Mini Camp Day 2

[Dan]

Ouch...thats not quite fair. I'm not going to put one guy down to build our guy up but you are incredibly WRONG. Outside of his touch and accuracy on long passes and plain simple arm strength/velocity Andrew definately is better across the board then Griffen but Griffen had to read the defense all the time. It wasn't a spread offense that simply got plays called in from the sideline after the defense lined up. He regularly called plays at the line of scrimmage and please to run the option game like he did he had to read defenses. I don't think people gave him enough credit for being a smart qb. He only threw 6 ints all year while throwing the ball more than Luck. He is a very smart kid and is fully capable reading defenses...just I don't think as quickly and as well as Andrew...and Andrew did it a lot more under center. Griffen is a great looking QB and if Luck wasn't in the draft I would have been perfectly happy with Griffen.

He could read the more simple defences... look at how he played against, for example, Oklahoma State to see how he doesn't know how to read even the slightly more complicated ones. I think you're far overstating how much he does at the line as well, I think the choice of whether to run the option or not was the only thing left down to him, I remember very few audibles from him while Luck seemed to be editing the play every time he went under center. His reading of the defence after the snap consisted of nothing more than "Sweet, one of my two first round receivers is free!" while Luck had to watch receivers that struggled to get separation and try to squeeze a pass in with more complicated routes and plays.

Don't mistake me for mindlessly criticising, I'm not saying he can't do it, just that he hasn't. He's an undoubtedly smart kid and will probably be able to pick it up, but Luck is leaps and bounds ahead of Griffin in terms of football IQ, something all scouts agreed on.

[NewColtsFan]

Yeah I waited close to an hour just to get a burger and some nachos. They def should of been more prepared. Drinks should of been more accessiable instead of having to wait an hour in line when the hot summer sun was beating down on the field.

Offense:

-Luck looked on short and intermediate throws. Didn't look sharp at the start of practice but as it wore on, he looked better.

-Donnie Avery showed very nice speed on the outside and consistently beat coverage once he hit his stride about 15 yards down field.

-Vick Ballard was very impressive and showed good speed hitting the hole and in his jump cuts.

-Dwayne Allen also ran well and appears to be the starting TE with Fleener being the interchangable piece at slot WR similar to how Dallas Clark was used.

-Luck looked very good on what looked like a 2 min drill needing a touchdown. He completed 4-4 passes with a nice fade TD to Collie in the right corner. So much for Luck not being to throw the fade.

-Coby Fleener seemed to be Luck's go to target on the 7-7 drills.

-Reggie Wayne still has the best footwork out of any WR on the team by far.

-WR Jeremy Ross paticularly looked good as well catching and cutting in and out of routes. Worked a little with 1st team but mostly worked with 2nd teamers and stood out with them.

-Samson Steele saw limited snaps with the 1st team. Not sure if it had to do with an injury or something else.

Defense:

-Freeney was warming up and working with the D Line for the most part instead of the Linebackers group where Robert Mathis was.

-Mathis looked good running drills with the LB's.

-Tim Fugger looked good as well working the LB's.

-Jerry Hughes seemed lost and almost dis-interested in practice and seemed to brush off coaches when they tried to correct something he did wrong in one of the drills. Not looking good for him.

-The Colts rotated Kevin Thomas and a few other CB's at RCB during 11-11 and 7-7 drills.

-Freeney sometimes would be standing up on the right or left side of the line and sometimes would be in his typical lineman stance. Def will be some variety this year.

-Jerruard Powers broke up a pass intended for Fleener that was delievered late.

Special Teams:

-Pat Mcaffe was drilling FG's from 50+ on the tee holder. Not worried if AV happens to go down.

-AV drilled a 51 yarder and went I 5-6 overall I believe.

-Tom Zimbokoski was returning punts and looked to be the clear cut guy to be the returner this year. (He also looked like the Predator)

Great write-up. Thanks so much for so many good details. MAD props to you!!!

As to the fade, no surprise. He was doing it more and more often as a senior. Not great, but good enough to be effective. As many here are fast finding out, Luck's learning curve is pretty fast. He picks things up quickly. It's another great skill set.

Thanks again....

[dw49]

Yeah I waited close to an hour just to get a burger and some nachos. They def should of been more prepared. Drinks should of been more accessiable instead of having to wait an hour in line when the hot summer sun was beating down on the field.

Offense:

-Luck looked on short and intermediate throws. Didn't look sharp at the start of practice but as it wore on, he looked better.

-Donnie Avery showed very nice speed on the outside and consistently beat coverage once he hit his stride about 15 yards down field.

-Vick Ballard was very impressive and showed good speed hitting the hole and in his jump cuts.

-Dwayne Allen also ran well and appears to be the starting TE with Fleener being the interchangable piece at slot WR similar to how Dallas Clark was used.

-Luck looked very good on what looked like a 2 min drill needing a touchdown. He completed 4-4 passes with a nice fade TD to Collie in the right corner. So much for Luck not being to throw the fade.

-Coby Fleener seemed to be Luck's go to target on the 7-7 drills.

-Reggie Wayne still has the best footwork out of any WR on the team by far.

-WR Jeremy Ross paticularly looked good as well catching and cutting in and out of routes. Worked a little with 1st team but mostly worked with 2nd teamers and stood out with them.

-Samson Steele saw limited snaps with the 1st team. Not sure if it had to do with an injury or something else.

Defense:

-Freeney was warming up and working with the D Line for the most part instead of the Linebackers group where Robert Mathis was.

-Mathis looked good running drills with the LB's.

-Tim Fugger looked good as well working the LB's.

-Jerry Hughes seemed lost and almost dis-interested in practice and seemed to brush off coaches when they tried to correct something he did wrong in one of the drills. Not looking good for him.

-The Colts rotated Kevin Thomas and a few other CB's at RCB during 11-11 and 7-7 drills.

-Freeney sometimes would be standing up on the right or left side of the line and sometimes would be in his typical lineman stance. Def will be some variety this year.

-Jerruard Powers broke up a pass intended for Fleener that was delievered late.

Special Teams:

-Pat Mcaffe was drilling FG's from 50+ on the tee holder. Not worried if AV happens to go down.

-AV drilled a 51 yarder and went I 5-6 overall I believe.

-Tom Zimbokoski was returning punts and looked to be the clear cut guy to be the returner this year. (He also looked like the Predator)

The Jerry Hughes observation is just more of the same. That's all I've ever read about this guy is that he appears lost on the field. Interesting that you say he seems disinterested in what coaches have to say. Let's see .... he's lost and doesn't need coaching. OK... Good to hear that Fugger looks good cause if your observation is correct on Hughes , we need him to make the grade.

[dgambill]

He could read the more simple defences... look at how he played against, for example, Oklahoma State to see how he doesn't know how to read even the slightly more complicated ones. I think you're far overstating how much he does at the line as well, I think the choice of whether to run the option or not was the only thing left down to him, I remember very few audibles from him while Luck seemed to be editing the play every time he went under center. His reading of the defence after the snap consisted of nothing more than "Sweet, one of my two first round receivers is free!" while Luck had to watch receivers that struggled to get separation and try to squeeze a pass in with more complicated routes and plays.

Don't mistake me for mindlessly criticising, I'm not saying he can't do it, just that he hasn't. He's an undoubtedly smart kid and will probably be able to pick it up, but Luck is leaps and bounds ahead of Griffin in terms of football IQ, something all scouts agreed on.

I think you are vastly over generalizing things. I'm not going to get into it but I do agree Luck seemed to have better tools and what you call football IQ but not as much seperated them as you make it seem. The PAC 10 was laughable...and to think those defenses were more complex then what Griffen faced in the Big 12 I don't think is really a fare comparison. I fully think Luck is the better overall qb but to say it is far and away really going to far.

Here I think is a good scouting report on Griffen...many of the experts support this accessment through comments all over the internet but I will let you read it. Clearly he isn't as good as Luck at somethings...but it isn't far off. Please read decision making...while not as highly touted as Luck please note the comments under Overall. Basically he did a fair amount of pre-snap recognitions...the guy isn't as clueless as you make him out..thats all..I just thought you were being unfair. He has things that he does better than Luck and things worse. He still threw almost half as many INTs and there is no question he has a better arm and throws a way better deep ball....exactly what Luck has been struggling at in practice. I still think Luck will be the better overall talent but it isn't a wide margin....I think them and Cam and Stafford and Bradford will be the next big qbs like Manning, Brady, Brees, and Favre have been. Their days will come.

http://www.newerasco...couting-report/

Anyways...this thread was suppose to be about mini-camp so I will no longer get into this.

[Flash7]

Here's a good vidoe I found on day 2 of minicamp.

http://youtu.be/cxq046AHhug

[Dan]

Thing is, all quarterbacks look good in June. There's no contact, there's no real pass rush, it's all just a lightweight scrimmage. If you can't complete 70% in OTAs, then you need to play a different sport. I'm not getting excited over the reports about Luck; I'm pretty certain he's going to be okay. I'm more interested in how our defensive players are adjusting, how the offensive line is coming along, how our rookies look, things like that.

He got around 60% today, looks like it's time to change sports.

[NewColtsFan]

He got around 60% today, looks like it's time to change sports.

Huh? If by 'today' you mean yesterday at Lucas Oil, the numbers I've seen said 26-37. My back of the envelope scratches say that's 70%. And that includes 3 clock killers. And after starting slowly. And, just his 2nd day back to practice.

Otherwise, I get the sarcasm part....

[Dan]

Huh? If by 'today' you mean yesterday at Lucas Oil, the numbers I've seen said 26-37. My back of the envelope scratches say that's 70%. And that includes 3 clock killers. And after starting slowly. And, just his 2nd day back to practice.

Otherwise, I get the sarcasm part....

I mean, he was 23-39 today, just under 60%. Obviously it's too early to worry but I was making a joke at the 70% part.

[NewColtsFan]

Got it.... Just responded to you in the other thread you started on today's practice...

Didn't realize today's practice had already come and gone. Figured you were talking about yesterdays.... My bad!!

This 3-hour ahead thing takes some getting used to...!!

[Superman]

He got around 60% today, looks like it's time to change sports.

DOOMED!!!!