Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins
Forum Rules and Guidelines

ES Coverage: 2009 Training Camp - Day 3 (FINAL)

bredskin

By bredskin
in The Stadium

Recommended Posts

bredskin

bredskin

Posted
Posted

ES Coverage: 2009 Training Camp - Day 3

08/01/09

TC003.JPG

:helmet:

Hello and welcome to Extremeskins coverage Day 3. bredskin on site with Murf. We will be tag-teaming coverage live from the park. This is my first day of coverage with ES and looking forward to keeping our members in the loop with what is going on today in the world of Redskins Park.

Practice begins at 8:30 and we will be updating throughout the day. It is going to be in the mid to high 80s today, no rain in the forecast.

:helmet:

AUDIO

To listen to comments from Kevin Barnes listen HERE

To listen to comments from Andre Carter listen HERE

To listen to comments from Chris Cooley listen HERE

To listen to comments from Stephon Heyer listen HERE

To listen to comments from Chris "The Predator" Horton listen HERE

To listen to comments from Brian Orakpo listen HERE

To listen to comments from Clinton Portis listen HERE

:helmet:

PHOTOS

Photos 1

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=293005

Photos 2

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=293006

Photos 3

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=293007

:helmet:

REFFKIN'S RAMBLINGS

Just got back in after the morning practice. The word of the day is defense, particularly in the trenches. The defensive line was all over the offensive line. That was consistent from the first team, all the way down to the camp fodder. It is a good thing for our QB situation that our quarterbacks were off limits, because the Offensive line was giving ground, to say the least.

Brian Orakpo held my attention for most of the day. Beginning with individual drills, he did not look out of place running with the Linebackers. I expected him to look stiff in space, but was pleasantly surprised on how well he moved for such a big LB. Going into today, I was curious to see how quickly Orakpo was going to put his hand in the dirt at DE, and saw the first look in the nickel package. Orakpo became the right DE, with Andre Carter moving to left end. I expected when there was offensive movement, Orakpo would be found out of position quite often, I was pleasantly surprised how well he seemed to pick up the changes. Whether London Fletcher was helping him along, I couldn't hear, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Following a short break, I followed the DL, and watched some pass rushing drills. The Defensive line certainly held its own against the pass blocking group. Orakpo easily beat Samuels on one move with a quick inside-out move. Phil Daniels and Andre Carter also impressed. Haynesworth destroyed Dockery on a one-on-one.

It goes without saying; Haynesworth is a beast and will certainly make life easier on our ends in pass rushing situations. Chad Reinhart and Mike Williams were 50-50 (meaning they got beat half the time). It is safe to say that they are better run blockers. Stephen Heyer is by far the best right tackle on the roster right now. Mike Williams and Jeremy Bridges appear to struggle consistently with quick ends. I do not believe there will be any real competition a right OT. I am calling it now, Heyer, barring injury is the starter.

Following the defensive players over to a 3/4 speed scrimmage with the offense. The defensive line ruled the day. The pocket was non-existent. It collapsed almost instantly. The QBs would have gotten sacked on almost every play. When they did get the ball away, our three 2nd round picks stood out.

Devin Thomas, who I believe will start this year opposite Moss, was quick and made a couple of plays. Malcolm Kelly also made a couple of in-traffic grabs. Fred "Sleepy" Davis also made a nice catch and ran several nice routes. The three sophomores looked promising and appear to be in Zorn's plans for this season. Overall the QB play was average, probably due to the pressure.

Campbell hit Cooley over the middle on a quick pass, but was late throwing in the flats on two occasions, which allowed Justin Tryon to break up both of them. There is a lot of buzz right now on the impact Tryon can have this season, in my opinion that is premature.

Overall, I was somewhat surprised on my first day covering for ES with the lack of full-contact drills. My thinking is that they have to save themselves for the season and cannot risk injury. The practice was a quick two hours with no major injuries. I didn't see Carlos Rogers running around and did see Mike Williams limping towards the end of practice.

Going into this practice the biggest question for me and many others was the offensive line. So far, they have not looked good. They got little to no push against our DL on running plays, and were like a sieve on passing plays. To say the offense wasn't crisp is an understatement. Hopefully, this is due to the fact that this is the third day of camp.

The afternoon practice is strictly special teams, so barring any breaking news, Murf and I will be signing off for the day. We will be back at the park tomorrow morning for another day of fun.

:helmet:

Murf's Take

The two players who had the roughest day were defensive lineman J.D. Skolnitsky and safety Grant Michael.

Skolnitsky was getting shred to pieces by defensive line coach John Palermo pretty much from the get-go. They were doing footwork drills, and the rookie out of James Madison simply seemed to be over thinking everything. He stepped off with the wrong foot to start the drill and was verbally hammered. I'd recap it here, but the editing software would sensor Palermo to, "What the hell are you doing? You've had 13 ****ing people go before you and you still can't get this **** right?!?"

And once Palermo stopped yelling, defensive captain Cornelius Griffin got in the kid's face and said, "You're ****ing up my drill." You had to feel for the guy.

While Grant didn't get a verbal smackdown, he was toasted more times than he could have been happy with. "Daredevil" Keith Eloi ate his lunch on one deep pass and then Trent Shelton did more of the same Grant's next time up. It's one thing to get abused by Santana Moss on a deep pass, but when youngsters like Eloi and Shelton are running circles around you, it's a problem.

Enough about the bad stuff. Two guys who stood out during the one-on-one drills were the previously-mentioned Eloi and Devin Thomas. And honestly, while the offensive line did not look sharp for most of this morning, the wide receivers had a good outing. Fred Smoot and the defensive backs didn't really have an option other than to clutch and grab a handful of jerseys as the receivers continued to shine.

And while Thomas was the top performer during one-on-one drills, 'Skins fans will be happy to know that Malcolm Kelly was easily the offensive star on the nine-on-nine drills. Jason Campbell and friends still had no time to throw the ball (anything more than a three-step drop would have been a sack in a real game), but any time the ball was thrown in Kelly's direction, he caught it.

On one play in particular, Kelly had to make a circus-style catch, as he reached across his body to haul in a 40-yard completion. A few plays later, it was Kelly again, as he snagged a ball in traffic and was leveled by middle linebacker London Fletcher. No one could have reasonably expected Kelly to hold on to the ball, but he did. He might be known as an injury prone youngster, but he's clearly not one to half-ass it out there. If the ball comes his way, he's going to do what he can to make plays.

It needs to be said - if the offensive line is going to struggle to this extent, then folks around town need to get ready for a season full of quick slants, screens, misdirections and dump-offs underneath. I suggest you learn to love them now, because they very well could become the bread and butter of the 2009 Washington Redskins.

If you only listen to one audio clip from today, I highly suggest you download my interview with defensive end Andre Carter. The interview starts with me basically asking, "Is the offensive line that bad or are you guys that good?" and only gets better as it goes along.

And finally, from the snarky files, the only turnover I saw today came when linebacker Robert Thomas picked off a Jason Campbell pass that was bobbled by a receiver and even bounced off another defensive player before it ended up in the hands of Thomas. The play was noteworthy because it was the first time that anyone wearing #55 made a play in more than a year. It might be harsh, but it's the truth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JimmiJo

JimmiJo

Posted
Posted

Hey everybody, as B said, he is the newbie on this. I want you all to be considerate of this. You know, be understanding and congnizant that as it is his first time, and he may not be fully up to speed.

In other words, hammer his ass!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Commander Adama

Commander Adama

Posted
Posted
bredskin, someone just posted on another thread about Malcom Kelly possibly sitting out this morning practice, after sitting out yesterday afternoon's as well. Can you verify if Kelly is out?
I am hoping it is false or that they want to use him sparingly. I hope it is not his knee getting inflamed again :doh:
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thinking Skins

Thinking Skins

Posted
Posted

This is kinda about training camp and it kinda isn't.

Its just so nice to actually have Redskins news just pouring out of every source we have right now. Reid has a piece on What to Expect from Redskins Insider. Gary has the nice practice updates and tweets. Then Terl has a nice piece on Betts and Cartwright. And I haven't even gotten to Reid's Piece on Palmero and Camp Intensity.

Its just nice to have football season again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
themurf

themurf

Posted
Posted
Ah ha a newbie, fresh meat, and they assigned him with Murf?

As I was walking and talking with one of the players after practice, I looked up to see defensive end Jeremy Jarmon at the top of the steps. He was simply trying to take off his pads and head inside out away from the heat.

Right as he's finishing up, Cornelius Griffin walks up to him, drops his equipment with a loud thud at Jarmon's feet and grunts, "Here you go, rook." And then he was gone.

That's pretty much what Reffkin has been subjected to thus far. He's definitely hauling my equipment and speaking only when spoken to. But while I'm here in full hazing mode, I ask you all to show him a little love as he and another new guy we're working into the rotation, begin to settle in. I'm the one who vouched for the two newbies and I promise they'll be solid once they find their way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LD0506

LD0506

Posted
Posted

Not shocked that the D was handin the O line their asses, takes more time to get the O line workin' together.

Sounds like fun though, especially seeing Rak out there getting into the swing of things. Looking forward to some firsthand accounts of how Barnes looks, it won't hurt one bit to have another young thumper in the secondary.

Overall not a bad report....................

For a noob :silly:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...