I'll have a more lengthy writeup in a bit, but here are some quick-hit notes from today's practice that was drenched for about the first 30 minutes.
• Overall, I thought the defense made some strong improvement from the first day. That group honestly looked a little lax on Wednesday, and today there was a lot more fire from that group and some improved play during the team periods. There was a lot more pressure being applied to Sam Jackson V and the other quarterbacks with a few sacks coming out of that. QBs are not able to be tackled right now but those sacks were still credited.
One of the big ones came from Myles Williams as he flew in off the edge before Jackson had anywhere to go. Stanley McKenzie was also able to get some good pressure up the middle with that first group as well during the early team periods. Myles Jernigan was also credited with a sack against Jackson.
• When the pass rush is getting home, that obviously means there are some issues up front. I thought the offensive line performed much better earlier in the week than it did today. There were a few too many breakdowns in pass protection and Jackson, in particular, had some issues staying clean in the pocket. He was scrambling a lot more today than Wednesday and it led to some errant passes from time to time.
• The offense overall continues to come into focus a bit more, and today there were some new wrinkles being added with sweeps and a lot of motion. That's been a clear major element of the offense so far. There is a lot more movement than I can remember at all under Musgrave. The formations are anything too exotic but Jake Spavital is moving guys around all over the field and using them in different ways. One example of that was a 75-yard run on an end-around from Mavin Anderson that he took up the right sideline untouched for a score.
• Overall, it was a bit of an inconsistent day across the board for the quarterbacks. Sam Jackson continues to look strong with his ability to push the ball down the field. He hit Anderson on a deep ball and found Monroe Young on another one that went about 40 yards. Fernando Mendoza had some highlight plays including a nice ball thrown to tight end Elijah Mojarro on the left side. However, he was also intercepted by Nohl Williams on a throw that should have probably went another direction. Mendoza was looking for Chris Rogers on the play and Williams did a nice job of going up to make a play.
• It's hard not to like anything that Jaydn Ott does when he gets the ball, but he was really showcasing his skills in Saturday's practice. He didn't break anything away, but he put together some decent runs that picked up 10+ yards and was really effective in the red zone. The offensive line did a good job run blocking today and opening up some holes for him.
I'll have practice clips, interviews, photos and a longer writeup a little later.
