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Sunday, August 01, 2010

Gibson shines in backs on backers

Thaddeus Gibson, a fifth-round pick out of Ohio State, is quickly becoming the camp sensation.

Gibson was nearly unblockable in the backs on backers drill, beating six opponents, losing only to Isaac Redman. He shows a lot of explosiveness.

Redman, meanwhile, was one of the offensive stars along with Tank Summers in the drill.

The drill is slanted severely toward the defense, so any offensive wins are of note.

© Maurkice Pouncey, Ryan Clark, Ramon Foster, Casey Hampton and Jonathan Dwyer were among those who did not practice today.

More on that later.

18 comments:

Ben said...

Dale, thanks for the updates. Is Tank starting to live up to his nickname?

Awesome to hear about Gibson. Between he and Worilds, I expected Gibson to take longer to come to NFL form. It's sounding to me like Worilds might need to add some power moves to his finesse repertoire.

Anonymous said...

Like I said yesterday, the kid is NFL ready

Can't wait to see him in preseason

Anonymous said...

Dale - As always, your info/insight is much appreciated! I sure hope that it's nothing serious with Pouncey (missing practice).

Anonymous said...

All I can say is Isaac freekin Redman baby!!! He will be wearing a hat on sunday's this season barring injury, mark my words. He should have made the team last year. We may not have had the short yardage problems if he was the change up to Mendy. I don't worry about Mendy shying away from contact. Let Redman do the hitting and Mendy can break the 50 yard runs. I think our running back crop will be a strength this year not a weakness.

Patrick said...

Looks like this is going to be another summer of Redman talk.

Lets just assume he is ready to make an impact and has a sensational camp, who gets cut or doesn't dress? Even if someone else plays 3rd down, I highly doubt Moore gets cut as he is the surest punt returner on the roster right now. I guess Logan could do that if they insist on keeping him on the roster again. But Redman is going to have to beat out Dwyer to dress. Dwyer is almost sure to be signed by another team if he gets put on the PS (but obviously Redman might grab someone's attention now too). So I don't know what they do if Redman outplays Dwyer - prob the loser of Redman/Dwyer would be on the healthy scratch list each week.

And then everyone will complain that Dwyer should be playing.

Dale Lolley said...

How about Randle El, Patrick. He's returned some punts in his career - if memory serves.
Logan is not making this team.
There's room for Dwyer, Redman and Summers along with Moore and Mendenhall. In fact, there's your running backs.

Braden said...

After I read Logan's quote in Saturday's PG about his SUV: (paraphrasing) "It's all white. It sits on 26 inch rims. I call it COCAINE WHITE," I had a feeling his days could be numbered. With all the negative attention from earlier in the preseason (which has delightfully subsided some), a ridiculous gaffe like that may be the icing on the cake for reasons to be rid of Logan.

That stable of Dwyer, Redman, Summers, Moore and SPINdenhall sounds pretty good. Could there be simultaneous 1000-yd rushers in there?

Anonymous said...

"Could there be simultaneous 1000-yd rushers in there?"

no, dont be stupid

Patrick said...

I forgot all about Randle El. Good, I hope Logan isn't on the team, better use of the roster that way.

Who do you think returns kicks then? I don't think Randle El has done that in awile and I don't think they'd put Wallace back there.

keevin said...

Randel El sucks at returning punts

For kick returns I guess they can put one of the young RBs back there

Anonymous said...

Logan did a good job with it last year, and until then had zero nfl experience. Not unheard of for rookies to come in and contribute well in this area. Harvin and Knox to name just a couple from last year. Why does everyone want the answers right now. They will present in good time. They have a number of options. Logan is a good return man, with no other position. El is a jag returner and a jag WR. Same with RB Moore. That's your range. Maybe Logan shows some added value in an offensive package. Maybe Sanders or Brown prove worth in both the return game and at WR. I'm not too worried about it, even if they stick with one-note Logan. They had as many as 4 or 5 ST-only players last year. That won't be the case this year. They can afford to carry one or two ST'ers this year. Maybe not ideal, but not the worst thing either.

Patrick said...

Also Dale, if that is your stable of RB's do you see them dressing 3 TE's including Johnson? It seems like Johnson would have to beat out Spaeth or Summers. I don't how much of a TE Johnson is over Spaeth.

I'm kind of assuming that McHugh isn't in the mix here either, he very well could be.

Anonymous said...

Johnson is a better blocker than spaeth

He is not much of a pass catcher as spaeth though, and if heath goes down and we only have mchugh and johnson we're screwed. That tells me mchugh will be the odd man out. He is a good blocker, but so is johnson, plus johnson is younger

Miller, Spaeth, Johnson. Sounds good to me as long as johnson sees the field more than spaeth

Patrick said...

I agree with all of that except I'm more asking if Summers takes Johnson's roster spot and we only go with 2 TE's.

I'm bascially just going off of what last year's roster was. Assuming Redman/Dwyer is the extra RB instead of Logan (he was probably listed as a WR last year, I know) + Summers then we're +1 roster spot as compared to last year if you include Johnson, who was the FB/TE.

Anonymous said...

Easy Braden, saying "Cocaine White" is just a status thing. Just like how the word Ivory suggests status without endorsing the illegal poaching of endangered species. Still he won't make the team because there are more flexible candidates for the return team.

Braden said...

I know their O-line was vastly different than ours in '08, but the Giants had Jacobs and Ward each gain at least 1000yds. I think the lineup of (1) Mendy and (2) Dwyer/Redman has as much talent and ability as Jacobs/Ward. I also think that Mendy can put up similar if not better numbers this year, barring any serious implications from this toe injury, and I believe Redman/Dwyer have the ability to perform similarly.

With "Hotel" Adams filling in as a proven run blocker on the right, Starks solidified on the left (I believe he's a better run than pass blocker as well), and as of right now an unchanged interior that gave Mendy space to gain 1100 in 12 games - then the RB stable should gain ground in droves throughout the season.

Also, call me crazy, but I have more hope for Dwyer to be #2. Watching the sheer downhill speed he can get in some of his Youtube highlights got me excited.

Dale Lolley said...

They'll keep three tight ends. Arians runs too many two tight end packages for them not to keep three. Plus, Spaeth can't block a toilet.

As far as the return game, ARE averaged 6.0 yards per punt return in 2009, Logan averaged 9.3. But, if you throw out Logan's long of 25 yards, that knocks him back to 8.5. He's nothing special returning punts. And there's always the possibility he'll botch one - which is why they didn't use him inside his own 20.

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