8/1 AM Report: Walker steals the show
By SoCalBronco
http://www.orangemane.com/article_748.php
QUARTERBACKS- There is something about morning practices with Jay Cutler, he does not seem to be as sharp as in the afternoons, when he is outstanding. Cutler had some issues with accuracy again, a little bit behind and a little bit ahead on some passes and overshot one deep ball. He did have several nice throws, however, including two beautiful deep balls to Javon Walker for touchdowns, which the crowd loved and continued to have a great sense of chemistry with Brandon Stokley. Cutler, did, however have his first “real” interception (the interception yesterday was really the fault of the receiver) of camp when Champ Bailey got underneath a quick out route, snatched the ball and took off. One thing I liked about Jay today was his pocket presence. Even though physical contact on the quarterback is prohibited, Jay could still sense when defenders got close and did a nice job sliding out and finding the open receiver near the sideline when he felt someone closing in. Patrick Ramsey continues to struggle with accuracy and pocket presence. Ramsey suffered several would be sacks from defenders due to his inability to process information quickly.
RUNNING BACKS- Travis Henry is very consistent. Another very strong day. He is showing explosion which isn’t a trait that often thought of as a key facet of his game. His vision is also very good, he did a very nice job in 9 on 9s in trusting his line and anticipating where the hole would be on the second level. He rarely runs into the backs of his offensive linemen. I wish he would get more touches in the passing game, though. On Sunday, he showed that he could be a very good receiver out of the backfield but has not really been used in that capacity much for the last few days of camp. The second best back in practice was SelvinYoung. He had several problems the last few days in constantly tripping and failing to find holes but he ran with a lot more authority today. Perhaps he sensed the pressure of being at the bottom of the depth chart. Andre Hall continues to show good speed and does well on perimeter run plays, but not so much on inside runs. Mike Bell had a very quiet morning and dropped another pass. Khan and I were talking about his Jekyll and Hyde nature a little bit, he seems to look like an elite running back one day and then like a third stringer the next. He is maddeningly inconsistent.
WIDE RECIEVERS AND TIGHT ENDS- Javon Walker was the star of the day. In addition to catching two sweet go routes from Jay Cutler, he also caught a number of difficult receptions with defenders in the vicinity. In his post practice press conference, he really said he is feeling good (on the football field) and is very comfortable in the offense. Brandon Stokley had another good day. He particularly excels at adjusting to throws that are not accurate. Right now, he continues to have a very firm grip on the No. 2 position. Domenik Hixon returned to practice today, one day after suffering a first degree separation of his shoulder, but did not stand out. He was matched up on Champ a few times and to no one’s surprise had a great deal of trouble. The rest of the wide receivers also continue to have difficulty making plays. Dan Graham’s highlight of the day was in move the ball drills when he caught a nice square out on the sideline that was a little bit high and in front. He still is not a major force in the passing game and has trouble separating. Webster was able to stick on him and swat away one pass in particular. I was able to summon the courage to actually ask Shanahan a question in the press conference about the timetable with Scheffler since they really need him and he noted that Tony should be back in practice next week. Reporter Sam Adams also asked him about Marshall and he seemed to be down on Marshall telling Adams that he told Marshall that they can’t waste reps on guys who are hurt and that people need to be out there (paraphrasing).
OFFENSIVE LINE:
I thought this was Ryan Harris’s best day of practice, yet. He has probably been the slowest of the rookies in terms of his day to day development, but I thought he took a nice step forward today. In the 11 on 11 and 9 on 9 action, he was able to neutralize fellow rookies Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss a few times. I thought the offensive line in general struggled to run the ball (when Henry wasn’t in there) against any of the first, second or third string front sevens, although there were some individual plays that stood out for some of the youngsters that everyone is concerned about. Chris Kuper stoned DJ Williams on a blitz and Chris Myers absolutely pancaked Alvin McKinley. Chris Kuper is also very good at getting out to the perimeter on screens. I did not see Eric Pears struggle in live action too much and that was encouraging. Khan remarked that he was starting to feel better about the right side of our line. I would agree with him on Kuper, he is doing a nice job out there, he is consistently running with the one’s over Holland, but despite today, Pears still worries me (Meadows is a lost cause). I did not see it, but Khan observed in the drills that Eslinger was doing a little bit better.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Gerard Warren made an impact today, surprisingly enough, in the passing game. He actually was able to deflect some balls at the line of scrimmage and dropping back in a zone blitz. He also combined with Ekuban for a would be sack. Dumervil stood out as a pass rusher in the live 11 on 11 action, but he is still running on the third team base defense with Peterson, Veal and Burton. I did not notice Moss too much in live action but he did okay in drills. Tim Crowder was the best rookie today on the defensive line. He had a would be sack (which is rare for him) and he was good against the run. The best run defender on the line, however, was John Engelberger. He does a really good job in contain on the side opposite the wide 9. Coach Shanahan, in his press conference, said that John is an intelligent player and a very hard worker and (perhaps contrary to popular belief) he said that the reason they started John out as a starter in this camp was because he played well last year. I did not notice Marcus Thomas too much today. The defensive linemen should continue to get better because we are bringing in a specialist that works with handwork. Khan had gotten this information yesterday from his Moss interview and he had Shanahan confirm this today.
LINEBACKERS
Ian Gold returned to practice today and had his finest practice. He had been pretty quiet before, but did a very good job against the run today and had a nice hit. D.J. was not as successful in rushing the passer today as he was the last few days, but he did a good job covering the running backs in man to man defense, and made two very nice plays against the run, one in 9 on 9 and one in 11 on 11. Nate Webster ran with the first team today and it seems like each day he has at least one monster hit. He loves to talk out there too. Cameron Vaughn almost had an interception today on a really bad pass by Preston Parsons. Warrick Holdman was pretty decent today too and had a stuff at the line. The linebackers as a whole did a very good job against the run.
SECONDARY
Champ Bailey was shutdown as usual and had a pick six off Cutler. Dre Bly was ok, but he did get beat by Walker deep. I did not notice Paymah today too much, but he was okay as was Foxworth. Steve Cargile looks like a good backup safety. He is better there than he is at linebacker. He had another very nice pass deflection in which he showed good range. Jeff Shoate also had a good practice. I thought Hamza Abdullah was really outstanding. He is quick to come down in run force and looks like he has a talent for safety blitzes as well.
FIELD GOAL WORK
The team worked a bit on field goals in end of game situations this morning. Jason Elam was 6 of 8 from inside 40 yards with two kicks hitting the right crossbar and bouncing out.
SHANAHAN PRESS CONFERENCE
Today was pretty neat, we were actually able to get three questions in (Khan had two, I had one). Khan asked him about the rookies and Shanahan would not single out anyone in particular, but said that we should get a better view in a few more days as to who stands where. Khan also confirmed that we are bringing in a handwork specialist for the defensive line, who is a guy that Bates likes a lot. I, ofcourse, as noted earlier, asked about Scheffler, who Shanny said will be back next week. Shanny was down on Marshall, up on Engelberger, and was glad that Hixon was back today. A reporter asked him about the linebackers and he said that DJ looks comfortable and that Ian is ofcourse set at Will but that they still don’t know about Sam, the competition so far has not yet yielded a clear winner.
JAVON WALKER PRESS CONFERENCE
Javon feels healthy and is in good shape. He also feels very comfortable with the system and in his chemistry with Jay. He would not answer anything at all related to Darrent Williams and went out of his way to convey this. He said he will only talk about football and some reporter tried to sort of ask about how he is doing with the whole D-Will think in a subtle way but Javon recognized it and said “only football” again. He talked a bit about his Mohawk and said there was no real reason for it, just to try something new.
http://www.orangemane.com/article_748.php
By SoCalBronco
http://www.orangemane.com/article_748.php
QUARTERBACKS- There is something about morning practices with Jay Cutler, he does not seem to be as sharp as in the afternoons, when he is outstanding. Cutler had some issues with accuracy again, a little bit behind and a little bit ahead on some passes and overshot one deep ball. He did have several nice throws, however, including two beautiful deep balls to Javon Walker for touchdowns, which the crowd loved and continued to have a great sense of chemistry with Brandon Stokley. Cutler, did, however have his first “real” interception (the interception yesterday was really the fault of the receiver) of camp when Champ Bailey got underneath a quick out route, snatched the ball and took off. One thing I liked about Jay today was his pocket presence. Even though physical contact on the quarterback is prohibited, Jay could still sense when defenders got close and did a nice job sliding out and finding the open receiver near the sideline when he felt someone closing in. Patrick Ramsey continues to struggle with accuracy and pocket presence. Ramsey suffered several would be sacks from defenders due to his inability to process information quickly.
RUNNING BACKS- Travis Henry is very consistent. Another very strong day. He is showing explosion which isn’t a trait that often thought of as a key facet of his game. His vision is also very good, he did a very nice job in 9 on 9s in trusting his line and anticipating where the hole would be on the second level. He rarely runs into the backs of his offensive linemen. I wish he would get more touches in the passing game, though. On Sunday, he showed that he could be a very good receiver out of the backfield but has not really been used in that capacity much for the last few days of camp. The second best back in practice was SelvinYoung. He had several problems the last few days in constantly tripping and failing to find holes but he ran with a lot more authority today. Perhaps he sensed the pressure of being at the bottom of the depth chart. Andre Hall continues to show good speed and does well on perimeter run plays, but not so much on inside runs. Mike Bell had a very quiet morning and dropped another pass. Khan and I were talking about his Jekyll and Hyde nature a little bit, he seems to look like an elite running back one day and then like a third stringer the next. He is maddeningly inconsistent.
WIDE RECIEVERS AND TIGHT ENDS- Javon Walker was the star of the day. In addition to catching two sweet go routes from Jay Cutler, he also caught a number of difficult receptions with defenders in the vicinity. In his post practice press conference, he really said he is feeling good (on the football field) and is very comfortable in the offense. Brandon Stokley had another good day. He particularly excels at adjusting to throws that are not accurate. Right now, he continues to have a very firm grip on the No. 2 position. Domenik Hixon returned to practice today, one day after suffering a first degree separation of his shoulder, but did not stand out. He was matched up on Champ a few times and to no one’s surprise had a great deal of trouble. The rest of the wide receivers also continue to have difficulty making plays. Dan Graham’s highlight of the day was in move the ball drills when he caught a nice square out on the sideline that was a little bit high and in front. He still is not a major force in the passing game and has trouble separating. Webster was able to stick on him and swat away one pass in particular. I was able to summon the courage to actually ask Shanahan a question in the press conference about the timetable with Scheffler since they really need him and he noted that Tony should be back in practice next week. Reporter Sam Adams also asked him about Marshall and he seemed to be down on Marshall telling Adams that he told Marshall that they can’t waste reps on guys who are hurt and that people need to be out there (paraphrasing).
OFFENSIVE LINE:
I thought this was Ryan Harris’s best day of practice, yet. He has probably been the slowest of the rookies in terms of his day to day development, but I thought he took a nice step forward today. In the 11 on 11 and 9 on 9 action, he was able to neutralize fellow rookies Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss a few times. I thought the offensive line in general struggled to run the ball (when Henry wasn’t in there) against any of the first, second or third string front sevens, although there were some individual plays that stood out for some of the youngsters that everyone is concerned about. Chris Kuper stoned DJ Williams on a blitz and Chris Myers absolutely pancaked Alvin McKinley. Chris Kuper is also very good at getting out to the perimeter on screens. I did not see Eric Pears struggle in live action too much and that was encouraging. Khan remarked that he was starting to feel better about the right side of our line. I would agree with him on Kuper, he is doing a nice job out there, he is consistently running with the one’s over Holland, but despite today, Pears still worries me (Meadows is a lost cause). I did not see it, but Khan observed in the drills that Eslinger was doing a little bit better.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Gerard Warren made an impact today, surprisingly enough, in the passing game. He actually was able to deflect some balls at the line of scrimmage and dropping back in a zone blitz. He also combined with Ekuban for a would be sack. Dumervil stood out as a pass rusher in the live 11 on 11 action, but he is still running on the third team base defense with Peterson, Veal and Burton. I did not notice Moss too much in live action but he did okay in drills. Tim Crowder was the best rookie today on the defensive line. He had a would be sack (which is rare for him) and he was good against the run. The best run defender on the line, however, was John Engelberger. He does a really good job in contain on the side opposite the wide 9. Coach Shanahan, in his press conference, said that John is an intelligent player and a very hard worker and (perhaps contrary to popular belief) he said that the reason they started John out as a starter in this camp was because he played well last year. I did not notice Marcus Thomas too much today. The defensive linemen should continue to get better because we are bringing in a specialist that works with handwork. Khan had gotten this information yesterday from his Moss interview and he had Shanahan confirm this today.
LINEBACKERS
Ian Gold returned to practice today and had his finest practice. He had been pretty quiet before, but did a very good job against the run today and had a nice hit. D.J. was not as successful in rushing the passer today as he was the last few days, but he did a good job covering the running backs in man to man defense, and made two very nice plays against the run, one in 9 on 9 and one in 11 on 11. Nate Webster ran with the first team today and it seems like each day he has at least one monster hit. He loves to talk out there too. Cameron Vaughn almost had an interception today on a really bad pass by Preston Parsons. Warrick Holdman was pretty decent today too and had a stuff at the line. The linebackers as a whole did a very good job against the run.
SECONDARY
Champ Bailey was shutdown as usual and had a pick six off Cutler. Dre Bly was ok, but he did get beat by Walker deep. I did not notice Paymah today too much, but he was okay as was Foxworth. Steve Cargile looks like a good backup safety. He is better there than he is at linebacker. He had another very nice pass deflection in which he showed good range. Jeff Shoate also had a good practice. I thought Hamza Abdullah was really outstanding. He is quick to come down in run force and looks like he has a talent for safety blitzes as well.
FIELD GOAL WORK
The team worked a bit on field goals in end of game situations this morning. Jason Elam was 6 of 8 from inside 40 yards with two kicks hitting the right crossbar and bouncing out.
SHANAHAN PRESS CONFERENCE
Today was pretty neat, we were actually able to get three questions in (Khan had two, I had one). Khan asked him about the rookies and Shanahan would not single out anyone in particular, but said that we should get a better view in a few more days as to who stands where. Khan also confirmed that we are bringing in a handwork specialist for the defensive line, who is a guy that Bates likes a lot. I, ofcourse, as noted earlier, asked about Scheffler, who Shanny said will be back next week. Shanny was down on Marshall, up on Engelberger, and was glad that Hixon was back today. A reporter asked him about the linebackers and he said that DJ looks comfortable and that Ian is ofcourse set at Will but that they still don’t know about Sam, the competition so far has not yet yielded a clear winner.
JAVON WALKER PRESS CONFERENCE
Javon feels healthy and is in good shape. He also feels very comfortable with the system and in his chemistry with Jay. He would not answer anything at all related to Darrent Williams and went out of his way to convey this. He said he will only talk about football and some reporter tried to sort of ask about how he is doing with the whole D-Will think in a subtle way but Javon recognized it and said “only football” again. He talked a bit about his Mohawk and said there was no real reason for it, just to try something new.
http://www.orangemane.com/article_748.php
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