Mark VI Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Attended a lucheon at the stadium. Shortly after, Lancaster Steve, Jack , Jay and myself went outside and watched the Bills practice for 90 minutes. No Kickers in sight. Lots of 11-11 drills for 1st,2nd,3rd stringers. Shoulder pads and shorts. Bledsoe threw some but Zolman and Matthews got most of the work. A prelude to Thursday, little doubt. Zolman told Jack Monday night , at the benefit dinner, that Bledsoe would be pulled early in the 1st Quarter and he would be getting a lot of snaps. The Matthews signing was announced about the same time. Anyhow, they seemed to be working on a lot of 3 step drops and quick passes. Moulds caught a lot of passes. The RB's were catching many swing passes. A few to the TE's. Saw some Willis runs but Simonton and Shaud Williams carried the bulk of the time. Nice to see the starting 5 on the OL together, finally. Worked on execution of different running plays. Shelton was still the lead FB. Highlights: 1. Bledsoe threw a perfect long sideline pass ( about 40 yards) to Moulds, with Clements all over him. Pass was just perfect. Great catch. 2. Zolman made a nice throw to Ryan Nuefeld on a 20 yard slant. He split the secondary and took it in, getting a good pop from the small crowd. 3. The more I watch Simonton, the more I like him. He is so quick to the hole and really can turn the corner, which he displayed a couple times. I wish they used him more. Has soft hands out of the backfield. 4. Tim Anderson and Sullivan got into a fight after a play. They really went at it for about 10 seconds. The coaches made them shake after they calmed down. Anderson is one tough bastard. 5. Matthews - rusty , as expected. Tended to sail his longer passes ( high ) , later in the practice. Hit the short stuff. Too early to say anything about him. Tall and thin. Wearing #6... 6-3 200lbs. Probably is overwhelmed right now. 6. Clements made several nice plays on good throws. Timed his break perfectly and came flying to knock the ball down. Stood out. 7. No Special Teams work at all. 8. Units broke up for some individual work and then practice ended. One cool note. All the players left the field at the end.. except 2..Troy Vincent and Lee Evans. For about 10 minutes, they practice at midfield, all by themselves. Vincent was schooling Evans on how to get off the line of scrimmage. Vincent would bark and Evans would break. Vincent would really work him over the first 5 yards, then let him go. Must have done 50 reps. After each rep, Vincent would stop to give Evans instruction and go over technique. You could see Evans trying all different moves. Vincent covered him like a blanket and really made him work. Finally they left the field after running hard for about 50 yards. Applause from the crowd was well deserved. Putting in the extra time. The Vet helping the prized Rookie. Enjoyed seeing that. Then we were able to go down on the field and walk around for a while. Bills gave each of us a foldout picnic Bills chair with the cupholder. Very nice. Weather was sunny and in the high 70's. Great day to hang out at the Stadium. We ate well, to say the least. Drank tons of water. Always great hanging out with your friends at the stadium, without a worry in the world...life should be like that more often...
jayg Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Attended a lucheon at the stadium. Shortly after, Lancaster Steve, Jack , Jay and myself went outside and watched the Bills practice for 90 minutes. No Kickers in sight. Lots of 11-11 drills for 1st,2nd,3rd stringers. Shoulder pads and shorts. Bledsoe threw some but Zolman and Matthews got most of the work. A prelude to Thursday, little doubt. Zolman told Jack Monday night , at the benefit dinner, that Bledsoe would be pulled early in the 1st Quarter and he would be getting a lot of snaps. The Matthews signing was announced about the same time. Anyhow, they seemed to be working on a lot of 3 step drops and quick passes. Moulds caught a lot of passes. The RB's were catching many swing passes. A few to the TE's. Saw some Willis runs but Simonton and Shaud Williams carried the bulk of the time. Nice to see the starting 5 on the OL together, finally. Worked on execution of different running plays. Shelton was still the lead FB. Highlights: 1. Bledsoe threw a perfect long sideline pass ( about 40 yards) to Moulds, with Clements all over him. Pass was just perfect. Great catch. 2. Zolman made a nice throw to Ryan Nuefeld on a 20 yard slant. He split the secondary and took it in, getting a good pop from the small crowd. 3. The more I watch Simonton, the more I like him. He is so quick to the hole and really can turn the corner, which he displayed a couple times. I wish they used him more. Has soft hands out of the backfield. 4. Tim Anderson and Sullivan got into a fight after a play. They really went at it for about 10 seconds. The coaches made them shake after they calmed down. Anderson is one tough bastard. 5. Matthews - rusty , as expected. Tended to sail his longer passes ( high ) , later in the practice. Hit the short stuff. Too early to say anything about him. Tall and thin. Wearing #6... 6-3 200lbs. Probably is overwhelmed right now. 6. Clements made several nice plays on good throws. Timed his break perfectly and came flying to knock the ball down. Stood out. 7. No Special Teams work at all. 8. Units broke up for some individual work and then practice ended. One cool note. All the players left the field at the end.. except 2..Troy Vincent and Lee Evans. For about 10 minutes, they practice at midfield, all by themselves. Vincent was schooling Evans on how to get off the line of scrimmage. Vincent would bark and Evans would break. Vincent would really work him over the first 5 yards, then let him go. Must have done 50 reps. After each rep, Vincent would stop to give Evans instruction and go over technique. You could see Evans trying all different moves. Vincent covered him like a blanket and really made him work. Finally they left the field after running hard for about 50 yards. Applause from the crowd was well deserved. Putting in the extra time. The Vet helping the prized Rookie. Enjoyed seeing that. Then we were able to go down on the field and walk around for a while. Bills gave each of us a foldout picnic Bills chair with the cupholder. Very nice. Weather was sunny and in the high 70's. Great day to hang out at the Stadium. We ate well, to say the least. Drank tons of water. Always great hanging out with your friends at the stadium, without a worry in the world...life should be like that more often... 13541[/snapback] Good stuff, thanks.
todd Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 About time you posted that! Now I can go home. Thanks! Great report.
Mark VI Posted August 31, 2004 Author Posted August 31, 2004 What was the occasion? 13544[/snapback] The Ascot and Courvoisier party for the Upper Crust. Premium Seat Luncheon. Annual event.
LabattBlue Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Thanks Mark. Appreciate the insight on TV & LE.
CoachChuckDickerson Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 One cool note. All the players left the field at the end.. except 2..Troy Vincent and Lee Evans. For about 10 minutes, they practice at midfield, all by themselves. Vincent was schooling Evans on how to get off the line of scrimmage. Vincent would bark and Evans would break. Vincent would really work him over the first 5 yards, then let him go. Must have done 50 reps. After each rep, Vincent would stop to give Evans instruction and go over technique. You could see Evans trying all different moves. Vincent covered him like a blanket and really made him work. Finally they left the field after running hard for about 50 yards. Applause from the crowd was well deserved. Putting in the extra time. The Vet helping the prized Rookie. Enjoyed seeing that. Great post mark. The above caption about Vincent is what so many fail to see, either figuratively or literally. They amount of knowledge a 10 year vet brings to a team you cannot put a price tag on.
JinVA Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 whew!you had me scared for a minute, Vincent all alone with a first round rookie! thanks for the post
Mark VI Posted August 31, 2004 Author Posted August 31, 2004 Great post mark. The above caption about Vincent is what so many fail to see, either figuratively or literally. They amount of knowledge a 10 year vet brings to a team you cannot put a price tag on. 13554[/snapback] Vincent just took it to Evans hard within the 1st 5 yards of each rep. Evans had to work his backside off to get past and break away. He would try multiple moves, both inside and out. All different types of fakes. Vincent showed perfect form and would stay on him. They left it all on the field . I loved watching that.
UB2SF Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Hmmm.... after our special teams meltdown on Saturday, there was no attention paid to ST in practice? I guess as Meatloaf (and Wade Phillips) would say, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. (phases of the game, that is)
Steven in MD Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Maybe Evans was schooling Vincent on how to cover a receiver without holding them past 5 yds.
Mark VI Posted August 31, 2004 Author Posted August 31, 2004 Maybe Evans was schooling Vincent on how to cover a receiver without holding them past 5 yds. 13595[/snapback] Then all the Pats DB's should have been there...
ChevyVanMiller Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Thanks Mark VI. Posts like yours, with the inside info, is what makes reading TSW so great.
Alaska Darin Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Nice job Mark. Appreciated even more because of geographical location!
nodnarb Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 thanks mark! great update. love hearing that about lee and vincent. evans is a driven kid, and with all that talent, you just know he's gonna be special. he has that smart confidence about him.
Mike in Syracuse Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Great post Mark, thanks for the effort.
Tom Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 Thanks VI.... I always look forward to your posts, especially in the early AM. YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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