I haven't had a chance to watch all of the stuff from Sunday yet, but from what I saw I noticed the coverage got a little better in some areas, and a little worse in others. Having NFL Total Access there to do shows helps round things out, but I still have a few complaints:

1. Way too much time spent covering the 40 yard dash. Especially for the WRs. They're all fast, we don't really need to see them run the 40 twice. Once will do just fine. But I could live with none. The guantlet challenge is basically a 53 yard dash added with each player having to adjust to catch the football along the way It's a much better representation of what a receiver can do.
2. It would be nice to get some more of those unofficial split times from the 40. The first 20 yards of a 40 time can tell just as much as the full time can. Give us more of those like you did on Saturday.
3. The Network is still using closeups when we need more depth to the shot and when they go to their wide angles they are pulled way too far back. Why not just give us the same camera angle we would normally watch a NFL game with? Then throw in a few closeups from there. This is not NFL films; zooming out from a tight shot of a ball spiraling in mid-air does not allow us to get a good judgement on how a receiver is adjusting to the route.
4. Not nearly enough time spent on the QBs. Even though Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers weren't working out, there is still some good story lines in McPherson, Frye, and the rest.

There were some improvements. Mike Mayock brought in some great clips from the Senior Bowl practices that showed players, in pads, engaging each other in drills from the sessions in Mobile last month. Watching that really helps balance out what we are seeing on the turf in Indy. The Network also did a good job of using the scrolling bottom line to display times and results. After watching the live coverage at noon, I was going to offer this as a suggestion but due to a local power failure I ended up having to tivo the 8pm replay and noticed that they added the scrolls to their bottom line. Thanks to that info, I can provide the below stats.

More thoughts to come later on.

OFFICIAL TIMES - QUARTERBACKS
40 YARD DASH TIME Matt Jones 4.40 Stefan LaFors 4.62 Dustin Long 4.67 Josh Haldi 4.69 Adrian McPherson 4.72	BALL SPEED MPH Kyle Orton 57.3 Adrian McPherson 57.2 Bryan Randall 55.3 Charlie Frye 55.1 Josh Haldi 54.7
3 CONE DRILL TIME Dustin Long 6.77 Alex Smith 6.82 Josh Haldi 6.89 Adrian McPherson 6.93 Charlie Frye 6.94	20 YARD SHORT SHUTTLE TIME Alex Smith 3.96 Ryan Fitzpatrick 4.07 Charlie Frye 4.08 Dustin Long 4.08 Adrian McPherson 4.08 Bryan Randall 4.08

OFFICIAL TIMES - WIDE RECEIVER
40 YARD DASH TIME Jerome Mathis 4.32 Courtney Roby 4.36 Troy Williamson 4.38 LeRon McCoy 4.41 Mark Clayton 4.43 Roscoe Parrish 4.43	VERTICAL LEAP INCHES Reggie Brown 41.5 Mark Bradley 39.5 Vincent Jackson 39 Tony Madison 39 Fred Gibson 38.5
3 CONE DRILL TIME Courtney Roby 6.60 Chad Owens 6.70 Jamaica Rector 6.78 Rasheed Marshall 6.81 Mark Clayton 6.95	BROAD JUMP FEET/INCHES Mark Bradley 10'8" Reggie Brown 10'8" Fred Gibson 10'6" Courtney Roby 10'6" Airese Currie 10'5"
20 YARD SHORT SHUFFLE TIME Reggie Brown 3.94 Chad Owens 3.94 Courtney Roby 3.94 Rasheed Marshall 3.95 Mark Clayton 4.07 Airese Currie 4.07	60 YARD LONG SHUTTLE TIME Mark Bradley 10.88 Aurese Currie 10.91 Rasheed Marshall 10.95 Efrem Hill 11.08 Chad Owens 11.08

OFFICIAL TIMES - RUNNING BACK
40 YARD DASH TIME J.J. Arrington 4.46 Darren Sproles 4.46 Ronnie Brown 4.48 DeAndra Cobb 4.49 Ryan Moats 4.49 Walter Reyes 4.49	VERTICAL LEAP INCHES Marion Barber 40 Eric Shelton 38.5 Anthony Davis 38 Kay-Jay Harris 38 Brandon Jacobs 37
3 CONE DRILL TIME J.J. Arrington 6.81 Carnell Williams 6.94 Noah Herron 6.95 Darren Sproles 6.96 Vernand Morency 7.02	BROAD JUMP FEET/INCHES Marion Barber 10'7" Eric Shelton 10'7" Kay-Jay Harris 10'2" Anthony Davis 10'1" Lionel Gates 10'1"
20 YARD SHORT SHUTTLE TIME Darren Sproles 3.96 Noah Herron 3.95 Ronnie Brown 4.08 Eric Shelton 4.08 Lionel Gates 4.10 Kay-Jay Harris 4.10 Ryan Moats 4.10	60 YARD LONG SHUTTLE TIME Ryan Grant 10.65 Noah Herron 11.07 Alvin Pearman 11.11 Ryan Moats 11.13 Darren Sproles 11.13

UPDATE: 3.24.05- Added links to nfl.com player profiles.

- posted by jrf @ 2/28/2005 01:28:00 PM