Phreak's Training Camp Report; 29 July 2006

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yes, this is Saturday's morning session report. I was detoured on the way home and after a night of drinking I finally rolled out of bed. So I did not make it up there today. There wasn't a chance I was getting up early enough and although I entertained the idea of not sleeping at all and going back up today, I just couldn't make it.

I did not stay for the afternoon session because it was a 10/10/10 session. Those are not really worth waiting around for several hours for and neither are the special teams workouts so I will be going to the AM sessions only from here on out.

Anyways, on to the carnage that was yesterdays practice...

It was sloppy. Too many dropped balls and just didn't have that feel of a solid practice to me. The defense was fine but the offense seemed as if they were moving in quicksand. There were some bright spots for the offense but collectively they weren't on point yesterday. Ok, injuries...

a. L.J Smith did not practice due to his shoulder strain
b. Quintin Mikell did not practice due to his broken eye socket
c. Ryan Moats did not practice due to his sprained knee
d. Darwin Walker did not practice due to his bruised quad
e. Jevon Kearse did not practice due to an inflamed knee
f. Reggie Brown did not practice due to a strained hamstring
g. Derek Fenner did not practice due to a strained hamstring
h. Jason Davis did not ptractice and I don't know why (does he really have a fractured hand?)

1. Donovan McNabb did not have his best day yesterday. He was overthrowing guys too much for my liking. Not really a whole lot I can say other than it seemed like an off day for Donny Mac. Sometimes he has those days. I wouldn't be worried though because he looked excellent the other days I was up there.

2. Reggie Brown came out to practice and then I didn't see him for awhile. He reappeared and ran one route and was limping. He was testing his leg out and it was obvious he could not go. Burkholder and Reid told him to take it in to get treatment.

3. Darren Howard and Jerome McDougle continue to be awesome. Both of those guys had several "sacks" yesterday. Their explosion off the ball is amazing. And with Howard he uses his hands really well too. I know I've said that before but he uses them to set up and defeat the OT and then by the time the guy tries to correct Howard has the edge on him. McDougle was playing LDE with the 1's yesterday because of Kearse's absence. On the first play of the team drills McDougle blew by Runyan like Big Jon was standing still. I am enjoying watching McDougle because it seems as if I am the only McDougle fan left out there.

4. Matt McCoy appeared to maybe tweak something as well. I didn't hear anything but after awhile he was sitting out and Shawn Barber was playing WIL LB with the 1's. And Shanw Barber is going to be a very nice addition to this team provided he can stay healthy. I was against the signing at first because of his knees but he looks so good this week. I like what he can do for the nickle defense. Let's hope that his knees hold up.

5. Speaking of the nickle defense, I cannot remember if I told y'all this or not, but they are using Dawkins as a LB in one package. Dawk and Barber are the LBs with Considine and Lewis the safeties. Trent Cole is at RDE, Darren Howard is at RDT, Jerome McDougle is at LDE (or joker), Mike Patterson is at LDT and Jevon Kearse is the joker (or at LDE). Nice. Very nice. When they run this package they like to blitz Dawk.

6. Lito had a pretty good day yesterday. He had quite a few nice breakups on deep balls down the sideline. Him and Sheldon and Rod Hood contributed to the offense looking so bad yesterday.

7. The Hank Baskett Hype Train is now boarding! Are you on or off? I am on. And I admit to jumping to conclusions about this guy and not waiting to see how he'll fare in the PS games. But you know what? So what. The guy looks excellent out there. He is making the tough catches. He is making the routine ones as well and receiving a lot of coaching up from McNabb. Donovan really likes Hank. You can tell because they are always talking. I've seen a ton of Donovan talking to Hank and Reggie Brown. Back to Hank, he looks very good. Let's hope he can sustain this level of play.

8. Jabar Gaffney has looked very good the last couple of times I was up there too. He works the middle and on occasion lines up outside. He has shown good hands for the most part and has nice footwork when working the sidelines.

9. Matt Schobel has been terrible. He was brutal yesterday. He dropped 4 or 5 balls and most of it was due to him being a body catcher. They'd hit his chest and clang off. But when he did attempt to pluck a pass out of the air with his hands in the end-zone he dropped it. Just has not impressed me overall. He shows some flashes, and he did yesterday, but he needs to be consistent. He looks the part but he needs to play the part - start catching the ball!

10. Ed Jasper was working at 1st team DT yesterday alongside Patterson and had a "sack" and some hurries. Maybe he's not done. Maybe he does have something left in the tank.

11. LaJuan Ramsey was average yesterday. I was hoping he'd show me a lot more because he was so good on Tuesday and Wednesday.

12. There is still a musical chair game going on with the SAM LB position. Dhani had more work there than Richmond but Greg is still getting 1st team reps. Neither guys look overly impressive. I am rooting for Richmond to beat him out but I can't say I have seen anything from Greg that says he deserves the job.

13. Trotter is Trotter. Vocal, hitting people hard and being a leader. He gets the crowd going and he gets the rest of the defense going.

14. JR Reed continues to amaze me. He is fielding punts now too and looks pretty good. He had a very nice kickoff return as well. On his way back to the goal line area we gave him a huge ovation in the stands. JR responded by pumping his fist and then was working the crowd again later on trying to get them pumped up. He also put a lickin' on an offensive player who I did not see who it was. He's back. JR Reed is back

15. Thomas Tapeh has not taken over the #1 FB job.......yet. Even though Josh Parry looks better than he has in years past, Tapeh is the guy who has to win this job. I watched him put Trent Cole flat on his arse yesterday. They were doing running drills (OL, QB, RBs vs. DL and LBs) and Tapeh fired out of his stance and was the lead blocker on an off tackle run. Trent Cole was a bug on Tapeh's windshield after that. And it shocked me to see him decleat Cole because Trent is a beast.

16. Greg Lewis has had a couple of nice days now too. He is the perfect #4 WR in the NFL. That role was made for Greg Lewis. But he is not anything more than that. And when I see him being a starting receiver because of injuries I cringe. Greg had a nice day yesterday and did not get chewed out by Reid, which had happened the last two times I was there.

17. Todd Pinkston is not healthy. He is running gingerly and when he has to plant to make a cut it isn't pretty to watch. His hands have been very good but he just has to get the legs healthy. Here's the good news -- he knows McNabb and McNabb knows him so they do not need to build a rapport. So it is not important that we have Todd Pinkston on July 30th. It is important that we have Todd Pinkston on September 10th.

18. Bruce Perry continues to impress me. He runs so well and is a tough SOB. The "we need a big back" talk needs to cease because Perry can be that guy who gets you a yard when its 3rd and 1. He's small enough to hide behind the line but he's big enough to run your ass right on over if you get in his way.

19. Donald Strickland had a pretty good day yesterday. I believe that he is our dime CB with Matt Ware being a 5th CB/safety. Matt has been getting some time at S. Strickland, if he can stay healthy, could be a very good 4th corner and contributor on STs.

20. Justin Jenkins has been pretty damned impressive. He's not fast but he's got some sticky fingers. Catches just about everything that hits him in his hands.

21. After practice was over the DBs stayed out there and practiced picking the ball off in the endzone and against the sideline. Chris Gocong, Tank Daniels, Omar Gaither and Steve Spagnuolo were working on coverage techniques. Things like shading the TE and how to jam him when not heads up over him. Interesting to watch Spags teach them.

My apologies for this being so short and for not getting it out there sooner. Last night lasted longer than I thought it would. I will be up there tomorrow morning though and I will have a full report ready to go.

Please feel free to ask questions because I'm sure I missed posting a few things.

[dis12]

I was waiting for this post all day, jeeze what a few beers and shots can do to you Phreak...

9. Matt Schobel has been terrible. He was brutal yesterday. He dropped 4 or 5 balls and most of it was due to him being a body catcher. They'd hit his chest and clang off. But when he did attempt to pluck a pass out of the air with his hands in the end-zone he dropped it. Just has not impressed me overall. He shows some flashes, and he did yesterday, but he needs to be consistent. He looks the part but he needs to play the part - start catching the ball!

it was amazing how often Schobel got open.  We signed him for his "hands".  now if he would only use them!

17. Todd Pinkston is not healthy. He is running gingerly and when he has to plant to make a cut it isn't pretty to watch. His hands have been very good but he just has to get the legs healthy. Here's the good news -- he knows McNabb and McNabb knows him so they do not need to build a rapport. So it is not important that we have Todd Pinkston on July 30th. It is important that we have Todd Pinkston on September 10th.

There were a lot of WR on the preseason roster (13).  Could this put Pinky on the PUP come reg reason?

18. Bruce Perry continues to impress me. He runs so well and is a tough SOB. The "we need a big back" talk needs to cease because Perry can be that guy who gets you a yard when its 3rd and 1. He's small enough to hide behind the line but he's big enough to run your ass right on over if you get in his way.

Also impressing was watching Buckhalter run.  He is quick.  Even though he was playing no contact, he ran very well.  If he can stay healthy, and take hits well, he should make the roster (maybe).

22. the most shameful part of the day was Diehard's preseason tailgating.  While this was the first practice for the regular season, it was severly lacking something.  Maybe it was the buns for the hot dogs .  At least the Yeungling is a lock.

[SD_Eagle5]

I came back for the afternoon session, you didn't miss much, was much of the same

- A lot of passes to Schobel - some which he caught some which he dropped
- Hank continued to impress. The retards on the hill continued the annoying Baskett ole/TO chant.
- One guy that sort of stood out to me on the O-line was Jean-Giles. I thought he'd be slower but he actually pulls well for a guard.
- Jenkins is slow but he had a solid all around day.
- JR Reed looks great, he looks just as fast as he did before the injury

[mussa]

Glad to hear good stuff on JR Reed.  Baskett too.  I wish Avant wasn't hurt. I'm going to head up again later into TC, hopefully Avant will be healthy then.  Also, the nickle package with Dawkins as LB, sounds awesome. Now that you mentioned that, I do remember seeing Dawkins playing in LB spot when I was up.  This defense needs to have a top 5 defensive year.  There is no reason, why we can't be with the depth on D-line. Great report as always phreak, and SD_E

[ice grillin you]

i just got back from todays morning session...was also at yesterdays am and 10/10/10 practices

i wont really get into who was good and bad...but i agree with phreak yesterdays practices were sloppy as hell

todays was much better...im gonna say a big factor was the heat...yesterday was brutal and today actually pretty nice...not only did things run much better but the players were in much better spirits lots of hamming it up talking joking ect (ex. koy on kickoff coverage team covering one kick with the orange beanie over his face...looking like a fencer...

as for my impressions of certain players in a more general sense as opposed to if they had a good day or not...

schobel is super smooth and moves real well for a big guy...and i dont know if they are trying to incorporate him...the wr's cant get open...or the offense is going to go thru the te more than ever because he got i would say three times as many balls as any other players iver the two days i was there

i dont know what the team saw or sees in gocong...dook is frumpy...he has no build whatsoever...no way will he ever play sam in this league and i dont see his edge potential either...would be much better suited as an edge olb in a 3-4 if he makes it at all....i didnt see any athleticism in him...he looks like he could play nose tackle for rowan tho

whatever happens with jr reed the guy is amazing and deserves all the credit in the world...hes moving well but i dont know if that means well for where hes come from or well enough tomake an nfl team...i really really hope he makes it tho

trent cole is an animal...he merked winston justice all weekend long...which admittedly isnt saying much as justice looks out of his league right now...which is to be expected as a rookie but pray to the gods and earths that tra doesnt go down because as of now justice is nowhere close to playing in this league

pinky looked horrible (health wise)...im not a doctor but i dotn see him playing in a preseason game as of now...at least not any of the first few...he is not close imo

baskett is monster...what a body...slower than dirt tho...even if he doesnt make the team i cant believe they got him for mcmullen

shawn andrews...wow!...cant believe how trim he loks and he moves like a gazelle...quick as shtein compared to last year...hes also one of the more funloving outgoing good guys ive seen in a while...always having fun on the field and was tremendous during the autograph signings

not saying anything here that everyone doesnt already know but is there a better speciman in nfl history than jevon kearse...his body is insanity

darren howard is waaaaay bigger than he looks on tv...him and kearse at the ends = super scary and imposing

mccants took a crossing route in live 11 on 11's 85 yards to the house today...was surprised at his speed as he ran away from lito

for anyone who is going from here on out...in the middle of the merchandise tent they have $5 long sleeve 2004 nfc championship shirts for 5 bones

akers kicked a 63 yarder today...during live fg drills detmer was watching while johnson held..above and beyond the fact that he is  a hideous qb if that doesnt say everything about his chances of making the team i dont know what does

scott young has an awful mohawk

there was to much security around the trainign camp live tent for me to get to spadaro

pictures and anything else that struck me to follow...

[ice grillin you]

oh buck...another one that i hope makes it...hes off and on...one play hes smooth as butta and the next he looks to be moving very gingerly...good to see he doesnt wear anything on either knee...after watching him for two days i couldnt begin to tell you if he is going to make it even if he doesnt get hurt

hate to say it but reno was very impressive this morning...he is one shifty motherfarger


heres some pics...

killa cole




mcnasty to westbrook (not sure why you cant see the ball)


justice signing


peep the mohawk

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yo IGY, Beermonkey and I saw you in the bleachers by us. You were too far away to yell to without screaming in about 5 peoples ears and I didn't want to disturb you while you were with your lady. I was going to try to get your attention but then when I looked back you had left.

[Drunkmasterflex]

How many WRs will the Birds keep? Does Avant make the team if he continues to be on the sideline and Baskett continues to be solid?

I just saw on ESPN that there are only 5 first rounders that have not signed, of course Bunkley is one of them get him in now Goddamnit!

[ice grillin you]

Yo IGY, Beermonkey and I saw you in the bleachers by us. You were too far away to yell to without screaming in about 5 peoples ears and I didn't want to disturb you while you were with your lady. I was going to try to get your attention but then when I looked back you had left.

for real?

i didnt stay on the main bleachers long on saturday as the sun was beating me down...so i moved across to the bleachers on field 1 where the sun was behind me...i dont do good in heat

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yeah, you had an orange Flyers cap on. Beermonkey noticed ya and said "yo, there's Igy".

And it was hot as shtein yesterday. My arms and neck are burnt like crazy from the 3 days Ive been there.

[ice grillin you]

How many WRs will the Birds keep? Does Avant make the team if he continues to be on the sideline and Baskett continues to be solid?

baskett is imo far from making the team...the crowd has definitely taken to him and because of the the media as well i think....as i said his size is very impressive but he has very hard time getting open imo

[Drunkmasterflex]

Phreak is Gocong as brutal as IGY makes him out to be? Or is his assessment skewed due to the fact he didn't like the pick from the start.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I'm rooting for Baskett pretty hard right now.  I don't think there's room for both him and McCants.

[ice grillin you]

im not lying...i wish i got a picture of him...hes the only de or lb in all of camp that doesnt have a defined lower half...its not an exaggeration at all to say he is frumpy...if youve ever seen a 1-aa or div II nose tackle thats the kind of body he has...and i did not one time see any of this supposed explosiveness which was the reason for drafting him

Yeah, you had an orange Flyers cap on. Beermonkey noticed ya and said "yo, there's Igy".

yeah that was when i was moving...the hat was my girls i had it on at that point as the skin on my face was cooking off the the skull...it was brutal sat...i dont know how those players do it

[mussa]

Good shtein IG's, cool pics  HOLLA!