Sunday, August 20
Camp is now over and in the books. It went by very fast this year. Here's a recap on the week.
The rookies had a talent show and did a good job of imitating some of the players and coaches.
We also have King Ugly award every year, the ugliest guy on the team voted by his peers. This year there was a twist in the contest, and the players added lifetime achievement awards to it as well. King ugly was won by Mike Anderson. Lifetime achievement awards went to Terrell Suggs and Benard Thomas. Ed Reed and Samari Rolle got very creative with the awards. They showed movie clips of people or creatures they thought Suggs and Benard Thomas looked like.
We got our first win of the year under our belt by beating the Eagles 20-10. I thought the offense moved the ball very well and controlled the clock. The defense started out with some flakey calls by the ref and gave up a long screen pass. After that we settled down and played well.
The young guys played with a lot of emotion and passion. They were flying around having fun.
Musa Smith looked very well after the two-year set back that he had from the leg injury. Devard Darling played well also, with some big catches down the field.
Friday was my birthday, so now I am a little older and wiser.
Next week we have the Vikings. I'm looking forward to going there…I've never been to that city before.
I'm Glad to be back into the regular practice facility. More space, our own cafeteria, a sauna, etc. I gave away a lot of gloves and shoes to the fans on the last day of camp…as well as taping people to the goal post (Pittman) the rookies got their normal Gatorade bath on the last day.
And that's all folks remember "oatmeal is better than no meal"
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Tues., August 15
Training camp is winding down.
Monday was pretty relaxed. Full pads in the morning…he evening practice was just a run through in shorts. Everybody seemed to get off to a slow start…thinking about camp winding down, but everyone picked it up in the end. We picked it up on defense….trying to get up to game speed and get our timing down.
The D went against the first unit to get ourselves ready for the Philly game. The 'ones' will probably play a full half in the Philly game…get to see what kind of football shape we're in.
Samari was out yesterday morning and evening. The young guys are starting to step it up and get into the communication aspects of the D.
Friday we are off, so everything is kind of winding down.
Today is going to be fun. King Ugly voting tomorrow….guys vote on who is the ugliest player on the team. We also have the rookie show coming up…the rookies imitate players or coaches from training camp. Tomorrow will be a lot of fun.
Today is also Jeopardy day…the winners don't have to practice on Saturday. There is a team of rookies and second year guys going against vets. The vets will win because the rookies don’t know anything…they don’t know the plays, history….they don’t know where payers came from. So after practice today, its off to the room to study for Jeopardy.
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Wed., August 9
Today was another good day as far as weather is concerned.
We went live a couple of times in short-yardage situations and moved the ball. The quarterbacks threw the ball very well today. The defense was a step slow for the most part this morning. We will have to pick it up in tomorrow morning's soft-shell practice if we want to look good on Friday.
This evening was special-teams' practice, which means short and sweet.
Rookies David Pittman and Rufus Skillern got the first rookie bath and taping today. Pittman was getting too comfortable with his role being injured, so we gave him a cold incentive to get healthy. He was taped by several guys…even his eyes were covered. Then he was baptized with several buckets of ice cold water. That topped off the evening practice.
Overall the defense is starting to jell as time passes and we get on the same page. We are running better to the ball and being more aware of the route combinations and help recognition.
That's all for now and remember, "Oatmeal is better than no meal."
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Friday, August 4
Today was not bad at all...finally a cool day. Today was a day you wouldn’t
mind wearing pads compared to the other days.
Softshells this morning, but longer than a usual softshell practice, which means more running. The refs were present the last two days but haven’t called an offensive foul yet to my knowledge.
The afternoon practice was cancelled to accommodate the guys that wanted to attend the funeral of Jonathan Ogden’s father. Our payers go out to the Ogden family during this time of grief.
It was a short day and cool. God gave us a weather bone today…and hopefully tomorrow when we scrimmage the Skins.
The rookies are starting to show more talent in the singing department but its still terrible.
Governor Ehrlich and the Fir