Golden Ticket Practice

[Kangaroo Craig]

I attended the Golden Ticket practice tonight at the new athletic field house. This practice was reserved for only season ticket holders. This was my first look at the place and I would have to say that it rivals that facility in Berea used by the Browns. After practice I spoke with JD and told him that. He said that when the Denver Broncos used it to prepare for the HOF game, Mike Shanahan commented to JD that "This place is better than many of the NFL practice facilities. After practice JD addressed the sparse crowd (About 200) and said that the new digs are better than Pitt's and theirs was state of the art four years ago when it was built. JD said that our place is a good 20 yards longer and wider than Pitt's facility. JD also commented that Charlie Frye is head and shoulders over any quarterback he's ever coached. He said that it is just amazing how quickly he has grasped the new system. JD said that so far he's happy with the changes made this offseason to the defense. He fell short of making any predictions though. I think thats just his style. He strikes me as being an honest and straight forward kind of guy. I understand that he used to work in sales. Its very evident in his positive approach to everything. He's a no BS guy.

Here are some random thoughts on the practice: The rushing game and looked ok, but it was hard to really gauge anything considering that the team was in shells and not going full out. Charlie looked good as usual hitting almost everything within 20 yards. His long balls were thrown only where the receivers could catch them, but unfortunately most of the long balls were just slightly overthrown (By less than a yard). A little extra work on timing and we're going to see more big plays like last year. The defense did bend, but stiffend up nicely in the two minute offense. They actually forced Charlie into a sack. Of course we'll never know if it would have actually been a sack since in practice the defense only has to touch the quarterback to get him down. Nonetheless the pressure was there. For me the highlight of the night was getting my mini roo helmet signed by both JD and #5. It'll be worth something when both become famous.