FanPost

Thoughts From Brsrkr on Tuesday Night's Practice

Generally speaking, I wouldn't put another poster's thoughts into a post without asking their permission. But Brsrkr is too humble (or lazy) to do it himself, and I believe that this many thoughts based on direct observation by a (in my experience) level-headed fan should not be lost in an open thread.

So here are Brsrkr's thoughts on what he saw...

When asked about Cassel...

I will say that when I DID look at Cassel, he always looked decisive. That contrasts with Stanzi and Brady, because I caught each of them looking unsure a couple of times.

A bunch of random observations...

Jeff Allen seemed to be getting a lot of time, and doing well, at LG.

I couldn’t see details all that well. But it seemed like whenever he and Hudson were in on a running play, a bulge formed in the middle of the line…. and then usually DJ would pop up out of the ground or fall down out of the sky or just materialize out of the ether and make the tackle :)

I noticed Gabe Miller more tonight than I had before. He’s got a little speed around the edge. He might be turning it on since they brought that Edgar guy in.

Sheffield gives the second-team tackles fits. He’s more of a power guy than Miller, and seems to have a wider array of moves.

Saw Tamba in a drop-back drill. He actually looked really good.

They did a fun one-on-one drill between the TEs and linebackers where the TEs could either pass block or run a pattern, and the LB would have to react appropriately. Boss dominated the drill when he ran a pattern. He got decent separation on Houston, and left any other LB in the dust.

Boss also got away from Berry for a TD down the middle in 7 on 7. And Berry gave up another TD to McCluster….Berry shadowed him all the way across the field, but then he held up when they got close to the sideline. Cassel put a nice ball just downfield where Berry would have had a really hard time getting to it, and had no chance since he held up right before Cassel let it go. McCluster did a shoe-breaking adjustment, just barely avoided the sideline, caught the pass off-balance, and rolled into the endzone. Berry didn’t look all that energetic tonight.

Speaking of Cassel, I just remembered a really nice pass he had to Breaston toward the end of the night. Daniels had good coverage on Breaston into the endzone, but his back was to Cassel. So Cassel put the ball right over his shoulder, and Breaston jumped up and came down with it just in bounds. Nice pass, nice catch, might not have happened against Flowers.

Back to the line….. Mims seems to be working exclusively at RT, which is a change from last year when he was at LT a lot. Stephenson is always at LT when I see him on the field.

Daryl Harris was playing right guard. Hudson, Holland, and Bruggeman were rotating at center. I wasn’t really impressed by Harris or any of the other guys rotating behind Asamoah. Asamoah looks like the same ol’ Asamoah, though. If Jeff Allen is actually as competent as he appears, then he should be adequate depth for both guard spots.

Saw one nickel set with Gordon and TJax. Saw one the other day with Gordon and Dorsey. Still haven’t spotted Poe in a nickel set, he’s always been 2nd team NT every time I’ve seen him. I also haven’t spotted Bailey in a nickel set yet…. But like I said, there’s a lot going on that I miss, and I really haven’t seen much nickel at all.

Speaking of Bailey, looks like he’s still having a few problems getting off on the snap. That’s one of the first things I remember noticing in last year’s camp, Haley getting on the D coaches to fix Bailey’s slow get-off. Saw a couple times where he was slow, and saw a couple times where he tried to time the snap count and failed and lost his balance/initiative because of that.

In response to a question about some thinking Hillis was disappointing...

I'm not sure why that would be.

But I only specifically watched him during RB pass catching drills. Thought he looked pretty damn good doing that. So maybe he screwed up some other part of practice.

By the way, we’ve got a few backs who can catch. Hillis looked the most confident pass catcher, but Charles and McCluster weren’t participating in that drill. Gray looked pretty good catching passes. The only guy who I thought struggled with that drill was Bannon.

When asked about Quinn...

Consistently inconsistent.

He usually isn’t good at sideline passes, either short or long. He’s usually good at passes in the middle of the field. But he had a pretty good pass into the corner of the endzone from about the 15, and he threw one about two feet over a receiver right in front of the goal post from about the 10.

Back to random observation...

Favorite offensive set of the night:

Two TEs, two WRs right, Hillis in the backfield. Cassel audibles to shotgun (from two TE set !! ), O’Connell motions from left TE to split end. Hillis stays in to protect, Boss goes out into the pattern. Bomb to Baldwin down the right sideline.

Second favorite set: Four wides, but none out on the sidelines. Two slot guys about four yards from the tackles, and two WRs about four yards outside the slot guys. Hillis in the backfield. Very close-looking formation. But the play put all five receivers out in the pattern, Hillis running a streak right up the middle.

On Poe...

He looks like a rookie.....

Thanks for all the observations Brsrkr! They were just too good to not be more "available." Let me know if you'd like me to take it down...

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.