After posting the morning practice, I find myself running late for the afternoon practice. Consequently, I end up parking a quarter mile away. So I pack my things and finally make into the complex just as the Horn starts practice. The only thing I end up missing is the pre-warm up warm-ups. I manage to reclaim my spot at the 41 yard line as the players start in on the stretch interval. Jarvis Green, Ronald Fields and Ryan McBean are stretching directly in front of me. After this, the ball carriers run the hurdle pylons sideways with the ball, twisting left and then right all the while ball boys and assistants try to knock the ball from them. HORN.
The Offensive Linemen take their place down near the goal line to do their thing and Wide Receivers gather at the opposite goal line area to run their up and back slalom patterns as a coach throws passes at them. The Running Backs are running through lanes defined by a plastic "Line of Scrimmage" that marks where the lineman's positions and where the running lanes are. The Quarterbacks are throwing 10 yard sideline passes to a stationary ball boy. The routes get longer as they progress. Orton Quinn and Tebow all throw well during this session although Tebow's long ball is still floating. Kyle definitely is showing why he is the starter. Eddie Royal and Eric Decker catch deep outs from Orton, then Brady Quinn sails one on Jabar Gaffney. Tim Tebow throws two nice balls, one to Royal and another to Brandon Stokely. Orton throws a nice strike to Decker and then the two connect on an short square out. Orton hooks up with Royal on the next play. Tebow wobbles one to Matthew Willis and then fires a nice pass to Patrick Honeycutt. Brady Quinn completes a pass to DeMaryius Thomas and McDaniels instructs him on his breaks. Quinn hits a long pass to Brandon Lloyd. Kyle hits McKinley over the middle. Tebow steps up for his reps. Timmy's passes are wobbly and floating. The accuracy is there, but his long wind up is going to shorten his decision-making process and he won't be able to hold on to the ball like he currently does. HORN.
The Defensive Backs go up against the Wide Receivers in the next section. Brandon Lloyd beats Perrish Cox. Matthew Willis catches a pass in front of Alphonso Smith. Gaffney outfoxes Champ Bailey, McKinley beats Tony Carter and DeMaryius Thomas out jumps Nate Jones for a completion. The Phonz breaks up a pass. Eric Decker drops a Tebow pass and Lloyd makes another highlight practice catch. Alphonso Smith can't get the handle on a possible interception, but he cleanly beats his man. Syd'Quan Thompson misses a pick and Stokely beats Phonz. Brady Quinn overthrows Decker and Lloyd puts a nice move, schooling Perrish Cox Royal makes a nice catch on an out right in front of Nate Jones. A whistle signals an end to the session.
Next up, Punt protection and Coverage reps. David Bruton is the Personal Protector and Wesley Woodyard and Darcel McBath are the Gunners. The unit practices their Get Offs. Britton Colquittt finally gets a chance to actually punt instead of receiving snaps. He proceeds to boom 45 to 55 yard punts. Matthew Willis and DeMaryius Thomas get a few reps as Gunners and Nate Jones and Josh Barrett also take reps as Gunners. Perrish Cox is the lone Punt Returner and he fields every one until Colquitt booms a punt upwards of 60 yards (these numbers are from the line of scrimmage) over the rookie's head. Then, on the last rep they run a full play and Cox must have heard Nate Jones and Josh Barrett's footsteps because he mis-handled the punt. HORN.
1st Team 11 on 11's is next on the agenda. On the first play. the whistle blows and they re-huddle. Mike McCoy didn't like the way the players lined up. Orton throws to Brandon Lloyd over the middle and Champ Bailey breaks up the pass, and because all balls are considered "Live," Eddie Royal recovers. Kolby Smith gets stuffed at the line. Kyle Orton connects with DeMaryius Thomas in front of Andre' Goodman. Brady Quinn comes in and hands off to Lance Ball, who gains some tough yards. The whistle sounds again after the Offense lines up and they huddle again. Bruce Hall takes a handoff from Quinn and is met at the line by Jarvis Moss, LeKevin Smith and Nick Greisen. The next play is broken and Brady throws it away. There seems to be some confusion going on with the 2nd Team Offense. Orton returns and Marquez Branson muffs a pass from Kyle while DeMaryius Thomas was open. Spencer Larsen gets a swing pass thrown to him and he promptly steams ahead. Lance Ball takes a handoff back to the line of scrimmage and then Tebow runs a Quarterback Draw. The Offense and Defense switch directions and the Defensive personnel heads for the far field while the Offensive Line heads back down to their spot near the Goal line. The Quarterbacks, Running backs and Receivers stay together and run more passing drills. Orton throws a nice long spiral deep to Jabar Gaffney and then misses Stokely deep over the middle. Brandon gives Kyle a puzzled WTF look. Kolby Smith catches a short pass and Quinn gets his turn. He completes a flat pass to Lloyd and then throws a nice pass to Eddie Royal. Then it's Tebow's turn. He throws a haphazard deep ball to Willis that Matthew doesn't catch, like " if you're not gonna throw the ball, I'm not gonna catch it."
DB's go against the WR's again. Orton throws to Royal who is being covered by Nate Jones, then completes a pass to Marquez Branson who is surrounded by Brian Dawkins. Jabar Gaffney and Nate Jones mix it up deep on what would have been offsetting Pass Interference. Brady Quinn connects with DeMaryius Thomas on a nice out. Then Brady threads a perfect pass and Kenny McKinley makes a terrific grab over the top of Alphonso Smith who had him blanketed. That was well-played all the way round. Tebow throws an incomplete at the feet of Lance Ball and the HORN sounds.
More 1st Team 11 on 11's. Kyle fakes a handoff, rolls out to the right, and hits Daniel Graham. He then makes an incomplete pass to Marquez Branson that gets broken up when Mario Haggan and Champ Bailey collide with him. Champ gets up wincing fron Mario's hit. Kolby Smith has a nice run and breaks upfield where 2 Linebackers attempt to knock the ball out of his hands. The next play is a broken one and Kyle tries to pass it to DeMaryius but Thomas slips on his cutback break. I don't see any limping so it must have been a slip. He is not the only receiver losing traction on the afternoon. Matthew Willis catches a receiver screen and Jarvis Moss picks him up like a toy. Dustin Fry and Ronald Fields have a good battle going on with each other. No animosity, just tenacity. The Defensive Line is holding there own and winning the battle on the Line of Scrimmage. Substitutes are rotated in and with Tebow in at Quarterback, Mike McCoy calls a re-huddle. Bruce Hall carries to the left and then the HORN sounds.
They switch sides once again and continue the 11 on 11's. Lance Ball gets a carry. The Offense is running over the left side repeatedly. The line of scrimmage is the 20 and Orton completes a pass to Gaffney at the opposite 20. Then Tim Tebow runs another Quarterback Draw up the middle. Lance Ball shows some speed on the next two hand offs. Quinn has a pass batted down at the Line. Tebow hits Matthew Willis over the middle for a nice play. HORN.
They switch sides again and Orton hits Royal on a 10 yard square in and on the next
play, the defense gets a pressure sack. Quinn hands off to Toney Baker. Quinn connects with Brandon Stokely and Toney Baker gets another look. Brady throws it to Alric Arnett as Tony Carter is on the coverage, Coach Martindale says, "Don't stop, don't stop running." Lance Ball gets a carry. Tebow holds the ball long enough to start a Campfire and sing Kumbaya. On the next play he holds, and holds, and holds the ball before rolling right, finally deciding to run the ball with it. He then hits Nathan Overbay on a short curl to finish the segment. HORN.
The Units switch sides once more. Orton gets caught in the backfield by Ronald Fields and spikes the ball saying "Cmon!" Matthew Willis makes a leaping catch that gets broken up by Champ on the way down. Orton hits DeMaryius Thomas on a quick out and then turns it upfield. Ryan McBean gets to Kyle on the next play. Tebow holds on and then finds Lance Ball over the middle, then hits Willis on a deep out. Tony Carter breaks up a Quinn pass intended for Thomas. Orton passes to Richard Quinn who promptly gets smacked by Andre' Goodman. Orton finds Kolby Smith over the middle. They run the same play again and Smith drops the second one. Tebow tries to complete a pass to Thomas, but it is under thrown and Alphonso Smith breaks up the pass. Next, Tebow holds on to Ball long enough to get sacked 3 times. HORN.
The team starts it's cool down period and the Eye in the Sky makes its appear like the practice has ended. and the final HORN sounds. The Offensive Linemen are signing autographs and I manage to gather a few more.
It's late and I am nodding off. I'm not sure if I typed the same sentence over twice, but I will fix any errors later. I just wanted to get this up. I will post pictures tomorrow. Good night all.