Some thoughts from the July 27 practice:
- Play of the day: Cole Beasley lines up as the left outside receiver; Morris Claiborne is lined up five yards off. At the snap, Beasley heads up the field at Claiborne, who gets too wide in his base and over-extends to try and slow down Beasley's run. Beasley is able to work past Claiborne and heads up the field. On the inside, Tim Benford is running a route that keeps safety Eddie Whitley in the middle of the field. Whitley tries to adjust to close in the window between Claiborne and himself. While the ball is in the air, Beasley has to speed up, then lay out to make the catch, which he does. It was a great route by Benford inside and a great catch by Beasley outside.
- In training camp it is all about making plays. Cornerback Teddy Williams looks to have a much better understanding of his technique, but he needs to do a better job of finishing his plays. On one snap, wide receiver Saalim Hakim carried Williams up the field and Williams was in nice position as Hakim stopped to drive back for the ball on the comeback. But, Williams gets caught on his heels and is unable to make it back to Hakim, who makes the catch on the comeback. There has been once a day when you see Williams in position but not finishing.
- Talked about Beasley yesterday and how he will need to run outside routes to be on this team. Today he had a chance to run the slant and make a play for Stephen McGee. Beasley sold the route outside, then broke hard inside. From the slot to his side, tight end James Hanna runs to the flat trying to pull safety Eddie Whitley outside to use him as a pick for Beasley on Isaac Madison the corner. Instead, Beasley gets tied up with Whitley and it throws the timing off of the route. McGee actually made a nice throw to Beasley, but incomplete.
- Been singing the praises of defensive end Sean Lissemore latel,y but today during team run wasn't one of his better days. One of Lissemore's strengths is his ability to play with his hands and get off blocks. Today he was having to deal with some "power" blocks, when the tight end and tackle work together. Lissemore was handled by James Hanna one time, then by Andrew Szczerba the next on down blocks. On the Hanna block he was playing as the strong side end.
- I will once again mention that I feel like the roster move of adding running back Ed Wesley will be a good thing. Wesley made a really nice jump cut backside when guard Ronald Leary made a trap block. Wesley showed great vision and athletic ability to pull that off.
- There is plenty of quickness in the open field for running back Lance Dunbar. One of the things you noticed on his college tape was his ability to catch passes, and today he made a really nice adjusting catch the in the flat. Dunbar ran hard at linebacker Dan Connor, made a little shake move, then broke outside. Connor had to really scramble to try and cover the ground.
- Safety Justin Taplin-Ross has had a couple of practices where he has done a really good job of driving on the ball to make some plays. Today, Benford runs an "In" and on the same plays that Taplin-Ross had been making reacting to the ball, he was way late. Benford made the catch.
- The defensive coaches are doing a nice job of rotating these young linebackers. Kyle Wilber will usually see action on the strong side, but today he swapped spots with Adrian Hamilton, who played the strong side. Alex Albright has also seen some work inside as well.
- Guard Ronald Leary looks more than athletic and powerful enough to compete for the starting guard spot, but how quickly he picks up things mentally will be the difference for him.
- I am getting worried about the injury to center/guard Kevin Kowalski, who is still walking around the field with a brace on his ankle. This team needs him in the mix helping in these upcoming preseason games.
