Well after
living through a tough day on Sunday with no training camp, I am back in
Mankato. This time of year just becomes second nature to make my daily trip
west to Mankato.
A little fun
fan info before I get into what I saw today. Jimmy John’s restaurant over the
last few years has sent workers down to training camp offering free 2-inch samples.
It is not every day but when they come it is very popular with the fans. This
is my 8th day and have had 3 samples thus far.
Now into
football review of what I saw today. This morning had rain so the team had
their walk through inside Myers Field House. This afternoon got very humid and
they were outside on the 3 practice fields.
Saturday I
felt Christian Ponder looked excellent so I was interested how he would come
out Monday. I really feel thus far when the 11 on 11’s and 7 ion 7’s happen
Christian is to me making quicker decisions. He thus far is not running but instead
a dump off pass to a running back.
I watched seven
on seven and Christian in the first set went 1 for 3 with his only completion
to Joe Webb. The second time through he went 3 for 3 including 2 beautiful
balls to Kyle Rudolph.
Matt Cassel’s
1st series of 7 on 7 had a rough series with a ball batted down by
Brian Robison. The next play Seth Olsen was at center and snapped a terrible
ball with Cassel in the shotgun position. The only thing Cassel could do was
fall on it.
In honesty,
that was one of very few bad snaps in camp thus far. That area has been pretty
clean.
The next
series Cassel went two for three and his only miss was an interception by
Marcus Sherels. One of his two completions was an awesome seam pass for about
20 yards.
McLeod
Bethel-Thomson went two for three and the one miss was an interception by
safety, Brandan Bishop off a deflection.
One
observation from the defensive side of the ball was in the secondary where I
saw Chris Cook line up at one corner and Jacob Lacey at the other corner. Josh
Robinson was playing in the slot.
In staying
with the defense, I saw Christian Ponder thrown an absolutely great ball down
the seam to Kyle Rudolph with Erin Henderson in coverage. Rudolph used his height
to his advantage to snag the ball over Henderson’s head. I thought it was a
great catch but as I continued watching the play Henderson wrestled it away for
an int. What a hustle play by Erin.
Erin has
looked fast in camp and seems to be very motivated and today the play he made
just exemplifies his determination to be successful at middle linebacker.
We had a
little skirmish this afternoon. Joe Webb was going for a catch along the
sideline when a defender hit him. The next thing I see Joe is pushing at the
dback and then Kyle Rudolph hustles over there.
This is the
third incident in camp and all 3 have taken me longer to write about then the
incident actually lasts.
I guess in
this case I like Joe not stepping back and allowing him to get pushed around. I
really like the camp Joe is having and hope he continues to show the coaches
his catching ability.
The subject
of receivers I will say this about Greg Jennnigs and Ryan Thielen. I should
just do copy and paste each day in this blog. These guys are snagging
everything thrown that they feel they have a chance to get. Today, Ryan was running
a route and the ball was thrown behind him. The ability to reach behind, pull
it in and continue running is remarkable.
Today the
ball was at the 2 with 98 yards to go and the handoff goes to AP and through
the hole and gone. All we needed to hear was Paul Allen say “and he is loose.”
The crowd all together cheered and then clapped.
It does not
sound like AP will get touches in the preseason so I am going to just enjoy the
practices.
Punter
update- There was a fairly good breeze this afternoon. I watched Locke kick
into the wind 50 yards and when he had the wind at his back he hit 2 out of the
back of the end zone with one 70 and the other 75 yards.
That’s all
from Mankato
Thanks for
reading
Purplestick
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