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Old 11-16-2005, 11:12 PM   #34
Blade
College Prospect
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
It was a good feeling that football was finally back. Sure, the off-season is when I really go to work, but there is just something about seeing the game back on the field that made me smile. And the fact that so many of the players I had recently signed were on that field brought me to the training camp facility every day the camp was held.

Things started off somewhat shaky as the new coaching staff met with the players and began to explain their schemes. The offence wasn’t too bad, with Aaron Ellis keeping his schemes relatively similar, but the defence didn’t fare as well. Brent Marlin decided to stay with the 3-4 scheme we utilized last season, but there were a lot of differences. And with all of the new players on defence, it made for some slow learning. The rookies had a tough time as well, though they had some good workouts when they reported prior to the veterans coming into camp.

As the camp went on, I saw a lot of good things. Erik Kuehler looked damn good, in my opinion. He definitely showed that he had the skills to play at this level, though the big question on everyone’s mind is whether his small frame can hold up to a lot of punishment. He meshed well with Lamont and Chris, which was very positive. As for Chris Brown, he definitely came into camp playing hard. He is pushing to be the backup to Jordan, and I was very worried about how he would take being third on the depth chart, if Erik had a good preseason. But preseason was still a ways off, so I put that thought aside for the moment.

One player who had a tough camp was Keith Distel. Spending a third round pick on him, I was hoping that he could show a bit more than he did, but he is learning, so I did my best to not rush to any judgements. Alvin Grier brought a smile to my face, though, as his camp gave me a good feeling that we had found our starting fullback for many years to come.

The media paid a lot of attention to Kyle Boller, who looked pretty good in camp. He threw a nice ball, though I heard he was having some problems learning the offence. I think that Andrew Walter was a little bit jilted, though, as he felt he had progressed well last year as our backup, but we were just not confident that if Kerry went down, that Andrew could move the offence and keep us in games right away.

Defensively, I really like the camp that Andra Davis had. He and Danny Clark in the middle looked pretty good, and I think we have significantly upgraded our defence. DeLoach and Denney looked good too, although Tank Williams struggled a bit out of the gate. I think he will get a lot better as the preseason gets underway, but his play did stir some nervousness in me.

Quinn Foley looked pretty good, though I think he will have to be brought along slowly before he becomes overly effective. I also realized that something may have to be done with our defensive tackle situation, as we have too many for a 3-4 system. With DeLoach looking like the starter, I have Ted Washington and Frankie Grzecki behind him, which is a bit of a log jam. I jotted down that I may have to address that situation before too long.

All in all, it was a good camp, although the fan turnout was low. Not that I cared much, Oakland would be a distant memory a number of years down the road. My only hope now was that we could field a good team, and show Oakland what they would be losing. John Mackey was nowhere to be seen, but he was probably scouting out possible cities for the team to move to. But that was for the future...

Football was back, and I was happy again. Bring on the preseason!
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Loyal fan of the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Eagles.
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