I went to camp today--

Maybe the defense is way ahead of where they were last year? An offense will usually function better--both individually and collectively--against a poor defense than a weak one, no/

 

I can't believe people had so much trouble getting that. Who else on the team has the name Victor? If that didn't tip you off, the next like should have: "...who was in position to make the tackle all the time today".

I don't get why he's so against autographs either. I personally don't really care for them (they're just friggin' signatures), but I can at least understand why someone would. He's probably just bitter. Maybe he was pushed out of line for autographs by some fatass 40-year old dude when he was a kid?

 

could be. i mean its not like chad is dominating out there

 

Vic is sloooowwww.

I'm not the biggest Hobson fan. His knock coming out of Michigan was his speed and he is not getting any faster.

 

Fellas, I posted this over in the other thread (Camp Reports 29/7), but now I'm not sure it belongs there because maybe that thread is for official news reports, not eyewitness accounts. So, pardon me if you've already read my report, but here it is again here, which may be a better thread for these:

I was also at this morning's practice.

First, to answer someone's question above about the 5:45 practice... it's possible you may get there and find that the practice takes place in the dome. It began raining pretty heavily on LI at about 2:00PM or so. We left Mineola (my mother-in-law's) at about 2:20 and didn't get back to Jersey 'till now... heavy rain and a lot of traffic on the Belt.

Kendall isn't in the doghouse, he's in the shithouse, and I'm talking subterranian shithouse. I don't think he took one single snap with the first team. It was almost comical. Out comes Clemens with the 2nd team and out comes #66 seconds later. He stands off by himself much of the time. Adrien Clarke is beginning to fill in fairly well, but I'm no lineman expert, so I'll leave that to others. But to my untrained eye, Clarke is looking like he's learning the position and fitting in. The left side, to me, looks "comfortable" and smooth enough without Kendall, but then again, we're not facing blistering DEFs either.

Pennington: I'm somewhat disappointed. I wanted to go to camp and report back here that Penny had more zip on his ball this year. He did not this morning. I'm not saying they were floating, because I don't think he had any passes deep enough to even warrant scrutiny, but I am saying that even on his patented dink and dunk short stuff, they seemed to me no quicker or with any more authority than he had last year at this time. I'm beginning to think this is just the way Penny passes, period. This is his pass, come hell or highwater or injury recovery or no injury recovery. I get the impression that perhaps he's become so used to this soft passing technique (because of the injuries or just because this was always his way anyway), and it appears to me right now that this is the way it's going to be. We either live with it or we don't. But as far as going to camp and wanting to see more heat on the balls from him, you're going to have to stretch your imagination a bit to see it. Sorry... just the way I saw it this morning.

Coles is a working fool. He really looked good on a super accurate pass from Chad in which he could have taken it out of bounds. Instead he jukes to the inside and gets several more yards, just as in a regular game. He was working very hard this morning... a ture professional. It's almost as if he's saying to the rooks... "look guys, I'm out here busting my ass and you're going to get no slack, so start working as hard as I am." It was great to see Chad over on the sidelines (right near us by the fence) talking away to Coles and McCareins. You could tell the three of them were dep in discussion about positions, etc. on the patterns, and Penny was waving his arms and they were laughing as they communicated. This is a TEAM on which there are very few separatists. All seems to be in complete harmony and everyone is communicating well, if the exchange I saw was any evidence of same. Chad has not lost one single step in terms of leadership... he's got it all there.

Kellen Clemens got a lot of work too. His passes are crisper than Penny's as would be expected. He's definitely our solid #2, because he's getting a lot of reps. Tui was in there some and the 4th string guy (can't remember his name) but it doesn't matter... I don't think he'll be here anyway. But Brad Smith got quite a few snaps and was changing shirts more frequently than the disc jockey was changing tunes. He'd go from his #16 regular jersey to his red #16 every other minute and take snaps. I even saw him take a snap without having time to change into the red shirt.

Speaking of Smith, I'm in a quandry to figure out why you'd have this guy taking so many snaps, then fielding KO returns, of all things, all while playing WR too. I'm like, "You're grooming him for a B/U QB and then going to risk getting him hammered on a KO return? I think the answer is, we're taking a good, hard look at this QB thingy. We know he can do returns and he's a decent WR, so we're just looking at all options at this point. But some time before the season starts, a decision has to be made as to whether this guy should be fielding KOs or not, IMO.

In lineman drills later, this was being done over by the fence right in front of me. Interestingly, Mangini came over and was just standing there with his pad. Every now and then, he'd jot down some notes. VERY serious look on his face and not saying much today at all... just taking notes every now and then. With all three cameras rolling from their elevated towers, I would think there will be a lot to discuss in the afternoon meeting or possible in days off. Mangini will be able to match up the film with his notes and point out weaknesses and areas of concern. This guy really is a genius. Not saying that just because of the notes... just the way he goes about the entire practices. Herm used to walk around and never take one note... not one. Makes you kinda wonder how much he'd recall or bring up just from memory in his meetings then.

The music early on was absolutely horrendous. Extra loud and it was rap. Talk about having a hard time with cadence... but Penny did alright. At one point, Justin Miller was over near the fence, so I yelled out, "Good luck this year, Bro," then another guy yelled out, "Hey Justin, did you pick out this music or what?" Miller turned around and told the fans at the fence, "Hell no, I told coach I hate this music!" And everybody in the crowd cracked up.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but I've probably got too much in this one post anyway for now. I agree with mostly all of the other evaluations above. Stuckey and some other new guys (DBs) really stood out to me and had a great morning.

Oh, and the Thomas Jones/Leon Washington tandem is absolute freaking dynamite. Jones looked absolutely awesome and Leon, well, give him 5 yards room and the kid is up to full speed and juking like hell. The both of them are so refreshing to see finally. Fellas, we now have a running game and I am NOT shitting you.

 

is it possible that they want to see if smith can be a serviceable third qb, therefore saving a roster spot? they would still use him as a WR and have an extra roster spot available for a kickoff specialist or whomever

 

I think so, Cuse.

My problem is having Brad Smith returning KO/punts. They had him doing it today and it just seems foolish to me. I think the guy is more valuable than that and in my estimation, it needs to stop ASAP. Justin Miller was more sure-handed today on KOs and there are others now, can't remember the #'s (newer WRs) that can handle KOs/punts. So yeah, save the roster spot using Smith as (in my opinion), a decent (not great) 3rd QB and still get a WR out of him. He's a combination of a Ray Lucas and a Randall Cunningham-type QB. You should have seen him today on one play... rolled out of the pocket to the right (under pressure), then executed a short dump off to somebody on the far sidelines, whose number I couldn't see.

 

I think they are looking for him to be #2 on gameday... Why #2? Because #3 QB is inactive.. can't cover punts, can't play at all without the #1 and #2 QBs being out for the game. However, #2 means if something happens, he can go in and play, and he can play his normal spots too (WR, coverages, etc). However, just like Parcells tried to do in 1999, it can backfire when your QB goes down before the 4th quarter... you have to play him. If you remember, Tupa played that game until the 4th.

Putting him at #3 would do us no good.

 

Chill out. I meant that half-jokingly...didn't mean to send you off on a rant.

Hell, I think your reports are worthy of a thread of its own to be quite honest. Always looking forward to your observations.

I wouldn't worry about Chad too much. I don't think he ever looks all that fantastic in practice, but he gets it done on gameday. I'm especially pleased to hear that Clarke is working out. I didn't expect him to be catching up to date so quickly, and thought the loss of Kendall would've been a huge blow. From the impression you gave, it seems the drop off may not be that dramatic.

Also, nice point about the Mangini/Herm coaching dichotomy...it's refreshing to have a coach out there that at least looks like he knows what he's doing.

 

I had forgotten about this, 2004. Very interesting observation... thank you.

So, we're doing this because we need to see if Brad Smith is good enough to handle the legitimate #2 spot. Otherwise, we could get ourselves into the same situation Parcells was in, which is inserting in a QB who is actually not our next legitimately servicable QB to serve as QB during an important game.

Leave it to Mangini to try to work this. It's interesting as hell, and if so, puts quite a bit of pressure now on Clemens to either emerge as the legitimate #2 or submit to Brad Smith on the roster. This explains all the work Smith is getting.

 

I think that you guys did a great job with the practice. Ill take a few quick hits. I took 2 of my boys and 2 of my nephews to the practice. Started at 845; done at 11:05 or so (perhaps a bit later).

Here are my observations:

1. No time is wasted at all. (I would like to hear from others who went to Walton/Coslet/Kotite/Herm practices what those were like in comparison to Mangini's)

2. Im not sure if it was the secondary coach or an assistant -- but in the 11 v 11 2 minute drills -- he went nuts every time his guys made a play.

3. ONe of the OLINE coaches -- an older guy with a big floppy hat -- was mixing it up with the huge o line guys -- it was pretty funny.

4. Its really hard to see exactly who is doing well and who is not -- unless there is a huge screw up. I think Brad Smith did not look so good in his qb reps -- but i think they want him to be a real threat there. Last year he took more than a few snaps but never threw.

5. The times i saw Thomas Jones he looked like he would break every run.

6. Leon W looked very very fast.

7. Jason P. , the TE was doing extra catching work after practice with the ball being shot to him from about 10 yards

8 Bender is large. SOme posted that he was terrible. I could not tell.

9. They play that music the whole time -- not only for the noise -- for counts and stuff but im pretty sure so that we dont hear all the yelling and coaching going on. It is effective for the 2 minute drill where they played Pressure and Under Pressure.

 

If the the # 3 qb is inactive how did Brook Bollinger play after Chad and Jay got injured in week 3 in the jaguar game during the 2005 season?

 

the number three is allowed to play in an emergency but if he plays the other two cant come back in that game. I think.

 

Brooks didnt come in. Chad came back in after Jay got hurt

 

I still think Clemens is the #2 QB... they want to see if Smith can be the #3 AND remian active on Sundays. Miller is the KO return man... he's got that locked, but his continued dropsies on punts.... I expect Revis to win that job, if and when he gets into camp. So, Smith fielding KO's and punts is just TC stuff.... I don't expect to see him with those responsabilities once the preseason games start. If Revis is a long holdout, small chance that Smith takes the punt reurn job early in the season. Too bad Miller is a basketball hoop when fielding punts....

 

A couple of other observations from yesterday... After every TC, when your head hits the pillow that night, you're always thinking about stuff you saw but didn't mention in your writeups, so here's a few more things that kinda stood out to me:

Chansi Stuckey (83) - this 7th round rookie WR got a lot of work yesterday and made some nice catches. He's got good speed and good hands, from the receptions I saw. I think he can make the team, particularly if the aging Tim Dwight continues to have injury problems. The other WR I noticed was Frisman Jackson (18), in his fifth year and trying to make the team. He's working hard and looking pretty good.

Joe Kowalewski (40) - undrafted and again in camp for the second year, this guy is a very good athlete. He's listed as a TE but his size is extremely small for this postion, so I don't know what the thinking is there, but I have to tell you that this guy was making great catches and getting yards after. My only problem is, again, size (don't know his stats, but he looks smallish), and when he lines up as a TE you just have to wonder what kind of blocking he'll be capable of if he has to. But he gets open and makes catches and get some north-south yards after, so maybe he should be a FB or whatever.... but somebody else to keep your eye on.

This morning's Star-Ledger reports that Pete Kendall did get some time with the 1st team yesterday morning. If he did, I missed it. Was anyone else at the morning session who might have seen Kendall lining up with the 1st team? I only saw Clarke in there between Ferguson and Mangold. I'm wondering if the reporter got it wrong or is referring to the afternoon session perhaps... don't know.

Apparently the Ledger also reports that Chad had some good deep passes in the PM session, which was closed to the public. They don't mention how much zip those passes had on them but I'd like to think maybe Chad decided to put more heat on his afternoon passes than he had in the AM. Anyway, to clarify, this was my only concern (the speed on the passes) in the session I saw. Everything else Chad was doing (timing, accuracy, running the offense smoothly, etc.) was all clicking pretty well.

 

227, I was at the morning practice and missed Kendall working with the first team. Granted I wasn't watching the offensive line the whole time, but it's not something I noticed.

I echo your statements on Stuckey and Kowalewski. They were all over the field in the morning practice.

 

Thanks, MM. I thought I was seeing things when I read that Kendall got some time with the 1st team. I didn't see one occasion in which he was in there... not saying it didn't happen though, but if he did get time with the 1st team, it couldn't have been many snaps, because I was specifically looking at that section of the o-line fairly often.

We should try to hook up with some of the other guys some time at camp. I went with a nephew yesterday morning, but if he can't make it, it's always nice to be able to talk to other guys from the board. Last year Kurt and T-Bird and I spent some time together discussing the goings on.

 

I will be meeting Kurt at this afternoon's practice. He's in town for the week, and we may get together again like last year, 227. Mybe after one of the one-a-days.... maybe Wednesday... PM me if interested.