Montrose's 7/28 AM Report

[montrose]

It was a scorcher this morning but had a great time at camp. I wound up sitting next to two pretty knowledgeable fans. We get to talking and I later find our one is 24Champ! The offense had it’s best day yet although the defense continues to dominate. Here’s the report:

QB: Jay didn’t have his best day but it was still a solid outing. He continues to improve in not staring down his WR. He threw a pick to Champ on a dig route intended for D-Jack that only Champ could’ve picked. Jay seems to be getting frustrated with the OL’s pass blocking and would’ve been sacked several times again today. Guys, Ramsey looked awful again. He was picked by Foxworth in the red zone drill as Foxworth took the INT back the entire field for a TD. Ramsey later threw a terrible pass that Bly jumped for a pick. He’s yet to look comfortable and if you didn’t know its Patrick Ramsey – you’d think he was a Preston Parsons-like camp body. On a positive note, Hackney continues to look steady and has been far and away the 2nd best QB at camp. He still has a tendency to throw high, but has looked very efficient moving the offense and is completing passes to guys ranging from Scheffler to Parker.

RB: This has been the team’s best unit of camp, by far. Alridge was the star of camp today, his quickness and speed is unbelievable. He bent back some runs that would’ve went for long TD’s. He’s looking more and more like a guy who can bring something to the team. 24Champ thought he could be our Darren Sprolls, and I think that’s a great comparison. Young missed the 1st part of practice, as did some other guys, but looked fine once he arrived. He has the best vision of the backs and is the clear #1. He took an outside handoff and weaved in and out of the defense finding holes few could. Hall looked good as well, he’s deceptively strong and is our best pass-catching RB – he scored a TD in the red zone drills on a check down. Torain had his best day of camp, what a beast! He had only one play in which he made a bad cut but otherwise he looked tremendous. Clearly our most talented back, he just raw and learning but for a comparison – he’s looked more impressive to me than Mike Bell or Clinton Portis did during their rookie camps. Hillis didn’t practice today, Pittman was working at FB but still saw a bit of HB time which included one long run. I actually thought Pittman looked better at FB than Sapp, he exploded through some blocks on the 2nd and 3rd team LB’s. Sapp struggled today, missing several blocks that could’ve sprung the run game. I hope Hillis isn’t out long because he’s far and away our best FB and if he’s healthy it wouldn’t shock me a bit to see Sapp and/or Pittman cut.

WR: BMarsh had two drops on what would’ve been tough catches but had the play of the day that got the crowd rocking when he burned Paymah for an 80 yard TD on the 1st play of the end-of-practice team drill. He made some other nice catches, one for 35 yards, turning to the side. Still yet to see if his tackle-breaking ability was affected. D-Jack had another solid practice and is the clear-cut #2. He shows consistent hands and should be a nice safety valve for Jay. Stokley had a few nice catches, including an in-pattern to beat JMFW, although word from the sidelines was that JMFW is putting the team first and didn’t want to destroy Stokley’s confidence by shutting him out in their duels. Colbert caught a slant that would’ve went for a long TD, although he bobbled and almost dropped the past – he’s my most disappointing player of camp thus far. I didn’t notice much of Martinez while Parker and Russell had a few nice grabs. Royal didn’t get a ton of work but beat Foxworth on a post corner and just had the pass go off his finger tips. He and Jay don’t have their timing down quite yet as Royal tends to be with his man and pull away once the ball’s in the air.

TE: Didn’t see much of Graham today while Scheffler continued to have a great camp making several nice catches while working in extra reps on the 2nd and 3rd teams. Nate Jackson continues to work in a lot with the 1st team in a flanked-blocker role but has caught a few passes as well.

OL: Light years better than the first two days but still struggling. They’re beginning to pick it up in the run game as Harris and Kuper opened a beautiful hole for Torain during inside run drills. Nalen and Hamilton are getting their timing back while Clady has continued to be dominant – stonewalling Birdine on a delayed rush. Harris looked a little better today but I’m still nervous until Holland is back. They’re having trouble picking up blitzes and working as a unit, only Harris is getting beat one-on-one among the starters but the blitz pickup is horrible right now. Pears had an average practice, gave up some plays but was mostly solid while Gandy, Wiegmann and Alexander did a good job controlling Robertson and Peterson compared to past practices. The 2nd OL opened a huge hole for Hall during the 2nd O’s end-of-practice drill with the 1st D. Polumbus is impressive and quite honestly, a better prospect than Pears and possibly Harris. There’s still plenty of work to be done as the starters couldn’t move the 2nd defense at all in the red zone. At this juncture, clearly the team’s greatest concern.

DL: Moss continues to draw praise from the coaches as only Clady can consistently block him. Moss has become a force against the run and is looking like our best DL thus far in camp, impressive as he’s been facing the 1st OL as well. Dumervil had a good practice, beating Pears a few times and getting good pressure. Ekuban has been working in with the 1st team at DT a bit in place of Peterson. Mallard continues to work his butt off while Crowder and Thomas look like they’ll be set as top backups in the rotation. Robertson has his way Hamilton in one-on-ones but looks like he’ll draw plenty of double teams this season.

LB: Boss and DJ missed most of practice but came in near the end. DJ blew up a counter pitch to Hall on 3rd down to stop the 2nd offense during the end-of-practice drill. He looks very natural back at WLB. Boss looked great blitzing and would’ve had at least two sacks in his limited action. I’m very excited about the LB corps. Webster worked with the 1st team again and had a solid day but was outshined by Niko on the 2nd team who looks like the run-stuffing MLB we’ve been looking for. Niko blew up a few plays and if they were recorded, would be leading the defense in tackles for camp thus far. Winborn and Green were solid working with the 1st team while DJ and Boss were out. Winborn’s got serious speed and pursuit. Larsen looked pretty good but Beck continues to be solid as well – it’ll be interesting to see who wins that battle. Woodyard got his most play of camp with DJ and Boss out, he’s got some talent but you constantly here the coaches after him for making mental mistakes. He has PS written all over him.

DB: Champ’s pick was great and he had an all-round solid day as did the entire group. Bly was steady again and seems to be settling in covering the slot as Foxworth guards the outside WR in nickel sets. Foxworth had a great day picking a red zone pass and taking it the length of the field, then he had perfect coverage on a deep pass to Martinez that Martinez broke up from being a pick. Paymah looked okay but was burned bad by BMarsh on the deep TD. JMFW looked solid again, he mistakes rookie mistakes occasionally but he’s so aggressive, you can’t help but see the guy’s going to be a player. Lynch looked good today, flying up and stopping Hall and Pittman on several occasions. Abdullah continues to be a camp standout, covering the entire field and frequently shutting down his man, today he played the best coverage I’ve seen on Scheffler all camp. McCree struggled as Torain shook him to the ground and later, he misjudged the speed of Alridge. Manual continues to play well in the run game while Barrett is beginning to catch up on the system – he even lined up some CB’s at some point. Rogers has looked good as well although Scheffler’s beaten him on a few occasions.

ST: Prater nailed all of his kicks as far as I could tell. They looked to be in the 45 yard –plus range and would’ve been good from at least 10 more yards back. Royal, Hall, Pittman and Alridge returned kicks for the kickoff team.

I won’t be at this evening’s ST practice, so I’ll update you guys tomorrow. Take it easy!

[Triplelefthook]

man great stuff montrose - cheers

[theAPAOps5]

Man beautiful stuff Montrose. One question, since the new D scheme looks to incorporate some exotic and extensive blitzing do you think that might be why the line is having trouble? Or is it just blitzing in general. Thanks, I hang up and listen......

[2KBack]

That's what I'm talking about, The team is starting to settle in.

Thanks for the report

[Inkana7]

Awesome report, Montrose. Thanks!

[Broncosfreak_56]

Awsome report, thanks man!

Im really exited about Clady. It seems hes been one of the top performers despite being a rookie.

[cutler_to_marshall]

you sir are a godsend. i shall have a bust created for you so i can pay proper hommage. There should be stars realigned in a constellation commemorating your being. Bill Parcells would gladly bring out the annointing oil for this work.

Thanks alot Montrose. Well written report keeping the broncos fans in upstate New York in the loop.

sorry that was meant to be singular tense, only one upstate NY bronco fan!

[cutler_to_marshall]

Originally Posted by Broncosfreak_56

Awsome report, thanks man!

Im really exited about Clady. It seems hes been one of the top performers despite being a rookie.

Now all we need is another 4 first rounders on OL and we have a unit. Please let the rest of the line get shored up.

[montrose]

Originally Posted by ApaOps5

Man beautiful stuff Montrose. One question, since the new D scheme looks to incorporate some exotic and extensive blitzing do you think that might be why the line is having trouble? Or is it just blitzing in general. Thanks, I hang up and listen......

That could be it, although I noticed the line picked up a CB blitz from Bly and safety blitz from Manual. The guy that's been killing them on blitzes is Boss - particularly on stunts.

[Requiem]

You rock!

[SoDak Bronco]

Thanks Montrose...Does Moss look like he is stronger than last year? How does he do in the 1 on 1 drills??

[*WARHORSE*]

For the oline, they arent just going to walk into training camp playing with new guys in new positions and kick butt. All of this is good for them, and the more different looks they get the better. Holland of course needs to have his pee-pee cut off for coming in overweight. If hes the starter at RG, then his butt needs to be in there so we can slot all these guys to where theyre going to be during the season asap.

[Kaylore]

It's good that the O-line is getting better. Hopefully after a week they'll better this Saturday.

[montrose]

Originally Posted by SoDak Bronco

Thanks Montrose...Does Moss look like he is stronger than last year? How does he do in the 1 on 1 drills??

Actually no, in fact - he looks leaner than last year. His just playing with very good leverage and his wing span is difficult for the OT's not named Clady to handle.

[socalorado]

Originally Posted by montrose

Actually no, in fact - he looks leaner than last year. His just playing with very good leverage and his wing span is difficult for the OT's not named Clady to handle.

Torian and Barrett looked good?!?!
Barretts coming along, yes??

[Kaylore]

Originally Posted by montrose

Actually no, in fact - he looks leaner than last year. His just playing with very good leverage and his wing span is difficult for the OT's not named Clady to handle.

See I would disagree with that. I think he looks more cut than last year and his legs are thicker.

[crowebomber]

Kahn who? Great report!!

[montrose]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

See I would disagree with that. I think he looks more cut than last year and his legs are thicker.

I would agree that he looks more cut, I haven't really noticed his legs. I wouldn't be surprised if he was ten pounds heavier, or ten pounds lighter than last year - I'm a horrible judge of those kinds of things. His conditioning is, however, light years ahead of where it was a year ago.

[Requiem]

Ya who is Kaylore?

[Kaylore]

Originally Posted by Requiem

Ya who is Kaylore?

A jerk! (I heard he's Mormon! Kill him!)

[telluride]

Good report. Thanks!

while Crowder and Thomas look like they’ll be set as top backups in the rotation.

I'd rather they be obvious starters, frankly.

[wolf754life]

harris had his best day, he is going to be allright

[DukeWoody]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

A jerk! (I heard he's Mormon! Kill him!)

You and Marshall will be burned at the stake at midnight..

Thanks for the report Montrose, a superior job once again...

[rugbythug]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

A jerk! (I heard he's Mormon! Kill him!)

Mmmmmm Roasted Mormon

[broncofan7]

thanks!