Morning Practice: Monday August 3rd, 2009

Glad I decided to get out of bed this morning, as the first sight that I saw on the field was the players in pads. I knew right then that I'd be seeing a little bit of contact for the first time this camp. A few alumni were in attendance along with the Cheerleaders. Chuck Foreman and Rufus Bess were both around signing autographs. Still no Jackson.

The team spent the first portion of practice working on punt return drills, Aundrae Allison and Percy Harvin getting almost exclusive looks as return men. Harvin muffed his second attempt back there, and later let another ball soar above his head as he jumped for it. He seems to be misjudging where the ball is going at times. When on the field, Heath Farwell was often the first man to the returner.

And now... onto some thoughts & observations:

• The QB's spent time tossing the ball into the nets, Sage looked very accurate on his first drill, can't say the same about his second attempt
• Erin Henderson looks impressive, both in 11-on-11's and PR drills
• Percy Harvin dropped his first pass from Sage in individual drills, he caught the next one, much to the delight of the crowd
• Wade had a misstep running his route and joked with the crowd, "It's early man, need to warm up or something"
• Sage and Chester Taylor had a miscue during 11 on 11's, it appeared Sage was the one at fault, letting the ball sail far wide on a simple dump off route
• Albert Young had a few nice cuts, hitting the holes quickly
  
• Harvin saw a little more success on end-arounds today, gaining around 10 yards on the first attempt
• Cedric Griffin was beat twice by Bernard Berrian for TD receptions from Rosenfels
• The play of the day came on an 80 yard TD pass from Sage to Jaymar Johnson, who beat Marcus Walker and De'von Hall on the play
• On a play where Adrian Peterson was lined up in a Wide Receiver slot, Cedric Griffin made a nice play breaking up a pass over the middle intended for Berrian
• Sage Rosenfels tried hitting Bernard Berrian deep, but slightly over threw him. Asher Allen was in coverage, who could be heard saying "You aint gettin by me, I told you". Love the Rookie's confidence
• Visanthe Shiancoe had another great leaping catch today during 11 on 11's, I think I'm starting to sound like I'm repeating myself.
• Bernard Berrian was joking with Wade on the sidelines, doing push ups when he wasn't on the field
• Rookie RB Khalil Bell showed great effort during full contact 11 on 11's, refusing to go down until the whistle was blown
• 1st team defense vs 1st team offense during the Red Zone drills... talk about a battle. Peterson was stopped cold on two consecutive plays, put finally punched it in on the final attempt
• Rookie Center Jon Cooper did a great job blocking down field on screens, knocking his man out of the picture
• Albert Young had another nice play during full contact drills, showing some quick cuts, but was brought down by Brian Robison
  
• Marcus McCauley making his case for Nickleback. He broke up a pass along the sideline, and followed it up by picking off Booty on the next play. On the same play, Robison looked like he almost got his hand on the ball trying to strip it from the QB
• Karl Paymah also is making his bid for the job, completely shutting down Vinny Perretta
• Rookie Jarmarca Sanford had the biggest hit of the day, demolishing Darius Reynaud, who gained around 10 yards on the end around
• The last play came on 3rd & 16, and it was a short pass to Ian Johnson. Johnson made a nice effort, but was still about 8 yards from a 1st down. KOA at its finest

That's it for today Ladies & Gents. I won't be at the afternoon practice, but should make both practices the next two days.