2011 Colts Training Camp: Notes From The Fifth Day, Afternoon Padded Practice

After a busy work week I finally made it over to Anderson (wish there was a more direct route from Zionsville, but I digress) to check out the afternoon padded practice for the Colts. When I left my house here, it was 77 degrees, and comfortable outside. As I kept driving north and east, it kept getting warmer, and my car told me it was 88 when I got out of my car. The sun didn't come out until the very end, and there was a slight breeze, making it semi-comfortable.

It was the first full-team padded practice after the new league year started, so it was the first time fans got to see new additions of Jamaal Anderson, Ernie Sims, and Tommie Harris. Folks on Twitter were very interested in what these three guys were up to, so I tried my best to watch them. Unfortunately the lineman were on the opposite side of the field, so I didn't get to see much of what was going on. Sims did make a really nice play in coverage against Dallas Clark on a third down play, stopping the offense. Anderson got most of his work in the full-team drills on running downs, and , and Harris played DT with Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, and Eric Foster on passing downs.

As far as the individual drills went, Phil B. of the Indy Star had a better view of it:

As I tweeted, the pass-rush towel drill gave newcomer DT Tommie Harris a chance to shine. He continually earned praise from defensive line coach John Teerlinck for an array of rushes in a one-on-one situation. Harris, IMO, was the best pass rusher in the drill this afternoon, just the second time the team wore full pads. It was the first time Harris practiced, he didn’t do anything in the morning walk-through. Say this for the former Chicago Bears three-time Pro Bowl star, it was a promising debut.

Teerlinck drove around in a golf cart everywhere during practice, sitting on the passenger side while driving it, in a cutoff shirt.

More thoughts after the jump:

This is just going to be a random hodge-podge of thoughts:

• I have no complaints with how Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky looked during practice. This was the first time Orlovsky has been able to throw with pads, and looked ok. He has a very compact throwing motion, and gets rid of the ball quickly.
• Nate Davis, unfortunately, didn't look so crisp. Some underthrown passes, so misses on crossing routes, and had a major miscue on a handoff with Darren Evans near the goal line. Could be first practice jitters, so I'll give him a pass for now.
• Joseph Addai got a big cheer when he burst through the line on a 20 yard run during one of the drills. Nice to see #29 still in a Colts uniform. Delone Carter was quite impressive in the goal line drills, scoring on the first play bouncing outside, then on the last play he blasted into the line, kept pumping, and scored, even when Larry Coyer was pleading with the referee he was down. Really nice to see. Oh, and Devin Moore is very, very fast. He's going to make the roster.
  
• The receivers were just as you would expect. Anthony Gonzalez made a nice play on a deep ball from Painter to make a catch on an underthrown ball, and got the Defensive Pass Interference on Jacob Lacey too. None of the young guys really stood out to me.
• The Offensive Line was pretty fluid throughout the entire practice, in that they were flipping units and positions often. It looked like Ben Ijalana was playing mostly at RT, and Anthony Castonzo playing LT. I wouldn't make any guesses as to where guys are going to play for at least 3 weeks or so.
• On the Defensive Line, the clear standout was Rookie Drake Nevis. Several times it looked like he lined up next to the RB, and was ready to destroy someone. Foster also looked pretty good on the goal line. It looked like Freeney and Mathis had a pretty light workout, as they let the other guys get the work.
• The only Linebacker news I have is from Phil B. (see link above), and it's that Kavell Conner injured his finger late in practice. Him, Gary Brackett, and Pat Angerer were the nominal "first team" LBs, with Sims, Wheeler, and Nate Triplett. Saw a nice play again from Rookie Adrian Moten, who had an interception of Painter back on Wednesday night.
  
• I didn't get to see much of the Defensive backs work, but one play that stood out was near the goal line, Clark ran a little flare route at about the one yard line, and both Jerraud Powers and Angerer read the play perfectly, and had they been going full speed, Powers would have jumped the pass and taken it to the house. Think the 4th and 2 play against New England, but even better defense on it.

The Blue and White Scrimmage is Saturday morning at 10:30, and I'll be out there tweeting again from Anderson. I'll try to answer as many questions as I can, and hopefully my phone makes it again. It was down to about 20% at the end of practice today.