AJC > Sports > Falcons > Training Camp Blog > Archives > 2007 > August > 03
Friday, August 3, 2007
Datish scheduled for Monday surgery
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Practice just wrapped up. First, I wanted to get into some injury news. Backup center Doug Datish, a sixth-round pick from Ohio State, didn’t practice because of a broken bone in his wrist. Datish is scheduled to have surgery on Monday, and the team at this point is uncertain how long he’ll be out.
Before the injury, Datish had dropped behind Todd McClure and P.J. Alexander on the depth chart at center, so the timing isn’t too good for the former Buckeye.
Veteran linebacker Keith Brooking was scheduled to practice today, but sat out because of some soreness in his knee. He has tendinitis, so to be safe he was held out of Friday’s practice. Petrino hopes he’ll be back out there shortly.
Darrell Shropshire missed practice again, evidently his tweaked groin is bothering him a little more than originally thought. He worked in shorts and a t-shirt on a side field with Rod Coleman, doing some agility drills and hitting the sled.
After practice, Bobby Petrino gave this assessment of the first full week of training camp: “I like the way the players have approached it; the way they’re serious in the meetings, coming out here, working hard. We have to get more consistent. We have periods within the practice where one side of the ball looks good, and the next period the other side looks good. We have to get where we’re executing consistently on both sides of the ball and have great competition in every drill.”
Other entries from today’s practice:
- Shockley having a great practice
Shockley having great practice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I got back on the field after the last blog update, the team was scrimmaging. Either I missed Chris Redman completely, or Joey Harrington and D.J. Shockley were the only two quarterbacks to run the offense. Either way, Shockley looked good in this session. He’s having a great practice.
Shockley finished the session 4-for-5 passing including a deep corner to Adam Jennings - who is also having a good practice today. Shockley connected on a deep ball to Jamin Elliott, and he rolled out twice to his right for completions to tight end George Cooper and Eric Weems.
On his only incompletion, 5-foot-10 (as listed on the roster) Noriaki Kinoshita stayed in to block and get smushed by an unidentified defender. One observer who saw the whole thing happen remarked: “I didn’t know the human body could bend in that way.” Kinoshita has shown good hands and quickness so far in training camp, but I’m not sure he’s a guy I’m keeping back to block.
Meanwhile, two fields over, Rod Coleman was working some agility drills in shorts and a t-shirt. He’s got that quad injury, but looked like he was moving pretty good.
Redman working with the twos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Falcons just wrapped up the first team scrimmaging session. For those following the free safety battle, Jimmy Williams was out there with the ones and looked fine. He did get beat deep pretty bad by Michael Jenkins during an earlier drill but held his own in scrimmaging.
As far as the offense goes, Joey Harrington obviously was the quarterback with the first team, but it was Chris Redman who came out with the second team. He took five reps at quarterback, completing one of five passes. He missed Joe Horn underneath on one play and an open Adam Jennings deep on another. It wasn’t Redman’s best session.
After that Shockley came out and took three snaps. One was a running play, and he completed both his pass attempts, although both were short pass plays. He swung one to a running back who I couldn’t identify from our spot in the media bleachers and another short pass to Noriaki Kinoshita.
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Petrino doesn’t mind the heat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s hot. How’s that for an update from training camp? But that’s fine with Bobby Petrino who when I asked him about concerns about the heat, said he loved it. At the time, he said they need as many hot days of practice as possible so I’m sure he’s not too upset about the weather. Officially, weather.com says it’s 90 degrees, but feels like 92. No, weather.com, it feels a lot hotter than that.
It’s an open practice today, and it starts in about 10 minutes. I just wanted to offer up a quick reminder for those who can’t make the drive to Flowery Branch for training camp. The Falcons will be moving things downtown on Saturday for the Midtown Touchdown festival. There will be a training camp practice at Grady Stadium as well as autograph opportunities, interactive games and all that other stuff. It starts at 3 p.m. at Piedmont Park. Music lovers should note that Monica will be performing at at 4 p.m. on the main stage at Piedmont Park.
The festivities at Piedmont Park are free, but it costs $7 to watch practice at Grady - although you should know that benefits go towards the school’s athletic programs and stadium upkeep.
Alright, enough plugging for the team. Let me get to a few responses from your comments from yesterday before I head out into the heat:
Mike Wright: Vincent Marshall has looked pretty good out there at wide receiver. He’s little - listed at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds and the Falcons are pretty deep at WR. He’s a longshot for sure, but he hasn’t done anything to hurt himself. The preseason games will be big for him.
TheeDr: Having watched more Detroit Lions games than I’d like to admit, I’m very familiar with the Harrington check down on third and long. In his defense, he said that offense didn’t suit him. We’ll see if Petrino’s is a better fit.
SC: I appreciate the comments. Let me know if there’s anything more specific you want to see.
Rod: Right now, the reps are split pretty evenly between Shockley and Redman. I agree, Shockley has more upside at the QB position, but Redman is familiar with the offense and hasn’t looked bad in training camp. That’s another battle that will be one to watch in preseason. I’ll let you know what I see out there today. Maybe I need to start counting reps.
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