Training Camp Report 8/09 Morning Practice *UPDATED*

Day 7 - Training Camp Morning Practice – close to the public!!!

Training Camp started on the far fields today and stayed there for most of the day considering that camp was closed to the public, so they weren’t on the near field wearing down those fields any further.

We were initially informed that we couldn’t go out to where all the regular press was to follow camp between the two fields, so we watched the warm ups and stretches from near the hospitality tents and then ventured along the path in front of the near field to follow camp from that angle. Players were in full pads and Shawn Springs was playing again today. Arrington, Rogers and Noble remained out and we saw them working with trainers to do agility work and sprints.

Prior to the stretching, the Defense was wearing their helmet wigs and impersonating the offense as they lined up and went head to head against each other practicing drop off coverage and different schemes. Special Teams had Ethan Albright long snapping to the punters. The Offense was going through different snaps for RB plays as well as pass protection setups.

Soon after the stretching Blade decided he would cover the defense and I would cover the offense. I went over to the field and this is what I saw:

First drill out of stretching was special teams … the guys put on their helmet wigs to discern who was offense and defense for the punt team. Immediately after the stretching the O-line ran down to the end of the field and started hitting the sleds. The QB’s started throwing to each other off to the side just to warm up then changed to snapping the ball and throwing to each other … they went through these motions without any other players involved.. The routine was very similar to what we see at the practices open to the public. The defensive field looked like a playground with people size red cones, the trashcan looking weights that we saw yesterday for helping players line up spaced properly, a bunch of pads and blocking cushions as well as two very large red balls which are used for Defensive Linemen drills to balance themselves around players who may be rolling up their legs and learning how to quickly move out of the way. The injured players went to the far end of the Defensive field to work on agility again, the D-Linemen set up to work on hand punching exercises similar to yesterday, and the Special Teams worked on punt coverage, but not returns. They would snap the ball and punt to the return men, but they would not field the punts. Also there was the group of special teams gunners or speedy players for the return. They were working on getting out of blocks as well as putting on the blocks of those return players.

On the far field we saw Carlos Rogers working on back pedaling drills with a trainer as Brandon Noble was hauling a$$ up and down the field doing sprints.

QB’s started working on out passes from rolls outs … they were lined up on the near field on the 20 yard line and Bill Musgrave lined up as a WR on the 35 – 40 yard line and Coy Gibbs was lined up in the middle around the 30 yard line and the QB’s would roll out and throw to one of the two targets.

The Offensive line continued to work on pass protection with one another where they would snap and pull back on each other.

David Patten and Kevin Dyson were alternating working on pass catching drills where they would be running in place and the trainer would count 1,2,3 catch where they would do a very quick 360 and catch a zipped ball with tons of mustard on it. 1,2,3 catch, 1,2,3, catch … it was a very fast drill.

The Offensive line then started doing run blocking drills where they would press out as a group. Meanwhile Special teams were still working on punts. The Teams guys who were working on the gunner drills described earlier were now working on hands drills where the trainers would toss out a pass and they would run in and catch them … almost like a short punt return type of setup for the fast guys.

A quick glance over the to the defensive field showed the linemen in their stance getting up and doing their punch movements … so the punch walkthroughs that we noticed earlier seem to be progressing into a full expected movement by the linemen to come clean out of their stance, shed the blockers, and get the QB.

The O-Line was lining up as a group, but each guy was going through a man on man cycle. Then the guys would come out as a bunch and expand like a hand unfolding. This provided a bunch of gaps in between the players that could either provide running or throwing lanes.

The receivers started working with the QB’s to do post patterns where they would come from the outside of the field and then cut in after 15 – 20 yards. Then the QB’s continued to pass, but lined up in shotgun snap formations. Brunell was not showing as much zip as Ramsey and Campbell continued to show huge arm strength and touch, but not a lot of quick zip. Special Teams then were sending guys after the punt receiver, but the guy fielding the punt would not move, the defense were just trying to coordinate effort with hang-time. Teams then went after the return men … but the guys – Brown, Springs, or Moss would only get about 5 yards on the 3 punts they went live with today. Finally when they ran punts at full speed, Antonio Brown caught the ball, ran up field, made a ton of moves and was out into the open down the field for 30 yards when he decided to just turn around and come back to the starting area. He easily would have broken it for a TD.

QB’s were doing quick outs (5 – 7 yards) to Coy Gibbs. Campbell then worked in the Shotgun and just took some snaps. Ramsey was on fire early darting the ball very decisively all over the place. The O-Line now did pass protection against other offensive linemen … and the O-Defense were running stunts … and they are so slow that it is comic because you see it coming right away.

During more punt drills Danny Smith, coach of the Special Teams, would run down the field at full speed yelling to the guys ahead, “You’ve gotta make the tackle! You’ve gotta make the tackle!” even though they guys weren’t down the field all the way yet.

The field now changes where all the Defensive players go to the far field, all the Offensive players go to the closer far field (far field to the right) and Danny Smith brings Albright, Chandler, Hall, Tupa, and Groom to the near field to work on long snaps and punts.

Gibbs had the QB’s line up with the full 11 man set and then run down the field as if it was a running play … run blocking setups. They just kept on changing out personnel as they did this … Ramsey, Brunell, Campbell, Spinner, repeat. They were going quick and kept on running the drill from the 32 yard line of the opponent. Some of the RB’s, such as Betts, would continue to run while standing up … and they would hit the hole at full speed but then relax and go at a reduced pace one they got past the line of scrimmage.

Once the run block drills were finished, the QB’s started throwing to WR’s on the outside and HB’s over the middle as the O-Line came back over to the near field end zone and continued to work on protection schemes and run blocking. They also hit the sleds a bit before getting into man on man matchups.

The QB’s would throw for about 35 yards to the outside receivers and the HB’s would catch passes after about 20 yards over the middle. Campbell continues to have a huge elevation and arc to his passes. All the receivers were going half speed, catching everything and there was no real zip. It looked like a group of players just playing catch.

Next, the QB’s worked with the HB’s and RB’s for quick dump off passes that are approximately 5 yards deep. The WR’s lined up in their own group to do run blocking techniques.

Danny Smith placed cones on a side of the field to have the Punters (mainly Tupa) punt a certain distance and direction for better ball placement.

Next the Offense came together and ran plays at half speed where Sellars or another HB would line up as a DL and the QB would snap the ball with a RB and 2 WR’s …Having Sellars there was just to simulate throwing with a big guy over a lane. There was no contact and there was no pressure … it was basically an exercise to get the WR’s running more precise routes and hopefully seeing where his check down options are. Brunell had a nice 35 yard pass to Antonio Brown. Campbell also had a nice 30 yard pass to Jimmy Ferris. His ball did not have a lot of zip and this time there wasn’t a huge arc either, but the ball got there.

At one point when the rain was coming down John Hall was catching punts with a towel between his two hands.

Back to the Offense … their walkthroughs expanded to include one of every position .. WR, TE, HB, & RB. During this Brunell completed a 40 yard pass to Jimmy Ferris. At this point the O-Line went over to the far field to go one-on-one with the D-Line. Meanwhile the Offense continued to go through their walkthrough of different plays. At a certain point the QB’s started to just take 3 step drops and drill a receiver right away. No taking time to look downfield or do anything else … it was a zip drill to the hot receiver.

Danny Smith had the punters practicing punts from the back of their end zone. He was quickly snapping the ball to them like a wind-up softball pitcher and the punter had to grab low, high and all different sorts of snaps and quickly get the ball off.

On the Defense, the LB’s were going man on man and the O-Line is going against the D-Line one-on-one. Soon after the LB’s were added in to add pass pressure.

Danny Smith then had the punters punt extremely high in a short amount of space (short-yardage) but timed the hang-time to ensure that it was adequate to get his coverage units down there in place.

On the offense, the QB’s are still doing their skeleton sets with the offensive skill positions and Brunell had a very nice pass rifled out to Brian Kozlowski on a skinny post for about 35 yards. Campbell then took the snap and lofted the ball to #14 for 35 yards down the side.

All along, the defense was hitting each other and you could hear the pads colliding.

The O-Line joined the Offense and they started going through running plays where some Offensive players would wear the color bibs indicated what position on Defense they would be. During these drills, the Offense was showing a mix of run and pass. The first started with Rock Cartwright having a major burst around the side for good yardage. The next play had Ladell Betts rushing up inside a good distance … they weren’t finishing their runs because these exercises were about getting into the open and through the initial contact, but not about trying to score out right. The plays were very vanilla and very basic. Otherwise the QB’s weren’t always throwing … a lot of the time they were just going through the motions … the point of this was walk through the blocking schemes.

Special Teams went on to work on snapping the ball to Tupa to hold for the field goals.

On the Defensive side of things … the D-backs were working on interception and “Hands” drills where they would run around and catch the balls that were being chucked to them by their trainers. The D-Linemen and LB’s were still wearing helmet wigs and going head to head on each other for blitz and coverage formations and basic lineups.

Now for the Scrimmages:

The D-linemen and O-Linemen were lining up and the Offense were going through running plays. Portis cut through the middle for a very deep run. The receivers in the meantime were working with Coach Hixson on agility drills. Portis had another carry and cutback and had another very long run. The D-Backs are now joining in. Betts broke out for a great carry as well. Betts is hitting the hole decisively. And the linemen were hitting each other on these drills, but no tackling. Very forceful and everyone was getting pumped up.

Next run had Rock Cartwright break to the right for 0 yards. The coaches are substituting rapidly and trying to get as many plays in for the allotted time as possible. Cartwright had another carry that was stuffed for 0 yards. Next had Nemo going through everyone and into the secondary. Nemo is deceptively fast. Combs on his second carry cuts back to the left as the play started to the right and he just took off down the sideline dusting everyone.

7 v 7:

Illegal Motion – Ramsey tosses to Chris Cooley … way overthrown and incomplete (5 yards downfield).

Ramsey to Dyson for 5 yards on an out pattern

Ramsey to Thrash for 8 yards on a fastball … very quick toss.

Ramsey to Patten in Shotgun formation … overthrown by 5 yards. Patten was covered by Ryan Clark

Ramsey to Sellars for 8 yards. Ramsey had all the time in the world to make a decision, but looked around and finally settled on Sellars.

Moss had a deep cut in after 30 – 35 yards and caught a ball on a mission from Ramsey.

Brunell to Billy Palmer for 2 yards who cuts it upfield for another 3 yards.

Brunell completes another 2 yard pass.

Brunell from Shotgun zips the ball but it got tipped in the air.

9 v 9: - Play scenario is 3 downs for each QB on the 35 yard line regardless of what happens on the other downs …

1st down: Ramsey to Thrash for 10 yards and Thrash was off to the races. Blitz by defense that was picked up well by the O-Line

2nd down: Ramsey to Betts for 7 yards who also took off down field. Another blitz by the defense that was picked up well by the O-Line.

3rd down: Ramsey passes to Cartwright who doesn’t catch it (5 yards out) who was well covered by Lemar Marshall.

1st down: Brunell to Brock Forsey for 5 yards over the middle

2nd down: Campbell to Cartwright over the middle for 35 yards. Campbell had an amazing pass here where it arc’d over the LB’s heads and landed right in Rock’s hands as he ran down the field.

3rd down – now advancing the ball by 5 yards each play

Campbell gets pressed and runs untouched for a TD

Campbell starts to run, but passes to Robert Royal for 5 yards

Campbell passes to Forsey who gets decked but holds onto the ball for 6 yards

From the 10 yard line … Campbell rifles to Patten for a TD … covered by Ade Jimoh

11 v 11

They are practicing the 2 minute drill with different scenarios:

On the opponents 40 yard line, 3rd down …

Ramsey to Moss for 15 yards. Moss was well covered but excellent pass by Ramsey.

1st down …from the 25 yard line

Ramsey to Patten … down on the 10 yard line. Gain of 15 yards.

Play clock has counted down … 6 seconds left. Field Goal

3rd down with 25 seconds left in the game on their own 45 yard line …

Greg Williams overheard shouting to his players … “If they go May-Day, you stay with it” … can only guess he is referring to a Hail Mary given the play scenario.

Ramsey guns it to a receiver for 25 yards (couldn’t see who it was) and then as the clock was counting down, they rushed the kicking team onto the field and they kicked a field goal.

2nd down on the opponents 40 yard line with 12 seconds left …

Ramsey throws to his underneath guy for 5 yards (again, couldn’t see who it was) and then they call a time out to kick a very very long field-goal – and it was short by 5 yards at least.

3rd down with 22 seconds remaining ball on 37 yard line (opponents) …

Ramsey dumps to Nemo who runs past everyone to the 25 yard line and then ducks out of bounds. After that play, GW could be heard screaming at the players that he doesn’t care who they are or what they are being paid, they better run after the guys and finish plays. He was chewing out the D-Linemen because they didn’t hustle enough.

Ramsey rifles in the pass to D-Mac, but incomplete. Field goal unit comes in with 15 seconds left. Weird considering there is enough time for another play before attempting a 40 yard field goal … which was made easily.

Short yardage drill:

On the 7 yard line, 4th down with 3 seconds left …

Ramsey’s pass gets tipped away and the play is ruled incomplete.

45 yard line …

Ramsey to Bader for 2 yards and a 1st down.

Ramsey incomplete on 2nd down

3rd down – Ramsey sacked by Washington or Marshall, take your pick

1st down - Ramsey to Thrash, overthrown but Thrash was covered by 4 guys and Ramsey would have been sacked … major pressure on him

2nd down – 50 comes on a blitz … Ramsey dumps off to Portis and he takes off and nobody has a chance. It was a great call for a blitzing defense.

Brunell dumps off to Cartwright for 10 – 15 yards on another screen pass

Brunell tosses it to Antonio Brown for a TD of about 40 – 45 yards

Brunell hits Combs in the flat for 8 yards.

Ramsey in shotgun – sacked by Sean Taylor

Brunell throws interception to Marcus Washington

Campbell hands off to Nemo for 5 yards

Campbell throws an interception to Shawn Springs … who had an amazing diving acrobatic interception and then got up and went down the sideline. The defense blitzed on that play, but the O-Line seemed to pick it up well.

Campbell hands off to Portis who knifes through everyone and takes it down the field.

Ramsey launches the ball to a wide open Thrash who found the pocket in the defense … for about a 35 yard gain.

Ramsey hands off to Betts for 2 – 3 yards. Ray Brown was down on the field and was very slow to get up.

Ramsey in shotgun and launches the ball to Moss, but grossly under throws him and the ball falls near the feet of Sean Taylor

Brunell hands off to Cartwright … stuffed for a loss of 2

Brunell hits Cooley 5 yards out and Cooley runs for another 5 before he is brought down

Camp then ended but I was able to get the following interviews either by listening in to other interviews and gaining access that way, sharing in interviews where we asked the player or coach questions, or by talking exclusively for a length of time with the player: Santana Moss, Derrick Dockery, Robert McCune, Lamar Marshall, and Bill Musgrave.

Quick impressions from camp:

Portis is simply all that and a bag of chips. Every time he touches the ball magical things just happen, so we might as well have JK Rowling invent a character based on Portis

The Defense is coming together faster than the offense and is having a lot of success with their blitz packages and disguising their intentions.

The Offensive Line is starting to get the Blitz pickups and packages, but you don’t know how much of the problem could be in the hands of TE’s, HB’s, or RB’s who may not be very good at pass protection

The shotgun seems to work nicely on 3rd downs when it is an obvious passing situation

Rock Cartwright either does nothing or he really shines, but there is not a whole lot of in between with him.

Danny Smith will have made sure that the Special Teams players have practiced every scenario imaginable in a game

Jason Campbell has a very strong, very touch friendly over arc’ing ball that seems to get there, but it isn’t a sexy rifle like we are used to seeing from Warren Moon, Dan Marino, John Elway, or other well known strong-armed QB’s. His deep throws almost look like ¾ punts except that the nose of the ball does curve down towards the receiver.

Our QB’s still need a lot of work looking off receivers. On many of the scrimmages, it is very easy to read where the QB is looking and targeting. I can see where the QB is going and I am just a fan …

Patten to Ramsey will be a wonderful duo this season if Patten can keep the balls in his hands on deep routes (drops them 20% of the time through the fingertips), or if Ramsey can get him the ball … Patten consistently beats his man and Ramsey over/under throws 50% of the time. Ramsey may get a 50/50 nickname on his ability to connect the deep pass during game-type scenarios and conditions if he isn’t careful. But Ramsey has the arm, Patten has the great route-running ability and the speed to get open, so if they just work a bit more on timing, hopefully they will do wonders.

I aim to have the afternoon’s practice on the board sometime tomorrow. Blade has already posted the interviews from the afternoon practice including Nehemiah Broughton (Nemo), James Thrash, Walt Harris, Kevin Dyson, Antonio Brown, Robert Royal, and Joe Gibbs (both press conference and a fun story telling session afterwards).

ty for the report....BRUNELL THRU A BALL MORE THEN 10 YARDS? ur kidding me?

Jimmy Ferris has been a good underdog! I havent hurt many bad things about him!

Originally posted by DonMagicJuan

ty for the report....BRUNELL THRU A BALL MORE THEN 10 YARDS? ur kidding me?

Jimmy Ferris has been a good underdog! I havent hurt many bad things about him!

I heard BRUNELL is trying hard to win his starting job back! You better believe it!

Great report--behind the scenes, no less!

From what we heard about the late practice, the QB play degenerated when the bltiz was on. Can't wait to hear about the rest the AM practice.

Did Portis run drills? How did he look? Are they saving him for the season, or what?

how u get info ifs its closed to the public.. DOnt post this info.. I enemies could read this!!

Fantastic--gotta be the best camp report out there. Very nice to hear about Portis--he's money. But, of course, the whole deal is the O-line. When it gels, eveything else, IMO, will fall into place. Imagine if Ramsey had the time that Rypien did in 91. Not that we have to get back to that level of perfection, but just a second or two more makes all the difference--wideouts come open, QBs get into a comfortable rhytm, the running game flourishes, Gibbs is a genius, and we're off to the promised land!

Or something like that

I can't thank you guys enough for all these reports.

What I got from this report, right or wrong, is that our defense is pretty good, possibly better than last year, and its making it tough on an offense featuring new players and new plays, trying to come together and develp a rhythm.

In fact its almost a shame that Gibbs has our 1st team defense practicing against these guys because its hard to develp anything when somebody is always in your face or batting a ball down or covering your or whatever.

But as tough as it is having to play against our defense, in practice, imagine what it will be like once the QB doesn't have a red shirt on in a pre season game or reg. season game.

Also, it seems as though Patrick Ramsey is either throwing a beautiful, on target bullet...or he is throwing a duck. I can live with that as long as his 50/50 completions are for 20 or 30 yards. At least we will get huge chunks of yardage and a drive with only 2 completions might still get us a TD.

"Ramsey may get a 50/50 nickname on his ability to connect the deep pass during game-type scenarios and conditions if he isn’t careful."

That would be great if he can connect on 50% of his deep throws. People need to realize these are very low percentage throws. Simple as that.

Originally posted by PREDICTOR

I can't thank you guys enough for all these reports.

What I got from this report, right or wrong, is that our defense is pretty good, possibly better than last year, and its making it tough on an offense featuring new players and new plays, trying to come together and develp a rhythm.

I agree. Even though it is good for the ofeense to practice against a good defense, the WR and ramsey must be getting pretty frustrated about never being able to complete a pass

Fabulous report. Ty very much.

Great report Brian. It's beautiful to see you take up the torch... and run with it.

Hope you enjoyed yourself.

Outstanding report. Congrats and I hate you for having such great access.

A well-written and informative report. Job well done.

thanks for the report

2nd down – 50 comes on a blitz … Ramsey dumps off to Portis and he takes off and nobody has a chance. It was a great call for a blitzing defense.

that's what I like to see

Great report as always--thank you for the time, effort, and attention to detail

Great reporting too bad, I couldn't be there to see it myself. Any other Skins fans out here in Tampa Bay?

Great report, I wish the "pro" reporters would take a tip from you and give us what is going on and not just their negative spin on it.

great report!!!

so should we call Patton 80/20?