Saturday Afternoon Camp Recap
First off, all credit for the observations quoted here goes to Tim at Jaguars Journal Tim produces professional grade reports on every aspect of training camp, and deserves far more publicity than he gets in the Jaguar fan community. I wouldn't claim to know him well, but you can't participate on the Jaguars.com Message Boards without coming across FBT.
On with the re-cap
Injuries: Paul Spicer seemed to have injured an ankle, he did not participate in any drills early in the PM session. Byron Leftwich had his ankle stepped on, however it did not cause any missed time. And of course, Matt Jones has a groin problem. FBT explains:
The third injury in question was Matt Jones, who required attention from a trainer and was giving some indication that he was having an issue with the right groin area. He did not miss any snaps, but the trainer was working diligently on trying to get him stretched out during practice.
That boy must do next to nothing in the off-season, cause it seems that every training camp starts with a groin pull or hamstring strain. So frustrating.
The Passing Game: As in the first session, the quarterbacks are rolling out. This practice included the play action and draw plays. An interesting observation is that:
Leftwich actually has the most accurate throw on the run of the three quarterbacks.
. And by that I mean absolutely fucking obvious. I'm a big time Garrard skeptic after his meltdown against Tennessee, so I've got no doubt that Byron has the better arm, even on the run.
Rookie WR John Broussard was used in some deep sideline passes, I've heard he's a fast one, so I'm cool with that.
Here's something that I think is a promising sign:
Todd Monken was working with the receivers, talking to them all night long. During the individual drills, he was clearly focused on improving the route running skills of Matt Jones, forcing him to pick up his feet and be more deliberate in some of the moves he is making in order to sharpen that up a bit. It was interesting to watch him because he is a coach that likes to be in the face of his players, quite unlike his predecessor who was usually standing off to the side giving instruction. Monken is right there in the mix.
I hope Todd spends 99% of his time in the face of Matt Jones and Reggie Williams. I hope he convinces them to step up or step out, cause this half assed effort that they've shown over the last two seasons is holding this team back. As Jack Del Rio said, there is no depth chart at receiver right now.
For you Dennis Northcutt fans, here's what FBT had to say:
Dennis Northcutt was catching just about anything thrown in his area code. If it was out there for him, he went and got it. The label of being a guy with suspect hands is questionable based on what I have seen so far.
The Tight Ends did a good job as well:
During 7×7 drills, both Marcedes Lewis and Jermaine Wiggins saw quite a bit of action, and all but one pass was caught. The only pass that Lewis dropped was a rushed pass in the flat by Leftwich that hit him low, and he could not haul it in. Other than that, both guys caught pretty much everything that came in their direction. Richard Angulo, Greg Estandia, and Isaac Smolko all made some nice plays in the drills, so clearly the Tight End is going to get a lot more attention in Koetter's offense.
The best play of the night:
The play of the night was a really nice pass from Byron Leftwich to Dennis Northcutt. Leftwich rolled to the right slightly and came back across the field to Northcutt, who had broken out of the slot and was on the far sideline running a deep corner route. Leftwich dropped the ball right into Northcutt's hands with coverage over the top and underneath, showing nice touch on his pass as a result. Clearly, the two of them are starting to find chemistry between them.
The Defense: This practice saw second year Defensive End James Wyche step up. Read this:
He was giving the tackles, particularly Maurice Williams, absolute fits from that side. Pashos was able to run him behind the quarterback, but when Williams was in there, he did not have the speed to keep Wyche from disrupting the plays. This kid has a motor that will not quit. Any time he was on the field and part of a play, he was driving the line nuts. Now, keeping this in perspective because the tackles are not exactly hitting back, this is once again an issue that may not be there when contact begins on Monday night, but it is worth watching.
Also, don't forget that we're not in full-contact yet, so it's hard to judge anything.
Cornerback Scott Starks made some nice plays against David Garrard. Scott and like ninety other people are competing for the nickel-back position, so I'd expect everyone to make the play when given the chance. 3rd Cornerback is the most open competition on the defense, in my opinion.
Thoughts: I like what I've seen so far. I'm very excited about the use of our Tight Ends, though I need to see what they can do when they're asked to block. Losing Kyle Brady as our big time blocker could hurt of Wiggins and Lewis can't block. I wish Jermaine Wiggins would change his last name to Clark, just so I could call them "Lewis and Clark.
-Chris
