Day 2 Report
I was out hiking and a light mist of rain started to fall accompanied by the rumblings of thunder. Sure enough, it was time for more rain. By 12:30 the light mist had become a steady drizzle.
The lesson from the prior day is to arrive at least an hour early to get a good seat for practice. This paid off when they moved the practice inside. I was able to get front row at the sky dome.
Almost as soon as they let us in, Ben Graham was booming punts with Feely fielding them. Graham was starting on the 30 and routinely hitting the 10 or further back. Yes, at least 60 yards a kick. The ball just sailed in that stadium. I really want him to kick in Cowboys stadium cause I think he could nail the scoreboard.
About 30 minutes before practice was to start, #21 Calvin Jorrick walked up and spoke to Feely. Feely moved out of the way and let Jorrick start to field the punts. He dropped the first two, but then was 5-5 going forward.
Not long after Jorrick showed up, #30 CB Marshay Green and #47 Justin Miller came out. Miller was awful, dropping 3 out of 5 fielding attempts. Green continued to be the best of the bunch, missing only 1 of his 5 attempts. He is a little guy but so far is the only one who shows any ability at the job.
During this bungle fest, Feely decided to show the CBs how it was done and perfectly fielded a punt with a behind the back catch.
Unfortunately Andre Roberts was the last to join this unscheduled practice. He fielded only 2 attempts, but didn't drop any. The other guys competing for this job were out a good 10 minutes before he showed up.
The official practice was soon on it's way.
QBs
The trash can drill was the big thing again.
Leinart was the winner this time. He was the only one to hit the edge on the deep throw. He dropped on in on the 25 yard passes. He was consistently to the closest to the trash can, especially on the deep passes.
Anderson finished second by sinking one of his attempts. He celebrated by running around the field with his arms spread like airplane.
Skelton finished third by hitting the rim on one of his attempts.
Hall was a distant fourth. He never even hit the trash can or even got close to it.
Mixed Practice:
Leinart showed good accuracy again on the short and intermediate routes. He got knocked down by Dockett, who straight bull rushed through Reggie Wells. Matt wasn't able to complete a deep pass. He again showed good maneuverability in evading the rush.
Anderson is almost the opposite of Matt. Given time, he threw two giant passes, one that was dropped by Breaston and one that went for a TD. Meanwhile, he struggled to complete passes in traffic and should have been picked off by Rashad Johnson
Skelton and Hall didn't really distinguish themselves in the mixed drill.
RBs
We have no worries here.
Hightower has some of the best hands on the team and continued to run with the first team. Hightower did fumble during the mixed practice.
Beanie looked like a man among boys when he carried the ball. Just exploding and cutting through the defense. Adrian said he would have 1500 yards at the Big Red Rage and I laughed. Two days into camp and I am not laughing. What will keep Beanie from hitting that number is how good Hightower is with receiving. Beanie dropped two passes and needs to work on that if he wants to be a 3 down back.
WRs
Andre Roberts - Another absolutely brutal day. 3 drops that I saw.
Early Doucet - Had a good day and caught anything tossed his way as long as he didn't have DRC on him.
Steve Breaston - Dropped an easy bomb from Anderson. Seems to have a good report with Leinart and not much with anyone else. Didn't really impress.
Larry Fitzgerald - Okay so today Larry rides into the Stadium on his Segway. Everyone else came through the tunnel, he came through the car entrance. He rode by the fans as they cheered him. When he parked the Segway and got off, one of the offensive linemen appeared to make fun of the whole thing by doing the "Were not worthy" thing from Wayne's World.
He was back in his tights while everyone else was in shorts. Halfway through practice, he is pulling his jersey up to just below his chest and walking around with his abs out. I am not even kidding.
Not hating here, it was just...odd. No one else is walking around in tights and basically shirtless on the practice field. It is strange because Larry is such a low drama guy.
#18 Max Komar had the grab of the day as he plucked an errant Max Hall pass from just above the turf while he was going down. Little white guy who makes great grabs in practice. Lance Long part 2, down to the number.
Edward Gant had a good day and will likely be competing with Onrea Jones for the last roster spot. Today Gant had the clear advantage and even stayed afterwards to catch passes from Leinart.
FB
#42 Charles Ali who looked great in strength and blocking drills the today before can't catch a cold on a rainy day in Flagstaff.
TE
Stephen Spach - Distinguished himself on many levels. He had a huge grab for a TD from Anderson, beating Kerry Rhodes deep. He caught another ball in traffic. And capped it all with a tiny tussel with Rashad Johnson
OL
Levi Brown was beaten more than once in the mixed drills.
Herman Johnson lined up at Tackle today and was dominant springing two of Beanie's big runs and protecting Anderson well from Alan Branch.
DL
I really only watched these guys during the mixed drills.
Darnell Dockett - Picking up Reggie Wells and using him to knock down Leinart just shows how dominant this guy is. Also had a knock down on a Leinart pass.
Calais Campbell - I love this kid. Always smiling. He takes every drill so serious like he might get cut if he messes up.
Alan Branch - Couldn't do anything with Herman Johnson. Didn't distinguish himself again.
LBs
Daryl Washington - Looked very smooth in coverage. Tipped a pass during the mixed practice. Had great hands. 58 is a good number for him. If he can tackle we have a starting LB.
Cody Brown - Awful in coverage. Fell down twice during direction changes. Didn't notice him during the mixed drills.
DBs
Adrian Wilson - For some reason wore #9 today. There was a great moment during the DB contact drills where A-Dub just killed his guy. He hit him so hard the coach started applauding. No one showed the physicality he did during the drill. Definitely set the standard.
DRC - What can't he do? Looked great in his punt return. Caught every ball during the DB spin and catch drill. Looked smooth the entire time. Didn't allow a pass completion on him all day.
Greg Toler - Had a real nice day. Smooth footwork and good hands. Broke up a Derek Anderson pass and hurt his arm. Had to be yelled at by the coach to take a play off. Finished out the day though.
Rashad Johnson - Had a rough start including having the coach yell at him to pay attention during the drills. After that was lights out. Broke up any pass that came near him during the mixed practice and got into a little scrum with Spach.
Matt Ware distinguished himself during the spin and catch drills. Made it look very easy to change directions quickly.
Justin Miller dropped a pass during the spin and catch drills and didn't look fluid at all.
Calvin Jorrick bobbled a couple catches. He seems to have bad hands, hence why he struggles with the punt coverage. At least he is putting in the extra work.
Afterwards:
Leinart, Skelton, and Hall all stayed on the field and put in extra work. Skelton was actually the last to stop practicing.
Hightower, Rhodes, and Leinart were the only ones to sign autographs today.
Leinart was still signing them when I left a half hour after practice. I have no idea when he stopped.
I was out hiking and a light mist of rain started to fall accompanied by the rumblings of thunder. Sure enough, it was time for more rain. By 12:30 the light mist had become a steady drizzle.
The lesson from the prior day is to arrive at least an hour early to get a good seat for practice. This paid off when they moved the practice inside. I was able to get front row at the sky dome.
Almost as soon as they let us in, Ben Graham was booming punts with Feely fielding them. Graham was starting on the 30 and routinely hitting the 10 or further back. Yes, at least 60 yards a kick. The ball just sailed in that stadium. I really want him to kick in Cowboys stadium cause I think he could nail the scoreboard.
About 30 minutes before practice was to start, #21 Calvin Jorrick walked up and spoke to Feely. Feely moved out of the way and let Jorrick start to field the punts. He dropped the first two, but then was 5-5 going forward.
Not long after Jorrick showed up, #30 CB Marshay Green and #47 Justin Miller came out. Miller was awful, dropping 3 out of 5 fielding attempts. Green continued to be the best of the bunch, missing only 1 of his 5 attempts. He is a little guy but so far is the only one who shows any ability at the job.
During this bungle fest, Feely decided to show the CBs how it was done and perfectly fielded a punt with a behind the back catch.
Unfortunately Andre Roberts was the last to join this unscheduled practice. He fielded only 2 attempts, but didn't drop any. The other guys competing for this job were out a good 10 minutes before he showed up.
The official practice was soon on it's way.
QBs
The trash can drill was the big thing again.
Leinart was the winner this time. He was the only one to hit the edge on the deep throw. He dropped on in on the 25 yard passes. He was consistently to the closest to the trash can, especially on the deep passes.
Anderson finished second by sinking one of his attempts. He celebrated by running around the field with his arms spread like airplane.
Skelton finished third by hitting the rim on one of his attempts.
Hall was a distant fourth. He never even hit the trash can or even got close to it.
Mixed Practice:
Leinart showed good accuracy again on the short and intermediate routes. He got knocked down by Dockett, who straight bull rushed through Reggie Wells. Matt wasn't able to complete a deep pass. He again showed good maneuverability in evading the rush.
Anderson is almost the opposite of Matt. Given time, he threw two giant passes, one that was dropped by Breaston and one that went for a TD. Meanwhile, he struggled to complete passes in traffic and should have been picked off by Rashad Johnson
Skelton and Hall didn't really distinguish themselves in the mixed drill.
RBs
We have no worries here.
Hightower has some of the best hands on the team and continued to run with the first team. Hightower did fumble during the mixed practice.
Beanie looked like a man among boys when he carried the ball. Just exploding and cutting through the defense. Adrian said he would have 1500 yards at the Big Red Rage and I laughed. Two days into camp and I am not laughing. What will keep Beanie from hitting that number is how good Hightower is with receiving. Beanie dropped two passes and needs to work on that if he wants to be a 3 down back.
WRs
Andre Roberts - Another absolutely brutal day. 3 drops that I saw.
Early Doucet - Had a good day and caught anything tossed his way as long as he didn't have DRC on him.
Steve Breaston - Dropped an easy bomb from Anderson. Seems to have a good report with Leinart and not much with anyone else. Didn't really impress.
Larry Fitzgerald - Okay so today Larry rides into the Stadium on his Segway. Everyone else came through the tunnel, he came through the car entrance. He rode by the fans as they cheered him. When he parked the Segway and got off, one of the offensive linemen appeared to make fun of the whole thing by doing the "Were not worthy" thing from Wayne's World.
He was back in his tights while everyone else was in shorts. Halfway through practice, he is pulling his jersey up to just below his chest and walking around with his abs out. I am not even kidding.
Not hating here, it was just...odd. No one else is walking around in tights and basically shirtless on the practice field. It is strange because Larry is such a low drama guy.
#18 Max Komar had the grab of the day as he plucked an errant Max Hall pass from just above the turf while he was going down. Little white guy who makes great grabs in practice. Lance Long part 2, down to the number.
Edward Gant had a good day and will likely be competing with Onrea Jones for the last roster spot. Today Gant had the clear advantage and even stayed afterwards to catch passes from Leinart.
FB
#42 Charles Ali who looked great in strength and blocking drills the today before can't catch a cold on a rainy day in Flagstaff.
TE
Stephen Spach - Distinguished himself on many levels. He had a huge grab for a TD from Anderson, beating Kerry Rhodes deep. He caught another ball in traffic. And capped it all with a tiny tussel with Rashad Johnson
OL
Levi Brown was beaten more than once in the mixed drills.
Herman Johnson lined up at Tackle today and was dominant springing two of Beanie's big runs and protecting Anderson well from Alan Branch.
DL
I really only watched these guys during the mixed drills.
Darnell Dockett - Picking up Reggie Wells and using him to knock down Leinart just shows how dominant this guy is. Also had a knock down on a Leinart pass.
Calais Campbell - I love this kid. Always smiling. He takes every drill so serious like he might get cut if he messes up.
Alan Branch - Couldn't do anything with Herman Johnson. Didn't distinguish himself again.
LBs
Daryl Washington - Looked very smooth in coverage. Tipped a pass during the mixed practice. Had great hands. 58 is a good number for him. If he can tackle we have a starting LB.
Cody Brown - Awful in coverage. Fell down twice during direction changes. Didn't notice him during the mixed drills.
DBs
Adrian Wilson - For some reason wore #9 today. There was a great moment during the DB contact drills where A-Dub just killed his guy. He hit him so hard the coach started applauding. No one showed the physicality he did during the drill. Definitely set the standard.
DRC - What can't he do? Looked great in his punt return. Caught every ball during the DB spin and catch drill. Looked smooth the entire time. Didn't allow a pass completion on him all day.
Greg Toler - Had a real nice day. Smooth footwork and good hands. Broke up a Derek Anderson pass and hurt his arm. Had to be yelled at by the coach to take a play off. Finished out the day though.
Rashad Johnson - Had a rough start including having the coach yell at him to pay attention during the drills. After that was lights out. Broke up any pass that came near him during the mixed practice and got into a little scrum with Spach.
Matt Ware distinguished himself during the spin and catch drills. Made it look very easy to change directions quickly.
Justin Miller dropped a pass during the spin and catch drills and didn't look fluid at all.
Calvin Jorrick bobbled a couple catches. He seems to have bad hands, hence why he struggles with the punt coverage. At least he is putting in the extra work.
Afterwards:
Leinart, Skelton, and Hall all stayed on the field and put in extra work. Skelton was actually the last to stop practicing.
Hightower, Rhodes, and Leinart were the only ones to sign autographs today.
Leinart was still signing them when I left a half hour after practice. I have no idea when he stopped.
