That's right, apparently young Darrius is so worn out after making all of his zero catches last Thursday that he has not participated in the last two days of practices. Take a few days off to rest son...you've earned it.
I doubt there is one person out there that believes there is not more to this story. But what is the story? History, and following baseball and Ron Artest, has taught me to first look towards a hangover or drunken accidents when lame reasons are given for missing time.
I've never heard any whispers of DHB and substance abuse problems. So I am mentally erasing that reason off of the board.
Could it be that Darrius is sinking into the depths of his mind after reverting back to his '09 form? He did follow up his zero catch performance with some lackluster showings at practice. Is this just a case of them sending Stella to get his groove back?
Maybe he has some kind of injury nagging at him. This would seem to make the most sense; except if this is the case, you'd think the club would stick with its bread and butter soreness line.
Who knows? We are left in the dark on this one. One thing is for certain, however, the hope that DHB was going to have a break-out year is now resting too.
DHB was joined, in not joining his peers on the field, by Chaz Schillens. By all accounts it is just precautions as usual for Chaz. He may get some game time on Saturday, but Cable isn't going on the record on playing time for any of his players.
Well, that's not exactly true. He did say Alex Daniels would get some run. Of course, he said that before the Dallas game.
I tend to believe him this time. For someone that hasn't played even a down of pre-season NFL football, Daniels is turning heads. His quote about blocking for Obama if that's what the Raiders asked him to do made Sports Illustrated. He was also seen chatting with Al Davis after practice. Al doesn't talk to all undrafted players. It is never a bad thing to be on Al's good side.
Daniels has also caught the attention of the coaches. When asked what undrafted players had caught his eye, Cable had this to say:
There’s been some guys who have shown up. I think about guys like Alex Daniels and his move to fullback. He’s learning it, figuring it out. Physically, he looks to have all the tools to be able to maybe help us there. I think that’s the guy that probably stands out in my mind as much as anybody right now.
I'll be watching for him in Chicago and I would suggest the Bears LB's do the same. He may not have mastered the nuances of FB yet, but I am pretty sure he knows how to, and is itching to, hit someone.
Onto the potent potables category:
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Darren McFadden is running, but not at full speed yet. His status for Saturday is up in the air. They are not going to rush him back.
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Samson Satele and William Joseph got into a fight today that made LaMarr Houston jealous. They had to be ripped off of each other by their teammates. It started after Satele blocked Joseph to the ground after a non-contact drill. In Satele's defense he usually doesn't make any contact when trying to block someone.
- Jay Richardson had his knee successfully scoped on Tuesday. As far as knee procedures go, he got off easy. He should be ready to go early in the season--although no official timetable was given. The average recovery time for a scope is around a month. Chris Cooper and Greyson Gunheim have been getting his reps at practice. Ugh...get well, J-Rich.
- Kyle Boller got run with the 2nd team today and apparently looked sharp. Cable said not to read anything into it. It is due to easing Bruce back from injury, rather than his back-up job being in jeopardy.
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Charlie Frye is going to have surgery on his right wrist on Wednesday. As a result, he will have to use his other hand for the rest of training camp. Also, he won't be able to play football for an undisclosed amount of time.
- Chris Johnson was held out of practice today. There is no timetable on his return. He was joined by Paul Hubbard, Tony Stewart and Sam Williams.
- The bar was raised again in the 3rd RB battle when The Rock offered a whiff of what he is cooking by flashing his sexy versatility. He beat Tyvon Branch on a 30-yard corner route for a score.
- Branch seems to be getting beat a lot. He must be doing enough to please the coaches though, as they are looking for ways to get Mitchell on the field and not one of those ways has involved him playing with the 1st team.
- Those of us hoping Veldheer could overtake Satele as the starting C this year took a shot to the balls on Taco Tuesday. Chris Morris got all the back-up C snaps and Veldheer got all of his work at T. I don't think this means Veldheer is done working at C, but if Cable had any thoughts of him starting at C this year, I don't thing he'd miss many opportunities to practice him there.
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Louis Murphy had some drops today and then beat the hell out of a Gatorade Cooler. He came back and made some fabulous catches. One of which was over Nnam. Buy that man some more coolers to victimize.
- Daily Affirmations by the Cable Guy:
I am encouraged (by the protection), but as we talked about after the game, we need to get going a little quicker and sustain some drives. Third down was really the biggest negative out of that football game. There was some good things in terms of protection. I thought in the second half running the ball with some efficiency. But I’d like to see us get started just a little bit quicker.
- 3rd downs are overrated. I say just move the chains on 1st or 2nd. Getting started quicker, ha! The second half is when you really want to run the ball down team's throats? Oh wait...it was a pre-season game. How about, "Let's get that line started."
- The men in the know: Tafur and CSN and Gutierrez and Corkran