One of the young guys who has almost certainly secured a spot on the active roster already is 5th 6th round pick Rusty Smith. The reviews for Smith's inaugural camp have been so good that there's almost no way they could risk letting him hit the practice squad, and Chris Simms should be the guy who gets squeezed out. Collins, though the results have been uneven from year to year, is the guy the staff is most comfortable with as the back-up with good reason. While Simms is a decent option, he hasn't done anything at the NFL level, and Kerry guided the team to a 13-3 record just two seasons ago.
Lacking anything that's just screaming out for a jams link today, I'm presenting a song with one of my favorite drum parts of all time, Would? by Alice in Chains. The roll in question comes up at the 3:10 mark, and always gets me playing air drums in the car. Actually, hearing vintage Layne Staley really got me in the mood for some of those tragically under-respected Mad Season tracks, so here's River of Deceit and Lifeless Dead live from The Moore. Kenny Britt says that he thought his license was in good standing (after his issues with delinquent traffic violations in New Jersey) when Metro police pulled him over for having windows that were tinted to dark. Whatever the case may be, apparently Britt was only out past the team curfew because of the half-hour he spent with the police. Britt was headed to the team hotel after the evening practice at Baptist Sports Park, which makes the situation a lot better than it appeared at first glance.
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Michael Griffin had the most notably horrific year last season of any starter not named Kerry Collins, and now it's come out that Griffin had a severe shoulder injury that no one talked about. After the season ended Griffin had surgery to repair a torn labrum, which required 11 anchors to be set around his shoulder. Griffin also admitted that personal issues led to a bunch of mental mistakes that only exacerbated his poor performances.
SI.com sent Andreew Lawrence out to the Titans training camp, and here are his observations.
Punter Brett Kern has been watching Craig Hentrich ever since he started punting as a sophomore in high school.
Cortland Finnegan is continuing to get used to working on both sides of field in an effort to make sure he's matched up against the opposition's best WR.
Some dumb blog made an even dumber list of the worst NFL playoff teams of the past decade and ranked the 2007 Titans as the leader of the pack.
John P. Lopez says that the NFL should stop turning a blind eye towards hazing. While it sounds like an overreaction at first, he's got a point in saying that by not addressing the act at all the NFL is leaving itself wide-open to a tremendous lawsuit when it comes to hazing that is definately over the line. I'm not talking about taping a guy to the goal post or making rookies buy the team's donuts; I'm talking about this:
One retired NFL veteran spoke of the "frank-n-buns" hazing tradition that occurred at a few NFL training camps in recent years. It involved rookies dropping their pants and dropping to all fours on the practice field, clinching a hot dog in their buttocks, and crawling. If the player dropped the hot dog, he was forced to eat it.
You have to love minor league baseball gimmicks:
On Thursday, the Hickory Crawdads are staging the "Haynesworth Conditioning Challenge" in honor of the fitness test that Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth has been unable to pass.
From the press release:
All participants will have to complete the same conditioning test that Haynesworth has failed multiple times, which is as follows:
1. Twelve consecutive 25-yard dashes (300 total yards) in less than 70 seconds
2. Rest period of 3.5 minutes
3. Twelve more consecutive 25-yard dashes in less than 73 seconds
All participants that successfully complete the challenge in the allotted time will win two season tickets for the rest of the 2010 season, including all potential playoff games. All participants that attempt the challenge will receive a free ticket to a future game this season (excluding Aug. 14). Since Albert's had multiple shots at it, any fans that attempt and fail the challenge on Thursday can come back to L.P. Frans Stadium any time between 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. this Friday and try again.
Have a great weekend!