flat to Patten. Next, Brunell zips to Thrash down the sideline … and had it on a very fast rope for about 30 yards.

The next drill the offense ran was where they would bring together a combination of 2 WR’s, TE’s, HB’s, RB’s or some combination thereof and Mike Sellars was acting as a sole pass rusher (no real pressure in the situation because there would be a TE/HB/RB to block)

Ramsey to Portis down the middle.

Ramsey darts one to Jimmy Ferris down the sideline.

Brunell launches long to D-Mac for a 40 yard strike towards the endzone

Brunell passes to the ground, incomplete

Campbell launches to Patten, overthrows him

Campbell lofts a long pass to #13 Jamin Elliot

Spinner tosses to Cooley across the middle for a gain of 10 yards.

Ramsey has a short dump off to Rock Cartwright

Brunell audibles and sends a deep pass to Elliot for 25 yards

Brunell now lines up with Dyson and Antonio Brown … completion to Dyson on a curl route of about 15 yards. Antonio Brown started from the far left side and ran up about 10 yards and then headed on a dart towards the opposite end zone on a diagonal slant. It was an interesting pattern to watch.

Campbell had a pass for 20 yards to Rock Cartwright who kept on going down the middle.

All along, the players were only going ½ or ¾ speed, but definitely not all out.

At this point the offensive linemen were going against the defensive linemen on the far left of the field and in the middle the LB’s were going against TE’s and RB’s. McCune had an interesting bump against Portis and it didn’t look like either player won that matchup. It wasn’t a fight, but it was a very hard press during the play. The QB’s are now throwing to 2 WR’s as they are covered by DB’s. More of the same type of rotation amongst the QB’s where most of the time they would either complete or overthrow the receivers, but there were no INT’s or batted balls by the defense during this drill that I could see.

Next, the team setup with 2 linemen and 2 DB’s vs. 2 OL and 2 WR’s, RB’s, TE’s, or HB’s or some combination thereof. The best part was that Greg Williams acted like the center half the time …

Ramsey dusts Marshall down the sideline to Cooley on a strong zipped pass

Spinner zips one but is picked off by #51, Brandon Barnes

Brunell looked down the receiver and threw to Portis Portis ran threw the secondary and darted to the endzone.

Next was a pass to Ladell Betts who made a quick grab and finished out the play. Jermaine Newberry lost him in that play.

Now for 7v7 scrimmages:

Ramsey to pass underneath to Portis, Portis kept running with good coverage and was stopped immediately.

Ramsey zips to Thrash … Holdman on the stop. Gain of 5 yards.

Ramsey darts the ball to #13, Elliot. He drops the pass but Garnell Wilds goes down on the play and needed trainers to help him up. He limped off the field on his own.

Brunell hits Steven Harris on the sideline sailing the ball over Ladell Betts (whom I thought he was throwing to) for a gain of 15 yards.

Brunell looks down Patten the whole way who has his man beat, but Brunell under throws Patten by a good 5 yards. Flag was called on the Defense for pass interference which was a joke … Ryan Clark was called on the play but the ball was not near him.

Brunell in shotgun – darts and incomplete pass

Campbell lofts to Royal for 5 yards

Campbell to Patten deep for about 30 yards

Campbell passes to Brown (looked like Campbell would have been sacked). Gain of 15 yards.

9v9:

Series starting on the 35 yard line and the ball is moved up by 5 yards each play.

Ramsey eyes Betts the whole time over center and Betts was covered by 2 guys … incomplete

Ramsey overthrows Brian Kozlowsky by a mile. Kozlowsky had his man beat.

Brunell launches to Thrash … overthrown and to the right, incomplete

Brunell hesitates and runs for 10 yards

Ball reset to the 20 yard line …

Campbell pump fakes, runs and makes it to the 10 yard line

Campbell overthrows Cooley but was slow and high to arrive. Looked for Cooley the whole way.

Spinner passes to Nemo who bumped his man off of him at the line and then kept on fighting around to catch the pass for about 6 yards. Nemo gives you a fight with every snap.

On 15 yard line …

Ramsey overthrows Brian Kozlowski in the end zone. Very tight coverage.

Ramsey looks for Dyson the whole time and he hits him for TD in the end zone.

11v11

From their own 20 yard line …

Ramsey to Patten for 15 yards. The defense was bringing the kitchen sink of disguises on that play … on the weak side you had Patten and Bowen lined up to rush or back off or rush and when the ball was snapped both Patten and Washington pulled a stunt on Jansen and the backfield who picked up the blitz (along with Randy Thomas) … giving Ramsey time for the throw.

Ramsey guns to Patten for 20 yards. He was very decisive and had quick zip on the ball. The defense faked a blitz with Bowen on the outside again, but the LB’s and Safety’s dropped into coverage and Ramsey again had time, but he didn’t really need it. The play looked like a WR screen because the secondary was backed off really far, but there were no blockers setup to get in front of Patten.

Ramsey looks for Thrash the whole time … Thrash goes out about 10 yards on a curl and then comes back in and has the ball knocked away by Ade Jimoh as he lays a punishing hit on Thrash. Thrash was very slow getting up.

Ramsey darts to Jimmy Ferris for what would have been 25 yards but the play was broken up. Ref threw the flag for defensive pass interference.

Brunell hands off to Betts for nothing or a gain of 1. No real movement. Randy Thomas was slow getting up as a lot of people had landed on him.

Brunell rifles the ball to Dyson for 20 yards but he would have been sacked had they been hitting the QB. Dyson was ripped to the ground by Rufus Brown.

Campbell overthrows Manuel White (no separation) as he was well covered by D-Lineman Charles Howard. McCune would have had a sack as he was well into the backfield and could have tagged Campbell

Campbell hands off to Rock Cartwright for no gain

Ramsey hands off to Portis for 5 yards … the D-line and linebackers spread him out thin to the outside, but he still managed 5 yards before going out of bounds.

Ramsey bullets a pass to Jamin Elliot but Walt Harris had good coverage and Ron Warner, after potentially jumping off sides, tipped the ball at the line.

Ramsey throws wide for Sellars out of the backfield for an incompletion. Defense again showed blitz but dropped into coverage. Very hard to see who is coming and who isn’t and when they are and when they aren’t.

Brunell hands off to Betts … who fights through the pile for 4 yards

Brunell hands off to Portis for 5 yards.

Ramsey runs around in the backfield buying himself extra time and darts the ball to Robert Royal but overthrows it out of bounds

Ramsey hands off to Betts who makes a bunch of moves for 10 yards over the middle … it is hard to tell if the guys would have brought him down or not since he had full momentum, but that is when the earliest guys got in position to touch him.

Ramsey guns it to Jamin Elliot for 10 yards. Ramsey just misses Sean Taylor on a Safety blitz.

Ramsey takes all day to get the snap off and then hands off to Rock for about 6 or 7 yards.

Campbell blasts the ball to Antonio Brown with the ball going about 55 to 60 yards in the air. Brown had all his guys beat, but Campbell overthrew him.

Campbell runs for about 15 to 20 yards before the defense gets to him.

Ramsey to Dyson for 12 yards.

Ramsey hands off to Jonathan Combs for 2 yards

Brunell rifles the ball to Rufus Brown sailing the ball over Cooley’s head, but Brown couldn’t hold onto it.

Brunell hands off to Portis for 7 yards.

Brunell rolls left and lofts it to Antonio Brown … the ball landed about 2 yards short of Antonio Brown who dived for the ball coming back towards it. As Blade wisely pointed out, it is hard to know if Brunell delivered the ball to the correct location and the receiver over-ran the route, or if the QB under threw the pass.

2 minute Drill:

Ramsey in shotgun, fakes a handoff and would have been decked by Walt Harris on a corner blitz, but since there was no sacking in the scrimmage, he rifled it down the field and it was picked off by Ade Jimoh. Ade was playing with passion today … it was weird seeing him do well, but that is a hopefull sign if the coaches keep him.

Ramsey sides steps and throws long to Patten … and it goes deep to Patten down the right side line. The pass was wonderful and Patten had good coverage by Stoutmire even though Patten had him beat by a step … but he didn’t hold onto the ball … went right through his fingertips.

Ramsey hands off to Portis for 15 yards

Ramsey to Cooley who gets smacked … a gain of maybe 7 yards.

Ramsey to Patten for 25 yards. Patten was covered by Omar Stoutmire, but 29, Tony Dixon had pressure and would have had the sack if they were doing such things in camp.

Hall comes in for a field goal and misses wide left … it was a 40 yard attempt.

That was the end of practice. As already posted by Blade, our post game interviews and our camp pictures should have been posted.

Amazing report! Can't tell you how much this means to us out-of-towners.

Hail from Brooklyn!

Thank you so much for such a detailed and insightful review of the day's practice! I almost feel as if we need to hide these things from opposing teams fans, lol!

It seems as if we are getting separation but either the passes are overthrown or the WR are not catching them. Also, it appears that the OL and RB 's are not picking up Williams aggressive blitz packages. It appears that PR would have been sacked 4-5 times at least in yesterday's practice.

Great report!!!

Thanks bnacpa for these detailed reports. I much prefer you guys reporting to those who actually are paid to do it. Keep up the excellent coverage. Something tells me you guys will be gaining more and more access.

Jacobs blocked the punt in the Detroit game;) We had another block last year as well (I can't remember who had it though)

Usage of the word "zip" and Brunell makes me think he is healthy and playing with heart this summer.

Real nice report. Thanks...

Top notch reporting!!! You guys are putting the media to shame. Its good to hear it straight up Doc Walker style.

Holy hell, bnac, you are theeee man. Awesome job :applause:

Great read.

Thank you

Is there any disadvantage to every practice being disected for all to see?

Just askin.

Originally posted by D Al

Is there any disadvantage to every practice being disected for all to see?

Just askin.

Yeah, now instead of people living on the edge of their seats from Sunday to Sunday.... it's day to day.

Now, there are more "bad" days than ever before There isn't just bad games... but bad practices.

Thanks guys for the great reporting!

So where is Moss in all this? I keep seeing Patten or Cooley as the main targets?

Unbelievable--great f-ing post!!! My God, I'm getting so pumped for the season.

If you could tell us what your overall impressions are from last year compaired to this year, I'd really appreciate it!

NICE report. This beats the media by a MILE.

I only hope that Chicago's coaching staff (or Dallas', for that matter) aren't reading all this. :doh:

That is the best report I have read anywhere so far. Thanks for the great detail and play by play. Finaly someone who understands what we as fans want to read. You guys are awesome. -Ross

Brunell and zip in the same sentence.

Who would have EVER guessed.

Blondie

Nice report....