[Note by River City Rage, 08/01/08 11:57 AM EDT ] Once again, Big Cat Country would like to thank FBT.  You can read more of his work at Jaguars Journal.

The weather could not have been more perfect as the team took the field this evening in shorts and shells for what was a relatively light practice session with the scrimmage on the agenda for tomorrow.  The rain had cleared out several hours earlier, so the fields were much drier.  It was a relatively cool evening with a nice breeze and a small crowd in attendance.

The injury list appears to be holding steady with Chad Nkang, Jeremy Mincey, Reggie Williams, Jerry Porter, George Wrighster, and Brad Meester missing the evening session for well documented health issues.

Porter was at the practice facility for a good portion of the session before heading back to the locker room, happily signing autographs on his way out.  He had his leg wrapped heavily from just below the knee to his buttocks region, and with the ice packs that were on the back side of his leg, it was difficult for him NOT to limp, so it is difficult to assess where he is at right now with his progress.  The limp is probably being caused by the wrap since it is pretty bulky.  When he was on the practice field earlier this week without the wrap, he was walking without any noticeable gait.

Tonight, the practice was almost all about 11 x 11 drills.  They mixed in a few variables, but the overwhelming majority was full squad drills.

So, let us get right to the drills because there was plenty of action this evening to talk about.

11 x 11 (Part I):

D’Juan Woods was streaking down the sideline on a go route when David Garrard lobbed up a bomb.  Rashean Mathis stayed with Woods stride for stride, and was able to get in when the ball arrived to knock it away. 

Maurice Jones Drew took a well set up screen pass from David Garrard and followed his blocks to convert a nice first down.

Dennis Northcutt and David Garrard hit on a quick slant with Northcutt coming out of the slot.  It was one of those bang-bang plays that require perfect timing, and the two clearly had it here.  The reception went for a big gain.

Greg Jones tried to carry the ball off the right side, but Tony McDaniel showed nice burst, cutting into the backfield and blowing up the play, stuffing the fullback at the line of scrimmage. 

Cleo Lemon tried to connect with Greg Estandia on a deep seam route.  Estandia had gotten open in the secondary, but Lemon’s pass was slightly overthrown, falling incomplete.

Lemon came back on the next play and hit Jeron Harvey on a post pattern in double coverage.  Lemon really had to zip the ball into the receiver to make the connection.

Theo Horrocks found himself locking in on Lemon on the next play.  They were trying to set up a screen play, but with the ensuing pass rush closing in fast, Lemon was forced to throw it at the feet of Chauncey Washington.

Fred Taylor showed nice cutback ability, and then hit the burners to run a sweep to the left.  Mike Peterson did a great job of getting a good angle on Taylor, then forcing him out of bounds after a nice gain.

Fred tried to bounce one outside again, but Paul Spicer had gotten into the backfield and sniffed out the play, forcing Fred back inside.  Had the tackling been live, he would have gotten stuffed for a loss. 

Montell Owens tried to run a sweep to the left, but Kenny Pettway got into the backfield and stuffed Owens before he could get to the outside, causing a five yard loss.

The defense continued to flex their muscle when Chauncey Washington attempted to take one up the middle only to run square into Derek Landri, who had gotten solid penetration on the play, stopping Washington for a loss.

Lavarus Giles tried a sweep to the right, but Clint Ingram blew the play up, stopping Giles for a big loss on the play.

The running game finally found some positive gains when Fred took a run off behind the right guard for a modest gain.  Unfortunately, the positive gains were short-lived as Maurice Jones-Drew ran a sweep that Gerald Sensabaugh and Tony Gilbert jumped, shutting Drew down for a 3 yard loss.

11 x 11 (Red Zone):

David connected with Mike Walker on a nice post route with Drayton Florence right there in coverage.  Walker was able to snag the pass for a touchdown.

Troy Williamson found a hole between Mike Peterson and Justin Durant and hauled in a nice pass from David Garrard going over the middle. 

Marcedes Lewis made a great jumping, twisting catch in front of the post with Reggie Nelson, Brian Williams, and Lamar Myles blanketing him.  Lemon put the pass up high so that Lewis was forced to go up for it, and he also had to make a terrific adjustment as the ball was thrown to his back shoulder.

Tony Gilbert had his best practice of training camp.  Along with blowing up a running play earlier in the session, he also plugged a hole that Montell Owens was attempting to exploit, stuffing him at the line for no gain. 

Derek Landri was also enjoying a great evening, finding a push through the offensive line and forcing Cleo Lemon to pull the ball down and head for the sideline, taking a short loss on the play.

John Henderson took advantage of good penetration to slap down a David Garrard pass intended for Dennis Northcutt.

Troy Williamson made a nice move to get open in the end zone on a crossing route.  Gerald Sensabaugh recovered nicely and was able to knock the pass from Garrard out, forcing an incomplete pass. 

Garrard went back to Williamson again a few plays later on a fade route in the back of the end zone.  Williamson was fully extended trying to haul the pass in, and he got both hands on the ball, but the pass was slightly high of the mark, and he was not able to hang on to it with the defender hitting him on the way down. 

Garrard came back and hit Fred Taylor on a nice little corner route that wound up being a touchdown.

7 x 7 (Red Zone):

Garrard continues to favor Dennis Northcutt, connecting with him on two plays to start the drill, both of them slants that went for nice gains.  On the second play, Justin Durant did a nice job of covering Northcutt, but Dennis was able to get the angle and Garrard delivered the pass right on target to make the completion.

Troy Williamson made a great catch on an out in front of Pierson Prioleau.  Prioleau was right there in coverage, but Williamson was able to wrestle the ball away to make the catch on the pass delivered by Garrard. 

Cleo Lemon went to Mike Walker on a curl route, but Scott Starks picked up on the route and almost cut the pass off and intercepted it.  The ball fell incomplete, but Starks made a nice play nonetheless. 

D’Juan Woods had one of his more difficult practice sessions.  Maybe it was the fact that the coverage was never far enough away, or maybe it was fatigue.  Whatever the reason, he had a couple of dropped passes.  On one particular play, he had Rashod Moulton beaten down the sideline by a good yard.  Cleo Lemon dropped the ball right in his hands in stride, but the ball bounced right out.

John Broussard made a nice falling sideline catch on a deep pass from Cleo Lemon. 

Matt Jones had a couple of nice grabs during this drill, including one post route with Rashod Moulton on the coverage.  Jones was able to snap up the Cleo Lemon pass over the top of coverage.  Later in the drill, Jones ran a cross in traffic.  One of the linebackers went for the pick on a David Garrard pass, but did not get to the ball.  Jones proceeded to take the ball into the end zone untouched.

Todd Bouman had a rough practice tonight.  Several of his passes missed the mark, but one in particular was so poorly thrown to the sideline that there was not a player within 5 yards of the pass. 

11 x 11 (Part III):

Kenny Pettway made a nice play on a David Garrard pass, getting decent penetration, and then batting the ball down.

David had Mike Walker wide open streaking down the sideline.  Walker had gotten behind Reggie Nelson and Rashean Mathis.  Unfortunately, David overshot his target, missing Walker by a yard. 

Matt Jones had what would be considered the highlight play of the night on a crossing route.  David Garrard’s pass was thrown high but also slightly behind Matt.  Matt was able to tip the ball, then catch it despite the fact that Drayton Florence was on him like a blanket trying to shake the ball loose. 

Final Impressions:

The Jaguars had a flare up during practice when Maurice Williams and John Henderson got into a skirmish that wound up with Henderson losing his helmet, and a few punches being thrown. 

The Jaguars had several VIP’s and their families on the field when practice ended.  These folks got some nice autographs and great access to the team.  While that was happening, I got an opportunity to watch our quarterback, David Garrard, interact with his baby.  It was fun to watch as David and Mary had the baby on the field and he was horsing around.  Then, they tried to get the younger Garrard to walk, and he took a few steps between his parents.  Good stuff.  Hopefully someone had a camera out there when this happened.

More later!

The Jags took the field tonight under somewhat humid, but cooler conditions than during the early sessions.  Still, the humidity claimed a couple of victims on the field in the night session.  The boys were in shells tonight as they prepare for the next step as the pads go on tomorrow night beginning the portion of training camp where the defense can finally be heard from.

The players that did not participate in practice included Jerry Porter, Dennis Northcutt, George Wrighster, Chad Nkang, Jeremy Mincey, and Reggie Williams.  The good news on Williams is that he did not appear to be limping, and while his knee was wrapped and iced early in practice, he took off all of the wrappings later on and was walking around looking fine.

The team is clearly tinkering with the rotations both on the offensive line at left tackle, and again with the linebacker corps.  On the line, Barnes and Collier both spent about the same amount of time with the first and second team lines.  And on the linebacker corps, Clint Ingram was in the rotation with Mike Peterson and Daryl Smith this evening. 

Let’s get right into the drills because there was plenty of action this evening to talk about.

2 x 1:

On the very first play of the drill, there was a slight scare as the unit that was on the field turf started their portion.  As Mike Walker took the field, he slipped on his first cut when running a simple curl route.  He appeared to come up somewhat gimpy on the play, walking off to the sideline and looking to be somewhat in distress.  However, a few plays later, he was back on the field, and did not show any effects from the incident for the remainder of practice.

The field turf was chewing up the receivers at a nice clip early in the session.  Not only did Mike Walker slip and fall, but so did John Broussard and Ryan Hogue.  Even Matt Jones slipped, but he was able to keep his footing on the cut. 

During the drill, Mike Walker was able to return and show the same crispness in his route running and ball skills that made him such a popular player during camp last season.  He also showed great deep speed.  Unfortunately, on the one play where he had Rashean Mathis beaten by a full step on a go route, David Garrard delivered the pass a bit short of the mark.  The ball wound up bouncing off of Mathis’ helmet.  He almost intercepted the pass off the carom. 

Walker also went toe-to-toe with Drayton Florence, and on another deep pass from Garrard on the deep sideline route, Florence was able to prevent the ball from being brought in for what would have been a touchdown.

John Broussard is quickly getting his stride in camp.  He had a couple of very nicely executed plays during the session, including one route in which he made such a precise cut that when Trae Williams went to cut to stick with his coverage, he lost a shoe.  On another play, Broussard had Reggie Nelson beaten by two full steps on a deep pass, but the ball was thrown short by David Garrard, and Neslon was able to knock the ball away.

Troy Williamson showed some nice route running and ball skill as he was able to shake Drayton Florence on a quick curl route that caught the DB off guard.  Williamson came back later in the drill and pulled the same move on Gerald Sensabaugh finding similar success on the play.

Clyde Edwards, who has been relatively quiet thus far in training camp, made what had to be the play of the drill.  On a deep seam route with Brian Witherspoon in coverage, David Garrard came up a bit short on the pass.  That wound up helping the play as Edwards was able to stop his route and come back for the ball, shaking Witherspoon in the process and scoring a touchdown. 

Edwards came back later in the drill and showed that he can make the plays over the middle as well, victimizing Trae Williams as he got position on him in traffic.  Todd Bowman put the ball right in the spot that it needed to be, and Edwards was able to wrest the ball away from Williams who had the play covered as well as could be expected.

D’Juan Woods showed some nice route running skils as well, faking a corner route, and then going for the post.  When he made the fake and then the cut, he got Isaiah Gardner tangled up in his own feet, causing him to fall down on the play, leaving the receiver wide open on the play.

Todd Bowman struggled considerably with his accuracy this evening.  On at least a couple of occasions, he missed his receivers badly on simple plays.  In one particular instance, he had Ryan Hogue wide open on a sideline route where Hogue had shaken Michael Grant in coverage.  The pass was delivered late, and fell short of the mark landing on the field turf.

Later in practice, he was almost intercepted by Grant again when he completely missed Clyde Edwards on a mid-range sideline pass.  He was fortunate that the ball fell incomplete.

11 x 11 (Part I):

The session started off with a little bit of Fred Taylor coming out of the backfield and taking a short dump off pass from David Garrard.  Fred threw it into high gear and showed that those 32 year old legs have plenty of steam left in them. 

Reggie Hayward is quietly starting to step up his game.  During the 11 x 11 drills, he was constantly in Garrard’s face on plays.  On one particular play, he could have sacked David twice on the play.  Garrard was able to run out of the backfield for a short gain, but if there was contact, he would have been done.  Hayward showed nice quickness in getting to the quarterback, and then chased him to the far sideline until Garrard was safely out of bounds.

From that point in the first 11 x 11, it became clear that the defense, in shells, was going to step up their game.  After completing a pass to D’Juan Woods for a short gain, David Garrard had his next pass intended for Matt Jones over the middle batted down by John Henderson.   On the next play, Garrard was chased out of the pocket by James Wyche and Paul Spicer who flushed him out and followed him to the sideline.

Cleo Lemon continues to look fairly solid.  He has nice touch on his deeper passes, although he clearly does not possess the same velocity on his fastball that Garrard does.  However, he has a feel for putting the pass over the top particularly on the deeper sideline routes.  He connected with Ryan Hogue on a deep sideline pass, going over Jamaal Fudge on the play to make a big gain. 

Lemon was almost picked off on the next play when he tried to go deep again to John Broussard.  Fudge could not get a handle on the ball or it would have been intercepted.

Field Goal Drills:

The team ran a few plays to let Josh Scobee stretch the leg.  On 6 attempts, Scobee nailed it from 30 yards twice, 34, 35, 36, and 44 yards consecutively. 

7 x 7:

Mike Walker continued to show nice things during the drill, making three strong catches, two of which are worth noting.  On one of the plays, Walker was able to haul in a deep corner pass from David Garrard making a nice falling catch.  He came back later in the session and pulled in a terrific catch over Rashod Moulton and in front of Gerald Sensabaugh on a pass from Cleo Lemon.  The deep pass was dropped perfectly in the gap, and Walker made a great effort at the goal line to get the ball into the end zone.  He came up short, but it was still a valiant effort on his part.

Montell Owens found himself in Kennedy Pola’s dog house for a bit this evening.  After dropping a routine pass from Cleo Lemon on a short crossing route, Pola had the running back drop and give him 20 right there on the field.  The last guy that wound up on Kennedy Pola’s list was cut this spring, so Montell needs to be more attentive to the ball.  The message must have gotten through.   He went back out three plays later and hauled in the same pass without any trouble, and did not miss anything else for the remainder of practice.

Paul Smith connected with Ryan Hogue on a deep out pattern over the top of Rashod Moulton.  Hogue has shown solid ball skills through the first two days of training camp, catching almost everything thrown in his zip code. 

Matt Jones showed a little tenacity on a crossing route with Reggie Nelson in coverage.  Garrard put the ball in Jones’ hands, and Nelson immediately went for the ball.  Jones fought him off and held on to the pass after getting hit twice by Nelson to shake the ball loose.

Marcedes Lewis had an opportunity to make a great play in triple coverage on a deep post pattern from David Garrard.  The bullet hit Marcedes squarely in the chest, but he was unable to hold on to the ball.  The ball was perfectly delivered into coverage, but it appeared that Lewis had his concentration broken on the play.

Greg Jones showed uncharacteristically bad hands on a little crossing route.  Garrard put the ball out in front of him in traffic and Jones simply muffed the catch. 

Charles Davis continues to make his case, making another nice grab along the sideline on a deep pass from Cleo Lemon.  For a big guy, he runs solid routes and shows some decent ball skill. 

Paul Smith once again found a teal jersey when he was intercepted by Brian Witherspoon on a play.  Witherspoon showed some nice speed on the return.

Another player trying to make an impression is Anthony Cotrone.  He showed strong concentration in double coverage going over the middle on a crossing route.  The pass from Todd Bowman was threaded into coverage, and the catch Cotrone made was worthy enough for him to get a congratulatory pat by Kennedy Pola when he returned to the sideline.

Pierson Prioleau made a nice play to bat away a sure touchdown pass delivered by David Garrard and intended for Clyde Edwards. 

11 x 11 (Part II):

Reggie Hayward continued to have a solid night, getting what would have been a sack on David Garrard if there was contact allowed.  As it was, Hayward was practically dancing with David on the play. 

On the next play, Garrard threw behind Matt Jones on a crossing pattern.  The ball was low, and Jones tried to adjust to go back after the pass, but momentum would have none of that.  Instead, Brian Williams graciously took the ball the other way, intercepting the errant pass.

Before the next play started, the Jaguars had two players that appeared to be overcome by heat and humidity.  It must have been awfully funny to Reggie Hayward because he fell down laughing at the line, and when he did, the training staff thought he was hurt.  They came running to his aide, but discovered quickly that he was fine.  However, the lineman that went down in a heap at the line was none other than the infamous phantom camp injury guy, John Henderson.  While that was going on, on the other side of the line, D’Juan Woods was truly overcome by the heat and had to be assisted to the training shed by two members of the training staff.  His situation appeared to be more serious as the trainers immediately pulled off his shells, and shirts.  He was looking awfully wobbly out there when they were helping him off the field.  He was clearly in distress. 

When play resumed, Charles Davis took a pass from Cleo Lemon on a slant pattern and turned it into a long gain.  He once again showed some nice moves to get to the ball in traffic, and then went through a couple of defensive backs on the play. 

Mike Walker made a great move on a deep pass from Cleo Lemon on the sideline.  Walker had to turn to try to catch the ball on his back shoulder while trying to shed Gerald Sensabaugh who was blanketing him in coverage.  At the last second, Sensabaugh won the battle, and the ball fell incomplete.

Richard Angulo made a nice play on a deep corner route, pulling down a high pass from Todd Bowman on the sideline, keeping his feet in bounds until he had control. 

James Wyche has started to step up his game, becoming a fixture in the back field reminiscent of training camp 2007 where he was an absolute terror.  On one play in particular, he had a line on David Garrard that would have resulted in a sack.  He showed nice speed getting into the backfield and disrupting the play.  Garrard was able to get the pass off and Troy Williamson made a terrific diving catch, but the pass never would have happened if the defender was allowed to engage.

Garrard came back on the very next play and threw the same pass to Mike Walker, who also made a very nice grab, staying upright and getting decent yards after the catch to pad the play a bit. 

Fred Taylor shows that he still has the ability to shift the entire defense.  On his final carry of the night, Taylor went left behind Maurice Williams, but the defense had collapsed that side of the line.  Taylor quickly cut to the right, and broke off on a big run the other way as the defense was trying to regain their footing.  It was vintage Freddie. 

The final play of the night was another nice grab by Troy Williamson.  Cleo Lemon launched a deep pass down the sideline, and Williamson made a terrific diving grab in front of Drayton Florence.  The coaching staff was clearly pleased enough to call it a night after that play.

Final impressions:

The defense obviously is ready to assert itself.  There were several blitz packages being teased out there tonight, and Reggie Nelson was involved in quite a few of them.  They are clearly going to be more aggressive in going after the quarterback, and they are going to be coming after the signal caller from all angles.  This approach is different from years past.  Seeing it in action when the team goes live with contact should be fun to watch.

The receiving battle is heating up quite nicely.  With Northcutt now on the sideline, joining Reggie Williams and Jerry Porter, the top three receivers are down with injuries, but the passing game has not really missed a beat.  Thankfully, none of the injuries are serious.  But, it is encouraging that we are starting to see Mike Walker and John Broussard emerging along with Troy Williamson. Matt Jones is also having a solid training camp.  The added repetitions also help bubble guys like Ryan Hogue to try to impress the coaches enough to possibly find their way on to the practice squad at the very worst.

More later!

The Jacksonville Jaguars returned to the practice fields to begin the process of preparing for the 2008 season this morning.  It was a balmy start for Camp Del Rio 2008 at the practice facility with barely a breeze.  The overcast skies kept it from becoming too hot for the players on the field, and the 2,500-3,000 fans in attendance were also grateful. 

This was a very light and short practice session by previous camp standards.  The entire practice ran about 75 minutes, which is significantly shorter than in years past.  It may have been an effort by the coaching staff to ease into this process as the real grind will begin on Monday when the pads are in play.

The first players to work their way on to the field were Josh Scobee and Adam Podlesh.  The first non-special teams player to take the field for the first practice session, several minutes ahead of his teammates, was John Broussard.  As the players trickled out on to the field, the crowd was somewhat subdued compared to years past, which is probably a good thing.  By the time troubled wide receiver Matt Jones took the field, there were fortunately no cat calls or boos from the crowd, averting the first public relations disaster for the team.

The players who did not participate during practice this morning included Mike Walker, who worked with the training staff and did do some individual drills, Chad Nkang, Jeremy Mincey, George Wrighster, Reggie Williams, and Fred Taylor, who was excused for the funeral of Samari Rolle’s father.

Now, let us get right to the drills.

11 x 11 (Part I):

The 11 x 11 drill started off with quite a bit of short passing, either dumps out of the backfield, or simple crossing patterns.  David Garrard connected on the first pass play of the day with Greg Jones on a little slant over the middle that went for a decent gain.  Jones is looking good early in camp, although it is certainly a little premature to say that he has fully recovered from the knee injury two years ago. 

Jones does appear to be back at full speed as witnessed by the nice burst that he displayed this morning.  For what he is being paid, the general consensus is that he will have more of a role than simply being the fullback for the Jaguars this year.

Paul Spicer had the first solid defensive play of the day, batting down a Garrard pass at the line of scrimmage on what was intended to be another short pass to the sideline.

Troy Williamson continues to be rock solid.  Again, this is a non-contact drill, but in the 11x11 session, he made a terrific falling grab on a deep sideline pass from Cleo Lemon.

Another guy who is having a solid off-season is Dennis Northcutt, who had the best performance of the first session of training camp.  Garrard has clearly continued to favor him over the other receivers, and he has consistently made plays.  Northcutt is still trying to dial in his timing with Cleo Lemon, who did miss the receiver on a deep seam route where Northcutt was a step behind the deep pass.

Chauncey Washington got an opportunity to carry the ball a few times early in practice.  This is a kid that has some decent size, and surprising quickness and burst.  He shot through the hole with purpose on one particular running play up the middle, breaking through untouched by the huge hole cleared by the offensive line.

Lavarus Giles also got a chance to show his ability, and compared to the other backs on the roster, it is clear that he has an uphill battle ahead of him.  He does not possess the speed or quickness of the other backs, and that leaves him struggling to get out of the backfield at times even in non-contact drills.  On one particular play, he wound up running right into the back of one of his blockers three yards deep in the backfield.  That’s not a good way to impress the coaching staff.

Maurice Jones-Drew had an opportunity to make a few plays, and he looked as quick as ever.  He will be a critical cog in the entire plan for the offense this year, and he appears to be ready to fulfill any and all expectations.

Marcedes Lewis and Greg Estandia both looked solid out there.  Neither player appeared to be suffering any lingering effects from their injuries.  Richard Angulo was not quite as sharp, and showed significant difficulty in hanging on to passes.  In one particular incident during this drill, Todd Bouman hit him squarely in the hands and the ball went right through.  This was only the beginning of a rough practice session for Angulo as he fights to earn a roster spot with Wrighster sidelined.

Paul Smith continually struggled with getting the ball to his receivers.  His accuracy was almost non-existent at times as he fought to get the ball to his receivers.  On one play, he caught the ire of his coach, Mike Shula, after throwing a sideline pass so far behind Jeron Harvey that it almost appeared that it was thrown to someone on the sideline, out of bounds. 

Todd Bouman and Cleo Lemon both looked solid in practice this morning.  Lemon has clearly improved over what was being reported early in the process.  His throws are showing a little more zip, and he is being more accurate with his passes across the board.  On the passes that he did miss his mark, it was not by very much.  As he continues working with the receivers, his timing will almost certainly improve. 

David Garrard has assumed the role of the man.  There is no pressure on him to keep his job at this point, and that confidence is clear when he takes the field.  Compared to this time last year, Garrard is light years ahead of his normal preseason pace, throwing with decent accuracy and power.  On two deep passes that he did attempt, he was on target and hit his receivers in stride.

7 x 7:

Garrard connected with running backs and tight ends for most of this session.  The team is trying to incorporate these positions more into the passing game to get their playmakers in space where they can do their thing. 

Garrard started the drill by hitting Maurice Jones-Drew in stride on a quick crossing route that the running back turned into a big gain.

David and Marcedes ALMOST hooked up on the play of the day during the drill.  Lewis had gotten open in the seam and was running a post route when Garrard spotted him and launched a deep ball in his direction.  The pass was a little high, but Lewis got his hands on it but was unable to haul it in.  It would have been a spectacular play had he been able to bring the ball in.

Anthony Cottone was getting a good bit of action during practice this morning as well.  On thee separate plays from three different quarterbacks, the fullback was targeted during the drills.  In each case, they were simple quick outs that he made solid plays on.

Charles Davis, the tight end from Purdue also saw some limited action running short slant and out patterns.  On one play, he made a nice catch in traffic going over the middle on a seven yard crossing pattern, showing good concentration in bringing the ball in.  He has decent size and hands.  He will be an interesting player to watch to see how he develops with the tight end competition as wide open as it appears to be right now.

Richard Angulo redeemed himself by getting open on a deep crossing pattern that he made a great catch over the middle in traffic. 

Jeron Harvey struggled a bit with hanging on to the ball, dropping a couple of passes during the middle drills including  a quick out from Todd Bouman that just bounced off of his hands and fell incomplete. 

Dennis Northcutt and Matt Jones both made terrific grabs during the drill.  Northcutt made a leaping grab over Rashean Mathis on a deep sideline pass from Paul Smith, and Matt Jones showed how his height advantage could be used as a weapon on a well delivered fade over the top of Drayton Florence where Jones went up and fully extended to haul in the pass.  It was one of the better highlights of the early session, and got the crowd involved in what was otherwise an almost non-eventful practice.

John Broussard, not wanting to be outdone, made a wonderful catch on a post pattern deep down the middle.  Garrard put the ball over the top and Broussard had to go up to make the play, which he did effortlessly without breaking stride.

11 x 11 (Part II):

In the final session of the shortened practice, the offense started to tease the fans with some more vertical passing plays. 

The highlight of the entire practice session was a deep sideline touchdown over Rashean Mathis on a pass from David Garrard to Dennis Northcutt, who had the cornerback beaten by a full step on the play. 

Charles Davis continued to show that he is in this to make the roster, pulling down a difficult catch over the middle in between four defenders.  The Cleo Lemon pass was slightly tipped, but on target.  Davis showed great concentration in making the catch in stride knowing that he was in the middle of a pack of head hunters. 

Meanwhile, Richard Angulo took a pass off the chest from Paul Smith.  The pass was on the mark as it was a simple dump off, but Angulo simply let the ball hit him in the pads, making it difficult to hang on to.  The ball fell harmlessly to the ground.  Angulo will need to refocus his efforts in order to avoid having this become a trend.

Lavarus Giles, who was having a rough first practice to begin with, ended it in the same manner by allowing a pass from Cleo Lemon that was perfectly delivered to bounce off of his hands and fall incomplete on a short crossing pattern.

Final First Impressions:

For a first practice, it was relatively sharp for the top tier players.  There was nobody on defense that really stood out in the early practice session.  David Garrard has fully assumed the role of the man on the offense, and it appears that Cleo Lemon is coming up to speed on the playbook quite nicely.  Neither player suffered any major gaffes that would be cause for any concern over the quarterback situation. 

The tight end situation is wide open.  Other than Marcedes, it appears that they will let the competition sort out the depth chart at this position.  Angulo took a step back this morning, but it is still very early in the process. Estandia looked solid in his pass catching, so we will have to see how improved his blocking is when the pads go on next week.

John Henderson appears to have shed much of the weight that he had visibly packed on when we last saw him at mini-camp.  Tony McDaniel continues to look more and more like Marcus Stroud physically.  Once the pads go on next week, we will get an opportunity to see if the appearance is more than skin deep.

All in all, it was a quiet opening to what should prove to be a very interesting training camp. 

More later!