Camp was one of the hottest I’ve attended today but the emergence of
some cloud cover late in the evening helped a bit. Camp also started
thirty minutes later than originally scheduled for reasons I was unable
to learn. Once things finally did start going it was one of pretty good
practice over all.
Brandon Marshall: I’m sure by now everyone has already learned
that Marshall was out and working out today. Since that is the hot
topic of the day, I’ll address it immediately. Shanahan informed us
that MRI showed the injury healed save for a bunch of scar tissue. Scar
tissue is painful but harmless and needs to be worked loose through
using the area. Marshall has never been injured before so his
understanding of playing with pain versus playing injured was limited.
He had never dealt with that before. Shanahan made him go out onto the
field again.
He went through all the drills and scrimmages and made some nice plays.
I was surprised how not-rusty he looked. Even with all the time off,
right away he looked better than the other guys we had out there save
Walker. I was totally amazed at how good looked. He was very fluid and
his stride looks very good. He displayed great leaping ability. He
wasn’t exploding off the line like he used to, and at times he seemed a
little tentative, but he knew his routes and was getting open very
consistently. Toward the end of practice he was running with a bit more
confidence and beat Champ Bailey of all people on a deep post pattern
that Jay threw. It was amazing especially for coming back so soon. I
asked him about that play during his press conference and how it helped
his confidence and he kind of gave me a “that’s juts what I do” kind of
answer and then said Jay threw a good ball. The target game for him is
Dallas or Cleveland. Shanahan said he’ll need two weeks to get back
into football shape.
Kircus, Lynch, Warren and Ryan Harris were all out of practice with
injuries. I think Hamza was too, since I don’t remember seeing him.
Most of those were precautionary and Shanahan said many would have
played if it was a real game week.
I’m going to just mention a few things.
Javon Walker: Walker looks great. He is positive and was
high-fiving fans when he wasn’t on the field and was just enjoying his
time. He also made some really great catches was having a good day
overall. Toward the end of practice he had some pain in his knee and
they took him out for precautionary reasons.
The defense has taken to singing a version of “Sexy Lady” by Yung Berg
when they make a play. The chorus goes “Hey Sexy lady, It was nice to
know ya. But I gotta move onnnnnnn.” The defense’s version incorporates
a replacement of sexy lady for the player they just beat. So when they
pick off Jay Cutler they all sing “Hey, Jay Cutler. It was nice to know
you. But I gotta move onnnnnnnnnnn.” It’s nice to see the guys having
fun with something like this. I know what you’re all thinking, and no:
John Lynch doesn’t sing along. Defensive Line
Tim Crowder: I’ve been noticing Tim Crowder more. He is playing
very solid football. I like his motor. He gives a full effort until the
whistle blows.
Ebenezer Ekuban: He made some great plays today. He gets a lot
of work playing inside, outside and on every down and distance. He had
some sacks and blew up some plays in the backfield. He had a good
practice today.
Jarvis Moss: Moss is being brought back more and more into the
practices and scrimmages. He is doing ok but looks about 75%. He
over-pursued on a running play that Selvin Young busted back the other
way for a score. He’s not as explosive as he was, but he’s making
progress. I hope he can play in the Dallas game.
Sam Adams: He really made a bunch of plays in the backfield
today. He had a sack and blew up some running plays. He’s easily the
most impressive of our defensive lineman because he’s so big and so
quick and fast. His only down is that he fatigues easily.
Amon Gordon: He is very good against screens. He broke to the
outside on a screen and pretty much had the whole thing shut down
before it got going. Another guy who is playing well but flying under
the radar.
Quarterbacks – They played very well today. I think as
people are getting healthier, they are having an easier time in
practice of finding guys to throw to. Ramsey is the best at using a
hard count to draw guys off sides. Cutler is getting better at it, but
Ramsey is the best and I suspect it’s his experience. They are using
that more. Cutler missed a few reads where he should have thrown
underneath, but made some good throws and is using his scrambling
ability to buy time since the inside push from the D-line is still
causing problems.
Tight Ends – Scheffler is back and starting to get
seperation and get open down field. He found a seam in the middle of
the field where he was wide open and Jay thew it right in the numbers
and he dropped it. He is coming back more gradually but his ability to
pull away from the linebackers and safeties has me once again concerned
about the quality at the Sam position. We’ll have to watch that in
preseason games. Chad Mustard made some nice plays on the third team,
as did Teyo Johnson. Johnson has poor body control and I think he plays
sloppy at times.
Running Backs – All the running backs looked good today.
Even Selvin Young had some good, hard runs. Mike Bell had a good
practice as well. He had some really nifty spin and juke moves that he
is getting down and he looked quicker in this practice than in others.
Defensive Backs – I want to talk about Champ a bit here.
Bailey has had two days where he gave up big plays, which isn’t like
him. I would say to this point that Bly has had a better camp than
Bailey tot his point. Bly’s been more aggressive, more disruptive and
more physical. One thing to consider is that the staff lets Bailey play
off so he can spy the quarterback, but all the other DB’s have
transitioned to a press coverage the majority of the time. I’d like to
see Bailey press a little more. He has the size and athleticism to do
it and it would really mess up the timing of the players. Jeff Shoate
has supplanted Karl Paymah as the fourth defensive back. It probably
had something to do with the slew of interceptions that Shoate has had
the last several practices.
A good practice. With the guys getting healthier and both teams finding
their rhythm a bit, I think we’re right where we need to be going into
our preseason games. We have a ways to go and the wheat will be sifted
from the chaff in the coming days.
