Jaguars Training Camp: Day 4 Thoughts & Highlights

The Jaguars took the field for their first fully padded practice of the 2012 training camp.

After the defense dominated the show yesterday in practice, the team looked to try and get the offense going, particularly quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who came under some unnecessary criticism locally and nationally for what was conceived as a poor showing on Monday.

While the defense as a whole still played well, the offense stepped their game up in the morning practice on Tuesday much to the delight of the few hundred fans in attendance.

The practice today consisted of more full-contact running play drills than we've seen in the previous few days, as is to be expected with the players in full gear. There was also several individual and team walk through drills that were run at half speed, in between the usual 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 drills.

One thing of note, as most of you know by now, the starting offensive line was a mash unit today. Eugene Monroe did some bike work and then walked the sidelines with his knee in a wrap the size of a small child. Uche Nwaneri was in full pads, but was relegated to individual drills only, and Brad Meester got a vets day-off from practice, but was standing with the group at all times. The major concern is Will Rackley, who as Alfie reported earlier, got rolled up on during individual drills and appears to have at the least a high-ankle sprain. If Nwaneri was still out, I'd be more pessimistic, but Spitz is a serviceable guard and with Uche coming back, the interior line should be ok for now. I don't foresee Monroe's injury being an issue, as he wasn't walking with any noticeable limp and went through bike drills for a good 30 minutes. Finally, Cam Bradfield appears to be on his way back soon. He was doing several bag and sled drills on the side with no signs of any issues.

A good sign from the injury front, was seeing Pot Roast back in action in full pads. He participated in all drills, though with minimal reps as they slowly try to work him back in the groove.

On to the drills of the day, which started with a 9 v 7 running drill. This took place before Rackley's injury so the starting o-line at this point was 68, 65, 62, 67, 73.

9 v 7:

- Rashad Jennings runs off right guard for a short gain, stopped by Smith.

- Jennings tries to cut on a designed trap play, and gets meet in backfield by Austen Lane.

- Jalen Parmalee runs for a short gain, stopped by Mosley.

- Parmalee finds a nice hole behind Rackley for gain of about 10 yards.

- Montell Owens takes hand off up the middle for no gain, met by Corey Irvin.

- Owens again, makes a nice cut outside for a 10-15 yard gain.

- Richard Murphy rushes up the middle for a short gain, met by D'Anthony Smith.

- DuJuan Harris cuts outside on a stretch run and takes it in untouched for the score, from 20 yards out.

- Parmalee takes run off-tackle and fumbles after making contact with pile of Jag players.

- Jennings gets stuffed twice at the LoS, by Mincey and Mosley respectively.

During the 9 on 7 drill, the QBs were going over to the middle field, to work with WRs and CBs on 1 on 1 drills. I wasn't able to see a lot, as these were taking place on the middle of the practice fields and much of my attention was focused on the lines and not so much on Cut Palmer and Nate Enderle throwing.

When Gabbert did go over to the drill he did make two completions that I saw, one on an out to Chastin West and another on a short curl to Mike Thomas, who had his best day of camp by the way. His last pass of the drill, was a deep attempt to Mike Brown, who attempted to make the grab but was pulled by what looked like Antonio Dennard, who was then flagged by the overseeing official for pass interference.

One thing to point out, during the 1 on 1s Kevin Elliot once again made a fantastic grab on a mid range pass from Palmer. The guy continues to have at least one highlight a day in camp, and also appears to be starting right now on the punt team as a gunner in Kassim Osgood's old spot. I'm really pulling for him to make it, he's a damn good guy if you get a chance to talk to him in person or on Twitter. (@CatchinMyDreams)

Following those two drills, the team broke off into more walk throughs and individual drills, and it was around this point that Rackley went down with his ankle injury.

They then broke into specialty group specific drills, with both lines, linebackers, and running backs doing a "quasi" 9 on 7 type drill. Meanwhile, the WRs and CBs went over to the middle of the field to work on receivers blocking and corners getting off the block.

It was sort of difficult to tell who got the better of most of the battles as the WRs and CBs tended to clutter around the combatants, but two battles I did see, saw Cecil Shorts lock up with Courtney Greene and surprisingly Shorts got the better of his defensive opponent, grabbing Greene and flinging him aside like a doll. In another duel, Mike Brown got his "Welcome to the NFL" moment, as Derek Cox blasted him rather effortlessly and drove him to the ground.

The team then moved on to full team 11 on 11 drills, only this time they ran plays from the 20 yard line to emulate red zone situations. The offensive line now consisted of a mixture of players being rotated in and out, but the starting line was 68, 60, 67, 61, 73 from best I could tell.

11 v 11 (Red Zone) Pt. 1:

- Gabbert stands in pocket under rush, attempts pass that appeared to slip out of his hand, as it fluttered end over end in the air about 10 yards before falling incomplete.

- Jennings takes hand off running off tackle, and is met head on by Posluszny who takes Jennings to the ground for short gain.

- Gabbert completes quick throw from shotgun to Lewis on a drag for gain of 10. Lewis didn't appear to anticipate the pass as he stabbed it with one hand and finally caught it before being stopped. (Guy Whimper limped off with an apparent leg cramp/injury, but later returned)

- Parmalee takes hand off from Gabbert and shoots through a hole in the middle of the line to walk in untouched for a touchdown.

- Gabbert attempts end zone fade pass to Robinson, but ball is just over his reach and incomplete, Cox in coverage.

- Henne throws an out to Shorts in the front of the end zone for a touchdown, with Will Middleton trailing.

- Henne completes short pass to Matt Veldman, who nearly drops it.

- Richard Murphy takes hand off and is stuffed at the LoS by Pot Roast.

- Henne attempts a fade pass similar to Gabbert's, intended for Shorts but is broken up by Antwon Blake in the end zone.

- Henne completes pass to Evans a yard shy of the goal line, stopped by Dennard.

- Britton false starts, followed by Spitz snapping ball 3 feet over Gabbert's head for a dead play.

- Gabbert scrambles as pocket collapses after about 5 seconds of waiting for WR to come open. Rolls out and attempts to throw pass into end zone to Evans, but ball is knocked away by Ross.

- Gabbert completes short pass to Thomas for about 8 yards.

- Parmalee runs for no gain, stopped by Andre Branch.

- Evans false starts, play is allowed to continue, Gabbert throws fade to Robinson who goes over Middleton to make the catch this time for a touchdown.

- Henne "sacked" by Ryan Davis, but play is allowed to continue and completes pass to Robiskie for 10 yards.

- Toss to Harris who makes one cut outside and is off to the races untouched for a score.

- Henne skips pass into the dirt under pressure, intended for Robiskie.

- Cut Palmer completes pass to Brock Bolen in the flat who is horse collared by LB Julian Stanford before he can cross the goal line.

- Brandon Marshall knocks away pass in end zone from Nate Enderle intended for Zach Potter.

The squads proceeded to another set of walk through drills, before coming back for a 7 on 7 match up.

7 v 7 Drill:

- Gabbert completes pass to Thomas for short gain.

- Second Gabbert pass incomplete intended for Colin Cloherty, Allen in coverage.

- Gabbert completes yet another pass to Thomas for 10 yards. Youboty in coverage.

- Henne pass complete to Bolen in the flat for a gain of 10 yards.

- Another Henne completion, this time to Potter over the middle on a curl route, stopped by Bosworth.

- Brown catches short 5 yard pass on drag route from Henne, Middleton in coverage.

- Gabbert looks around for about 5-6 seconds, before completing strike to Thomas in coverage for about 15 yards.

- Gabbert passes incomplete for Thomas again, on a sideline comeback that Thomas lazily attempted to get to. The ball was out and thrown to where Thomas was supposed to be, but he never tried to turn around quick enough to get to it. Thomas receives an earful from Gabbert about the route on his way back to the huddle.

- Spitz again snaps ball before Gabbert was set after a hard count, however, Gabbert is able to recover after bobbling the ball, and throws a pass complete to Evans for a short gain.

- Gabbert scrambles after sitting in pocket roughly 6 seconds, no receiver open on play.

- Enderle attempts pass on an out intended for Taylor Price, that hits off the shin of Antwon Blake and falls incomplete.

- Palmer tosses up a floater to West who makes the catch for 10 yards, with Dennard on his back.

- Second not so great moment for Dennard, as Palmer completes an actual nice pass to Price for 15 yards with Dennard in coverage.

- Gabbert completes short out to Cloherty with Allen draped over him.

- Robinson has pass knocked out of his hands by Ross, on a nice out throw from Gabbert.

- Gabbert dumps ball off to Jennings after being unable to find open receivers, Mathis had Robinson locked down on the play.

- Parmalee takes dump pass from Henne upfield for a short gain.

- Henne completes a nice throw and catch to Shorts, who went above newly acquired Trumaine McBride I believe, to make the catch for a 20 yard gain.

- Short pass from Henne to Veldman for about 5 yards.

The drill was followed by another on-field demonstration from everyone's favorite 3rd round weapon, ANGER NATION, himself! I said it yesterday, and I'll repeat it again here, the kid can really blast the hell out of the ball. Out of what I counted as 6 punts in the drill, Anger punted the ball from his own 20 yard line to the opponent's 20, 20, 10, 15, 15, and 10. On several kicks, I timed the hang time somewhere in the 5.5-6 second range. Offense may well be damned, but we got a friggin punter, y'all!

The team then moved into it's final full team drill of the day, which went from full field to red zone half way through.

11 v 11 Pt. 2:

- Gabbert completes a beautiful pass to Robinson, who came open cutting across the field, for a 25 yard gain.

- Jennings runs off right tackle untouched for a big gain of about 20 yards.

- No receivers open, as Gabbert scrambles while coming under pressure from Branch.

- Gabbert hangs in pocket this time, and finds Evans for a 10 yard comeback.

- Toss play to Parmalee, who cuts out over the left tackle for a nice run of about 10 yards.

- Henne play actions, and dumps to Owens for a short gain.

- Owens takes another toss, this time for little gain.

- Henne floats a pass high over the middle that is tipped away in midair by Rod Isaac, who makes a cameo appearance in camp.

- Henne passes complete to Brown for a 5 yard out.

- Cloherty catches another dump throw from Henne for 6 yards.

(Red Zone Drill)

- Gabbert play actions, passes to Bolen in the flat for a gain of 12 yards.

- Harris runs up the middle, stopped short of goal line by Bosworth.

- Gabbert sacked after pocket collapsed on top of him, led by Mincey and Selvie. Gabbert tried to step into pocket but was too late.

- Jennings takes hand off but runs into Posluszny for a short gain of about a yard.

- No one open as Gabbert scrambles and eventually throws ball out of end zone incomplete.

- Henne throws complete to Potter for a short gain. Potter is popped by Dennard, who then falls over after trying to shoulder tackle the 6'7 265 pound tight end.

- Draw play to Owens, who runs up the middle for gain of 5.

- Henne completes pass to Shorts, just shy of the goal line with Middleton in coverage.

- Pass from Henne to Price in the end zone on a fade, sails wide and incomplete.

- Henne "sacked" by DT Drew Nowak, to end the practice.

All in all, the practice was much more crisp on the offensive side, considering how out of sync they appeared on Monday. The receivers finally began to help out both quarterbacks a little, and it was good to see guys like Robinson and even Thomas, flash the ability that is plainly there.

Both quarterbacks had much better days, though Gabbert continues to assert himself as the starter of this team, despite what a national football blog, and/or a former fantasy football writer who writes for them, would want to lead you to believe.

The defense continues to impress and despite the offense's improved day, remains well ahead of the guys on the other side of the ball, as is to be expected being less than a week into camp on the final day of July. Continue to keep an eye out for rookies Andre Branch and Ryan Davis on the defensive line. Both of these guys have been running rampant in practice this week, especially in passing situations.

Hopefully, the team will continue it's more balanced performance tomorrow.

Unofficial QB Tally:

Gabbert- 14/21

Henne- 15/19

The other two simply are irrelevant.