DeepSouth
06-16-2006, 09:38 AM
GRETZ: INSIDE AN OTA - OFFENSE
Jun 16, 2006, 8:01:33 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
There’s one thing that observers of all off-season practices and mini-camps have to remember, whether they are coaches, players or the media: a single day, a single drill, a single play are but small slices of a larger pie. It’s the sum of the work that matters and will either lift or sink a team once the activity turns to training camp and the regular season.
In that light, this much was obvious during Thursday’s OTA session at the Truman Sports Complex: the Chiefs offense did not perform to its usual standards. There were a handful of plays where head coach Herman Edwards ordered the offensive group to get back into the huddle when there was confusion on shifting, motion and alignment. At the end of practice when the team was working on situation ball (in this case it was fourth quarter, time running out, the offense was behind on the scoreboard) the Chiefs offense wasn’t able to move the ball against the defense.
The offense did have its moments: Damon Huard and Samie Parker hooked up a long pass play that was beautifully thrown down the right sideline. Larry Johnson broke out on a run wide left and showed that amazing speed for a man his size. But overall, the Chiefs defense got the upper hand in this workout.
A caveat to the offensive’s play: the first-team was missing a lot of parts. Among those not participating in Thursday’s workout were Tony Gonzalez, Eddie Kennison, Willie Roaf, Casey Wiegmann, John Welbourn, Jason Dunn and Dante Hall. While Trent Green did throw some passes, his workload was not a normal practice day for the starting quarterback.
It’s what the off-season is about: learning, developing and pushing the entire roster to a higher level of performance. Some of the younger players got more opportunities without those veterans around, and that’s always welcome at this time of the year by both players and coaches. Now, they must raise their performance level and consistency. They’ll have four more workouts to do that next week.
Here’s how the workout broke down position-by-position:
OFFENSIVE LINE
It’s always hard to judge both the offensive and defense lines because there are no pads and it’s not full-contact work. In this practice, there was no one-on-one pass rushing drills. There were 16 blockers working, with Roaf, Welbourn and Wiegmann missing the practice. In their individual drills, the line worked on techniques and fundamentals as individuals and then as a blocking group.
Working with the first team was Kevin Sampson at right tackle and Jordan Black at left tackle. Handling the snapping was Jonathan Ingram. Newly signed Kyle Turley was working with the second offensive line at left tackle. Also on that No. 2 line were Peter Heyer at left guard, Rudy Niswanger at center, Chris Bober at right guard and Ian Allen at right tackle. The No. 3 line had Will Svitek at left tackle, Steve Franklin at left guard, Tyler Lenda at center, Tre Stallings at right guard and Jeremy Parquet at right tackle.
TIGHT ENDS
There are six tight ends on the roster, but only three worked on Thursday. With Gonzalez and Dunn missing, that gave Kris Wilson more snaps and the third-year pro took advantage of them, something he’s done all through this week of OTAs. He made several nice catches, including one where if it were a game, he would have been lit up by safety Greg Wesley. Also missing practice with an injury was Aaron Golliday.
WIDE RECEIVERS
There are 13 receivers listed on the roster and nine took part in the OTA. Kennison and Jeff Webb were not on the field, while Hall and Chris Hannon did not take part in the workout.
Parker and Jeris McIntyre ran with the first team, with Craphonso Thorpe getting some snaps with the No. 1 unit as well. Terrence Metcalf had several nice catches, including one in the end zone when the team worked on offense in the scoring zone. Darrell Hill also had a TD catch in the scoring zone and several other catches. After a spring in NFL Europe, Nate Curry got some snaps, including an end-around run.
RUNNING BACKS
There are 10 backs on the roster and eight were on the field, with Priest Holmes and Quentin Griffin missing. Johnson looked good on most running plays and very good on a handful. He did have a pass bounce off his hands that ended up as an interception for the defense. With Griffin absent, Dee Brown got a lot of reps. Fullback Ronnie Cruz was very active as a receiver.
QUARTERBACKS
All four quarterbacks were working on Thursday. Green took the fewest number of snaps, as the team continues to limit his work. That will continue right through the early days of training camp. Huard took the largest number of snaps at looked good on several plays, including the long pass to Parker. When the Chiefs went to the no-huddle situation offense, Huard did not complete any of his three throws; one was knocked down by Jared Allen (in fact, Huard ended up catching the deflection), the second throw slipped out of his hands and the third bounced off Johnson and was intercepted by Derrick Johnson.
Brodie Croyle continued to make quick decisions in the pocket. While he didn’t hit any big passes, he did find tight end Adam Johnson open at the back of the end zone for a TD in a scoring zone drill.
Casey Printers’ performance was like all of his work this spring. He’s a gifted physical player, but he’s struggled to conform his game to the offense and to make quick decisions when throwing the ball. One thing he did not do in Thursday’s workout was take off running at the first hint of pass rush pressure; that’s a step forward, at least for one day.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/06/16/gretz_inside_an_ota__offense/
Jun 16, 2006, 8:01:33 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
There’s one thing that observers of all off-season practices and mini-camps have to remember, whether they are coaches, players or the media: a single day, a single drill, a single play are but small slices of a larger pie. It’s the sum of the work that matters and will either lift or sink a team once the activity turns to training camp and the regular season.
In that light, this much was obvious during Thursday’s OTA session at the Truman Sports Complex: the Chiefs offense did not perform to its usual standards. There were a handful of plays where head coach Herman Edwards ordered the offensive group to get back into the huddle when there was confusion on shifting, motion and alignment. At the end of practice when the team was working on situation ball (in this case it was fourth quarter, time running out, the offense was behind on the scoreboard) the Chiefs offense wasn’t able to move the ball against the defense.
The offense did have its moments: Damon Huard and Samie Parker hooked up a long pass play that was beautifully thrown down the right sideline. Larry Johnson broke out on a run wide left and showed that amazing speed for a man his size. But overall, the Chiefs defense got the upper hand in this workout.
A caveat to the offensive’s play: the first-team was missing a lot of parts. Among those not participating in Thursday’s workout were Tony Gonzalez, Eddie Kennison, Willie Roaf, Casey Wiegmann, John Welbourn, Jason Dunn and Dante Hall. While Trent Green did throw some passes, his workload was not a normal practice day for the starting quarterback.
It’s what the off-season is about: learning, developing and pushing the entire roster to a higher level of performance. Some of the younger players got more opportunities without those veterans around, and that’s always welcome at this time of the year by both players and coaches. Now, they must raise their performance level and consistency. They’ll have four more workouts to do that next week.
Here’s how the workout broke down position-by-position:
OFFENSIVE LINE
It’s always hard to judge both the offensive and defense lines because there are no pads and it’s not full-contact work. In this practice, there was no one-on-one pass rushing drills. There were 16 blockers working, with Roaf, Welbourn and Wiegmann missing the practice. In their individual drills, the line worked on techniques and fundamentals as individuals and then as a blocking group.
Working with the first team was Kevin Sampson at right tackle and Jordan Black at left tackle. Handling the snapping was Jonathan Ingram. Newly signed Kyle Turley was working with the second offensive line at left tackle. Also on that No. 2 line were Peter Heyer at left guard, Rudy Niswanger at center, Chris Bober at right guard and Ian Allen at right tackle. The No. 3 line had Will Svitek at left tackle, Steve Franklin at left guard, Tyler Lenda at center, Tre Stallings at right guard and Jeremy Parquet at right tackle.
TIGHT ENDS
There are six tight ends on the roster, but only three worked on Thursday. With Gonzalez and Dunn missing, that gave Kris Wilson more snaps and the third-year pro took advantage of them, something he’s done all through this week of OTAs. He made several nice catches, including one where if it were a game, he would have been lit up by safety Greg Wesley. Also missing practice with an injury was Aaron Golliday.
WIDE RECEIVERS
There are 13 receivers listed on the roster and nine took part in the OTA. Kennison and Jeff Webb were not on the field, while Hall and Chris Hannon did not take part in the workout.
Parker and Jeris McIntyre ran with the first team, with Craphonso Thorpe getting some snaps with the No. 1 unit as well. Terrence Metcalf had several nice catches, including one in the end zone when the team worked on offense in the scoring zone. Darrell Hill also had a TD catch in the scoring zone and several other catches. After a spring in NFL Europe, Nate Curry got some snaps, including an end-around run.
RUNNING BACKS
There are 10 backs on the roster and eight were on the field, with Priest Holmes and Quentin Griffin missing. Johnson looked good on most running plays and very good on a handful. He did have a pass bounce off his hands that ended up as an interception for the defense. With Griffin absent, Dee Brown got a lot of reps. Fullback Ronnie Cruz was very active as a receiver.
QUARTERBACKS
All four quarterbacks were working on Thursday. Green took the fewest number of snaps, as the team continues to limit his work. That will continue right through the early days of training camp. Huard took the largest number of snaps at looked good on several plays, including the long pass to Parker. When the Chiefs went to the no-huddle situation offense, Huard did not complete any of his three throws; one was knocked down by Jared Allen (in fact, Huard ended up catching the deflection), the second throw slipped out of his hands and the third bounced off Johnson and was intercepted by Derrick Johnson.
Brodie Croyle continued to make quick decisions in the pocket. While he didn’t hit any big passes, he did find tight end Adam Johnson open at the back of the end zone for a TD in a scoring zone drill.
Casey Printers’ performance was like all of his work this spring. He’s a gifted physical player, but he’s struggled to conform his game to the offense and to make quick decisions when throwing the ball. One thing he did not do in Thursday’s workout was take off running at the first hint of pass rush pressure; that’s a step forward, at least for one day.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/06/16/gretz_inside_an_ota__offense/