playit12
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So Being sadly misplaced in DC I see more Red than Blue, however I thought I would check out the burgundy and gold this year and share my impressions with those that don't catch their preseason games.
I had a chance with fellow poster "Danny White" to check out one of the practices at Commanders Park and I Tivo'd the preseason game and watched a few of the player battles closely. This is not comprehensive of the entire team... more just positions of interest.
Also I'm not speaking for Danny White here... just myself. He seemed to have a pretty keen eye and caught a number of things I didn't, so maybe he'll put his two cents in too...
QuarterBack:
In Practice Ramsey looked really good. He was poised and threw the ball with accuracy and with significantly more power than Brunell and Campbell. He hit his targets in stride for the most part and didn't seem to be favoring any paticular route. I would say that he is better outside of 7 yard passes. I think he'll continue to strugle on Screens for instance.
In the Game he looked much worse. He never seemed comfortable dropping back into the pocket. For those that don't follow, Gibbs loves his QBs to drop back from center. In this regard Ramsey seemed very nervous and forced several passes. More than once he felt the rush too soon, and another time he never felt the rush at all. Some of his passes showed poor decisions and he wasn't reading all of his recievers very well... he seemed to be misjudging their speed. This is especially true of Moss. Ramsey and Moss never seemed to gel. Patten, on the other hand seems to be a favorite target already. On the bright side, he seems to have improved his internal clock and was not holding on to the ball as long in the pocket. One more thing of note. In the Shotgun Ramsey looked much better. This is clearly where he is at his best. I think he'll get better as the season progresses.
Brunell - MB seemed to show good footword and awareness in practice. This also holds true for the game where he was noticable more comfortable in the pocket then last year. He felt the rush, showed good scramble, and stepped into his passes. Now his arm strength looked very weak. In practice he threw a very soft pass. It wasn't a lob, but it didn't have the velocity that Ramsey had. MB looked better passing in the center and on crossing patterns. throwing to the sides, his passes didn't have the velocity to avoid being picked off. In the game his arm seemed much stronger. It seems as though he's stepping into his passes more. This leads to a longer throwing motion, and it remains to be seen if that will still work against first team's Ds. In the game MB looked the best, and clearly he looked better then he did last year.
Campbell - JC was lofting every pass in practice. He looked like he was trying to put way too much touch on the ball. He also would have gotten sacked on nearly every play they ran in the 11 on 11 drills. He holds onto the ball WAY too long. He seems comfortable in the pocket compared to other rookies and he steps into his passes... but he needs to hasten his reads. In the game he looked much better, however he was mostly throwing quick outs on the first read. I think the play calling was designed to hide his slow reads at this time. He didn't play much overall so perhaps I'll have more to say next week.
Offensive Line:
The line looked both good and bad. They did better then expected in pass protection during the game which is good because in both their earlier scrimage and in practice they were getting killed in that regard. The line, overall, reminds me of a Dallas line. They are big and strong but not overly mobile. This year Gibbs has incoperated some Zone blocking and Man blocking together. Now I'm not sure of many teams that really run both schemes well. Zone blocking usually calls for smart, athletic, and often smaller linemen who can penetrate the line and move latterally well. Man blocking calls for largel, strong, and punishing blockers who can work well in space. Their line is certainly more prepared for man blocking and it was clear that they struggled in Zone blocking plays. Overall the first team looked good to average most of the time with various horrible plays mixed in. They looked better in the pass than in run blocking.
Running Backs:
Portis has put on some weight and looks more stout then last year. Some of that looked to me like a gut when he was wiping off his face with his shirt. He also seemed winded at times. Durring drills with the other backs he took a knee between each turn while every other back remained standing. However he did look good in scrimage. I think he'll be fine by the time season starts. In the game he never really had a hole to run through. The zone blocking was really put in for Portis, but I think they'll abandone the zone blocking at some point this season. It's just too much for one line to learn. Portis will be fine.
Betts looked better in the game then he did in practice. In the game he ran well and with good burst. He showed decent but not great vision and he caught the ball with his hands away from his body. He looks much better this year, and might have been the best looking player on the field in the first game for the Skins.
Rock seems the same as last year. He might not make the team.
Nehemiah Broughton (Nemo) played later in the game. I'm going to seem awefully critical of him here but perhaps some Skins fan will come to his rescue. In his first couple of carries he seemed a little lost and followed the play probably too closely. He didn't show good vision. He seemed more comfortable as time went on but some problems remained. He's huge... 5-11 250 according to Yahoo. However he runs like Ron Dayne or Troy Hambrick. He hits the hole way too soft and he doesn't build up any real power till he's 7 or 8 yards into his route. There is no way he's going to be a short yardage solution unless he can start to accelerate more quickly. He's young and he could get better, but I doubt he'll be the next Bettis.
Wide Reciever:
Moss is fast and has good hands however he disapears at times. He seems to have a good connection with Brunell but Ramsey never seems to find him. He seems to mostly be used on the outside thus far and it remains to be seen if he'll be more than an occasional deep threat or sideline reciever. It's also a tell what side the ball will be run too... It will not be run towards Moss.
Patten looks good but not overly impressive. He's the perfect above average reciever. He does everything pretty good but nothing great. I think Ramsey likes throwing to him because he'll fight for the ball. He also was very good in run blocking. On one play he came from the outside and bookended a Linebacker.
Thrash will be the number three. He looks almost the same as last year so I won't rehash. He's reliable but limited.
McCants was really the only big target this team has, but I'm beggining to think he won't make the squad. Time will tell.
They Skins seem intent on making Antonio Brown a WR option as well. He's their return man and is very short. No way this guy is 5-10. He's done ok so far but I think his upside is limited by his size.
TE, H-Back:
Cooley is good but still needs to work on blocking. He's still not going to be an effective TE on the line. They had some scrubs out there that looked solid too but I couldn't find the names.
Defense will be on the next post.
I had a chance with fellow poster "Danny White" to check out one of the practices at Commanders Park and I Tivo'd the preseason game and watched a few of the player battles closely. This is not comprehensive of the entire team... more just positions of interest.
Also I'm not speaking for Danny White here... just myself. He seemed to have a pretty keen eye and caught a number of things I didn't, so maybe he'll put his two cents in too...
QuarterBack:
In Practice Ramsey looked really good. He was poised and threw the ball with accuracy and with significantly more power than Brunell and Campbell. He hit his targets in stride for the most part and didn't seem to be favoring any paticular route. I would say that he is better outside of 7 yard passes. I think he'll continue to strugle on Screens for instance.
In the Game he looked much worse. He never seemed comfortable dropping back into the pocket. For those that don't follow, Gibbs loves his QBs to drop back from center. In this regard Ramsey seemed very nervous and forced several passes. More than once he felt the rush too soon, and another time he never felt the rush at all. Some of his passes showed poor decisions and he wasn't reading all of his recievers very well... he seemed to be misjudging their speed. This is especially true of Moss. Ramsey and Moss never seemed to gel. Patten, on the other hand seems to be a favorite target already. On the bright side, he seems to have improved his internal clock and was not holding on to the ball as long in the pocket. One more thing of note. In the Shotgun Ramsey looked much better. This is clearly where he is at his best. I think he'll get better as the season progresses.
Brunell - MB seemed to show good footword and awareness in practice. This also holds true for the game where he was noticable more comfortable in the pocket then last year. He felt the rush, showed good scramble, and stepped into his passes. Now his arm strength looked very weak. In practice he threw a very soft pass. It wasn't a lob, but it didn't have the velocity that Ramsey had. MB looked better passing in the center and on crossing patterns. throwing to the sides, his passes didn't have the velocity to avoid being picked off. In the game his arm seemed much stronger. It seems as though he's stepping into his passes more. This leads to a longer throwing motion, and it remains to be seen if that will still work against first team's Ds. In the game MB looked the best, and clearly he looked better then he did last year.
Campbell - JC was lofting every pass in practice. He looked like he was trying to put way too much touch on the ball. He also would have gotten sacked on nearly every play they ran in the 11 on 11 drills. He holds onto the ball WAY too long. He seems comfortable in the pocket compared to other rookies and he steps into his passes... but he needs to hasten his reads. In the game he looked much better, however he was mostly throwing quick outs on the first read. I think the play calling was designed to hide his slow reads at this time. He didn't play much overall so perhaps I'll have more to say next week.
Offensive Line:
The line looked both good and bad. They did better then expected in pass protection during the game which is good because in both their earlier scrimage and in practice they were getting killed in that regard. The line, overall, reminds me of a Dallas line. They are big and strong but not overly mobile. This year Gibbs has incoperated some Zone blocking and Man blocking together. Now I'm not sure of many teams that really run both schemes well. Zone blocking usually calls for smart, athletic, and often smaller linemen who can penetrate the line and move latterally well. Man blocking calls for largel, strong, and punishing blockers who can work well in space. Their line is certainly more prepared for man blocking and it was clear that they struggled in Zone blocking plays. Overall the first team looked good to average most of the time with various horrible plays mixed in. They looked better in the pass than in run blocking.
Running Backs:
Portis has put on some weight and looks more stout then last year. Some of that looked to me like a gut when he was wiping off his face with his shirt. He also seemed winded at times. Durring drills with the other backs he took a knee between each turn while every other back remained standing. However he did look good in scrimage. I think he'll be fine by the time season starts. In the game he never really had a hole to run through. The zone blocking was really put in for Portis, but I think they'll abandone the zone blocking at some point this season. It's just too much for one line to learn. Portis will be fine.
Betts looked better in the game then he did in practice. In the game he ran well and with good burst. He showed decent but not great vision and he caught the ball with his hands away from his body. He looks much better this year, and might have been the best looking player on the field in the first game for the Skins.
Rock seems the same as last year. He might not make the team.
Nehemiah Broughton (Nemo) played later in the game. I'm going to seem awefully critical of him here but perhaps some Skins fan will come to his rescue. In his first couple of carries he seemed a little lost and followed the play probably too closely. He didn't show good vision. He seemed more comfortable as time went on but some problems remained. He's huge... 5-11 250 according to Yahoo. However he runs like Ron Dayne or Troy Hambrick. He hits the hole way too soft and he doesn't build up any real power till he's 7 or 8 yards into his route. There is no way he's going to be a short yardage solution unless he can start to accelerate more quickly. He's young and he could get better, but I doubt he'll be the next Bettis.
Wide Reciever:
Moss is fast and has good hands however he disapears at times. He seems to have a good connection with Brunell but Ramsey never seems to find him. He seems to mostly be used on the outside thus far and it remains to be seen if he'll be more than an occasional deep threat or sideline reciever. It's also a tell what side the ball will be run too... It will not be run towards Moss.
Patten looks good but not overly impressive. He's the perfect above average reciever. He does everything pretty good but nothing great. I think Ramsey likes throwing to him because he'll fight for the ball. He also was very good in run blocking. On one play he came from the outside and bookended a Linebacker.
Thrash will be the number three. He looks almost the same as last year so I won't rehash. He's reliable but limited.
McCants was really the only big target this team has, but I'm beggining to think he won't make the squad. Time will tell.
They Skins seem intent on making Antonio Brown a WR option as well. He's their return man and is very short. No way this guy is 5-10. He's done ok so far but I think his upside is limited by his size.
TE, H-Back:
Cooley is good but still needs to work on blocking. He's still not going to be an effective TE on the line. They had some scrubs out there that looked solid too but I couldn't find the names.
Defense will be on the next post.
