Practice Report for Insiders Monday August 6

[WestCoastJoe]

Practice Report for Insiders Monday August 6

Not a lot of high spirits today at practice. No surprise. No down spirits either. Just business.

Wally is much more vocal today. Watching every group closely. Still willing to banter, but more intense.

Stretching for a few minutes. High knees, high kicks.

Group work. Mike Roach lecturing his D Line on reaction to "pressure" and "vision."

Special teams punting. Ian Smart very steady on the returns.

Jarious taking 1st team reps. I hesitate to say this, but he looks pretty good. I could not say if it means anything that he looks pretty good. But he does not bounce any passes to the crossing receivers or backfielders. He is accurate on his throws down the field. He seems to read the field a bit and picks out some secondary receivers. No D Line chasing after him however.

Buck takes 2nd reps and looks pretty good. Gino looks good on his reps, mostly with scout team.

A couple of new twists on formations. Green at TE and then dropping back into the backfield pre-snap. Smart and Smith at wideout sometimes. We have seen that before.

Geroy looking a bit down. Must be tough to run all those routes and not get the ball. Cory Rodgers drops one that hits him right in the hands.

Running game. Lots of work for Smart and Smith.

Chatting with Ryan Philips. Nice young man. He hopes nobody gets too down after the last game. He answers that the new guy today is James Bethea at practice as a DB, wearing 29. He was in camp last year.

I ask Markeith Knowlton if he has played any linebacker. He says he has in college. He seems like he would be up for the challenge.

Nick Hannah getting lots of work at LB.

Mike Wilson, Surrey Ram at practice. Konrad Wasiela at practice.

Special teams fieldgoals. Buck spotting.

Chatting with Lowell. I comment on how Jarious is like a lot of NFL QBs who come to the CFL. They seem to have creativity drummed out of them. They play like automatons. He agrees emphatically, and indicates he will write about that at some point. He also discusses how Wally had shown him all the open receivers with his laser pointer and his high-tech video stuff in his office.

Craig McEwen at practice with a camera crew.

Jamie Baresi agreeing that lots of receivers were open in the game, but did not get the ball.

Ian Walker interviewing Jarious.

The mood at practice matches Wally's mood. Not high-spirited, but pretty focused. Not down, business-like.

Nicked: Tony Simmons jogging around the field, not practicing. Korey Banks not practicing, but on the field (Reichelt would not let him hang around inside the building); not looking ready for this next game.

Sherko H-R practicing; looks hopeful.

Otis Floyd practicing; looks like he will play. He does fine on the agility drills with the LBs. He does extra agility work on the DRIFT footwork ropes. Otis is always having fun, even in the absence of Carl Kidd. Jamal J does the agility stuff with Otis.

Buck looks better than last week. Dave D not present. Clovis and Marsh not present.

Jerome Dennis has a strain (wrapped) on his right knee. He is practicing, and looks like he can play. Last week he had some reps at receiver and looked pretty good. He says he did not play any receiver in college.

This one is a concern: Jamal Johnson dressed but not participating, a cast on his left arm. He hopes he can play. It is some kind of break or fracture.

[TheLionKing]

Excellent report as usual. Is Pierce showing any effects from is injury specifically his turf toe ? Is Jackson still throwing the ball on a rope ?

[WestCoastJoe]

Thank you, TheLionKing.

Buck looks like he is not suffering from the rib bruises anymore. His hand looks OK.

He still limps a bit when walking. As we know, that turf toe stuff can take its own time to heal.

I suspect if Jarious struggles, Buck will go into the game.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility for Jarious to have a breakout game. LOL Anyone put money on that?

Jarious has such a strong arm, he does throw it on a line. That can work. Today I don't think he missed a throw, long or short. I personally don't mind his mechanics on the throw. What bothers me is his zeroing in on one receiver and forcing it in there. He still seems to play like a straight-jacketed NFL QB. Don't take chances. Don't improvise. Don't go away from the game plan. Don't run the ball. Don't roll out.

[TheLionKing]

The book on Jarius is that he looks great in practices. Another story on game day.

[SammyGreene]

Great job WC Joe.

Wally said on the TEAM that Buck has shown improvement and will start on Friday if he has another good workout tomorrow.

Too bad about Banks as he is a real key in the secondary, especially with Stegall coming to town. Hopefully he will test it tomorrow.

I take it DD was doing his light workouts in the training room and avoiding the media/cameras for now.

[O'Shea]

It was encouraging to see Buck on the field taking some reps, even if he was limping a little. After practice, as we were leaving I heard someone ask Buck if he would be playing next game and he said "Hopefully". Jarious did look good today I have to admit.