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GAMMON AND HIS STOPWATCH

August 2nd - 8:25 PM

Specialists beware: Kendall Gammon is watching.

For the majority of practice sessions P Dustin Colquitt, LS Tanner Purdum, K Ryan Succop and team coach Steve Hoffman are off on a side field practicing on their own. Their work gains little fanfare while team action is heating up on the other fields, but a man that knows a thing or two about special teams work is constantly glancing their direction to catch hang-times on punts and offering insight about the art of long snapping.

Gammon, the former Chiefs specialist who works the sidelines for radio broadcasts, continues to be impressed with his former teammate/locker room neighbor Colquitt.

At one point today Gammon said sarcastically, “Wow, Dustin. That’s just terrible. A 4.9 hang time, dropping inside the one-yard line and settling on the 10.”

Colquitt’s punts haven’t gained much attention this camp, likely the result of his presumed consistency. Rest assured, “the leg” continues to boot a quality ball.

COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT

August 2nd - 6:43 PM

I know that I keep harping on it, but so does Coach Haley. Mentally tough football teams win football games and well conditioned squads own the fourth quarter.

“That’s the name of the game,” Haley said following practice. “As you get tired you must be able to focus and concentrate and do your job. It’s something we can’t stress enough as coaches and we educate our players on how important it is that you’re not making mistakes when you’re tired.”

Hmm…so that’s the reason Haley saved the goal line period for last of practice and followed up that period with a healthy dose of conditioning. Oh, and make no mistake about it, Coach Haley found a way to include the mental side of things during conditioning as well.

The offense and defense split onto different fields. The offense ran plays on air and chased the football 20-plus yards downfield (sort of a quazi two-minute drill), while the defense ran angled pursuit drills (trust me, not a fun drill at the end of a long practice). Each unit conditioned in this manner for 5-10 minutes, but here’s the kicker. Even conditioning had to be perfect.

No false starts. No jumping offsides. No lollygagging. If any of the three were spotted by a coach, back to the line we go. As fans, you’ll be happy to hear that there were very few of the aforementioned mistakes.

WE GOT “DEEKED”

August 2nd - 5:56  PM

Most everyone on the sidelines today (including myself) were deeked when a 3:50 PM horn blew and the boys gathered up around the head coach. Two hours…that’s the end of practice, right? WRONG.

Coach Haley was only taking a moment to walk-thru specific scenarios before heading back for more 11-on-11 work for another 30+ minutes. Those fans that declined to walk back to the grandstands after already walking over to the west fence for autographs truly missed out.

The team practiced goal line situations on day one, and now they’ve given us a daily double. The goal line period is truly the most entertaining, intense, snot knocking, physically pounding, mentally testing period in practice, at any level of football, hands down. We’ve now been treated to this goodness two days in a row…in full pads.

The players have a lot of fun with it as well. With the football lined up somewhere within the three-yard line, this period simply boils down to who wants it more. Competition fuels this period. Competition breeds success and Red Zone success results in NFL victories.

Final horn of practice: 4:27 PM.

“Yeah, the one-a-days are going to be longer,” Haley said following practice. “That’s all part of the thought process.” 

PM PRACTICE OBSERVATIONS

August 2nd - 2:35 PM - Sorry for the dealy, but it will be worth it. Make sure to check out tonight’s Camp Life video. Now that we are up and running, Gs Brian Waters and Mike Goff are back today and working with the first team offense.

2:38 PM - DT Ron Edwards is back as well.

2:45 PM - Rookie T Collin Brown’s family has made the trip up from Missouri. His little brother is showing some Mizzou Tiger Pride.

2:50 PM - Three practices…three daily periods devoted to RB pass blocking/blitz pickup. Think this might be a point of emphasis with RBs/assistant head coach Maurice Carthon?

3:03 PM - Another notable drill we’ve seen in RF: Four WR routes on air, four QBs, four footballs. RBs are also in the drill, but a coach is throwing to the backs. When all five footballs are caught, this drill can be a beauty to watch.

3:19 PM - Highlights from WR/DB one-on-one drills: CB Jackie Bates had some nice PBUs thanks to some quick feet out of breaks and WR Rodney Wright drew some “ohhhs” from the crowd after a circus, back-bending grab in heavy coverage near the grandstands.

3:26 PM - The four QBs are practicing putting rollout passes into a net from about 30 yards out. This net has three squares to catch the football (probably about one foot-by-one foot), placed diagonally - upper left, center, lower right. Anyway, Cassel, Thigpen and Croyle each hit their first throw dead center to put the pressure on Martin to complete the four throw sweep. Martin got the crowd pretty riled up when his throw went inside the upper left square. First off, I’ve never seen all four QBs make four consecutive throws into a square, but the fact that all four almost consecutively hit dead center is amazing.

3:39 PM - Heading towards the end of practice…in the middle of 7-v-7 drills. Coach Haley drew applause from the crowd when he stopped play for a brief moment to preach consistency to the wideouts. As we’ve said, this position group will be under the watchful eye of the head coach.

3:48 PM - T Branden Albert and G Brian Waters appear to be holding court during stunt/games work with the DL. In a drill where offensive linemen can get uncomfortable, the pair seem to be working well together.

3:50 PM - An impressive feat…one of the grounds guys is painting the numbers free hand on the stadium field…they look just like the stencil. Outstanding work.

3:52 PM - That’s it for practice today…time to hear what Coach Haley has to say. More to come.

CASSEL THE COOL?

August 2nd - 12:40 PM

The highlight of QB Matt Cassel’s press conference this afternoon came in the form of an off-beat question by Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Len Dawson.

Sandwiched between contract questions, offensive philosophy inquiries and other football-specific inquisitions, Dawson came in with a hard-hitter.

“How much would you pay to get that #16 jersey back?” (Dawson wore #16 while he quarterbacked the Chiefs, that jersey is now retired by the club…Cassel wore #16 in New England.)

Cassel’s response: ”...I don’t want to touch that one. There’s too much history behind that number.” Nice.

“I wanted to see what his (Cassel) sense of humor was,” Dawson said following the press conference. ”He is very smooth in his responses. It’s important to be that way as a quarterback.”

AN ACTIVE HEAD COACH

August 2nd - 10:19 AM
Many head coaches in the professional and collegiate ranks are merely just more than attentive observers when it comes to on-field practice execution. Without a position group to coach, the head coach is much like the CEO of a company, constructing the big picture and relying on his managers (assistant coaches) to execute that vision.

Over the first two practice sessions, however, we’ve learned that head coach Todd Haley not only constructs the big picture, he also helps his assistants implement the little details that go a long way towards reaching team goals.

A perfect example of this was during a special teams period in yesterday’s PM practice session. While the majority of the squad was working on punt protection, several return men were lined up deep, practicing returns. When one of the return men botched a “peter” call (”peter” means to get away from the ball, usually on a short punt – go ahead and laugh, football verbiage can be funny), Haley came off of his post at the 50-yard line and sent a stern message to his return men about the importance of field position.

Teaching accountability, attention to detail and the importance of being a mentally strong football player are, no doubt, points of emphasis for Haley and his staff this camp. The “peter” example is just a small piece of that puzzle.

ON THE DOCKET

August 2nd - 9:40 AM
It’s a beautiful day and a lot less windy today in River Falls. With the wind subdued, we should get a better read on the kicking game and the passing touch of our four QBs on deep passing routes.

Highlights of today’s schedule:
12:00 PM – QB Matt Cassel will take the podium for his first press conference of training camp.

1:50 PM – Practice #3