Being sick took more out of me than I thought it would. I was there on 8/6 but picked the wrong side to sit on. They were doing most of the drills on the left field and I was sitting on the right. Then on the 7th I felt like a truck hit me so I was down there just for the 2 minute drills and again sat on the wrong side. So I'm just going to try to give a general feeling of the 2 days.
Peyton was throwing longer and more zip passes both days. I was surprised how far several of his passes went. Before Sanders left the field he out threw him and that rarely happens....Sanders is fast. I saw Peyton do many different plays. They are handing off the ball more than I've seen in a long, long time but it seems smoother.
Thursday was not pretty with the O line. Ware and Von just broke threw over and over with passing plays. Peyton would have been sacked a lot if it were real play. Garcia seems to be catching on faster than Ty at this time. Wolfe schooled Max once and really bad. I didn't see Wolfe get behind him after that, but Ware was giving Ty a tough, tough time. I did see Ware talking to Ty on the side lines when they were not playing it looked like he was trying to give him tips on how to stop him. Peyton looked frustrated, more than I've seen him in a long time. Now I will say that the little on Friday they looked much better. I'm not sure if the 2 minute drill seems to be Peyton's friend and he can change things at the line, but they looked better. I'm sure the film study on Thurday day was ugly. Not sure if Von was that good or if was more Harris not holding him, who I like a lot. They have some serious work to protect in the passing plays and it seems like our TE will be more important that ever.
On the other side the D seems to really be gelling and loving it out there. Man Phillips keeps them moving and at a fast pace from the time they get going till the end. They did have pads on Thurs and I can't imagine how much water those boys are loosing. The coaches on the D side are loud and you hear them bark orders over and over and over. There is no doubt what is expected from them and they seem to be responding in a really positive way. Like I said Von and Ware are looking great right now. Ware has been the best thing for Von, he just seems to be the most focused I've seen in a long time. They are being super disruptive. I've also been impressed with Williams. He and Wolfe seem to be on the right track as far as creating havoc in the center. I was really bummed to see Wolfe carted off the field. He had a towel oven his head and they had to help him walk into the building. I'm glad that they are taking the possible concussion serious. Combine the hit on the head with the heat and I'm sure anyone would be seriously woozy. It's still hotter than snot out there. The clouds help but when the sun breaks through it's brutal.
The DB work the furthest away, but they seem to have developed a good chemistry too. I'm hearing a lot of chatter between them and remember Talib getting a pick on Manning. Ward looks more comfortable this year to me. As a group it just feels like they are gelling in a good way and know what the other one is doing. Roby has that walk out there that I'm "the one". He is giving crap to all the WR and just has a lot of confidence....
One of the players that I don't anything about but got a lot of my attention is 98 Darius Kilgo. I saw him bat a ball down and he seems to be giving the O line some grief.
DT has hands that continue to grab anything in his zip code. The kid jumps, dashes and just has those kind of hands. He did look tired to me on Thursday. I think he is still getting into football shape and walked pretty slow from one drill to the next, but he is special. Sanders just works his butt off. The man is always catching if he is in a drill or not. He gives it 110% each time he is in a drill. I wondered what happened to him at the end of Thurs, I'm hoping it just a glitch because we need what he brings.
Latimer and Norwood are looking great out there. Cody seems to have DT hands he grabbed everything that has been close, I did see Cody with the 1's several time. Norwood is fast and can seem to get open. IMO they are both better than Caldwell but DMac seems to think that Caldwell will be on this team.... The 2 that have improved a lot in just a week were Jordan Taylor that kid is so tall but is getting so much better at being in the right place and catching the tough throws and man did Soloman Patton improve. That kid got open and caught great passes from Dysert and Siemian. I know he won't make the squad but Corbin Louks has looked good, he is the guy that they just brought in. I'm hoping that he can make PS, because he seems to have caught on a lot for just getting here.
I don't know what to think about Brock. In practice he just isn't that much better than Dysert. In fact with 3's Dysert seems to be able to get down field in the 2 minute drill and Brock didn't. I think that Dysert has a nicer touch pass and had a few great long passes. Siemian has really improved in his week here. He was making a lot more completions and seems to be more comfortable overall. I'm sure they are looking for a PS guy and he very well could be that guy.
The RB are what I saw a week ago. CJ is the # 1 but Montee is pushing him. He looks the best I've ever seen him. His runs are just so much sharper and faster. He has really improved. Juwan is a powerful runner and Hillman is fast. Bibbs looks good, but there is a lot of talent on the roster right now.
Green and Daniels have stayed with the 1's and look good. They are passing a lot more to Green this year and he looks good, he looks really athletic. I don't remember him being that well built and looking so strong. James Casey has caught everything thrown his way and Marcel Jensen is just big. Joe Don Duncan is solid and has that pit bull kind of feel about him, but I haven't seen enough of him to really comment on him otherwise.
I noticed on Thurs that Schmitz was gone. So he did his part by getting Colquitt to reduce his salary. On Thursday they had McManus kick most of the FG and Friday they had Barth kick them. Both kicked some pretty long ones. It feels like they want to see as much as possible with both these guys because I suspect that in the end there will just be one that makes the team.
I'm looking forward to the first pre season game. The D just looks better to me right now, but I think that's normal. It will be nice to see how these guys play when it's against someone they can hit. Also I want to see how Brock is in real time with the WR's and RB's and the 1st O line. I hope this gives you a little more insight. Sorry it took me so long but sometimes I just have to go over what I saw and try to put it into words. GO BRONCS...pn