{"id":241681,"date":"2025-07-28T02:53:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T02:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/241681\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T02:53:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T02:53:17","slug":"offensive-line-building-chemistry-on-and-off-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/241681\/","title":{"rendered":"Offensive line building chemistry on and off field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Open practice count: 2 of 11 | <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantafalcons.com\/news\/2025-training-camp-open-practice-dates-fans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">See all dates<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Most notable player: David Sills V. The wide receiver caught all three of the passes quarterback Kirk Cousins sent his way, including a deep shot he grabbed over cornerback AJ Terrell Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Say what now: &#8220;I would feel safe, but I don&#8217;t know about anyone else around us,&#8221; Neuzil said when asked whether he&#8217;d go bear hunting with McGary.<\/p>\n<p>Song of the day: Sandstorm by Darude (2000). The vibe during warmups and position drills was otherwise rather angsty. During 11-on-11 work, the volume was turned down, likely more so for the fans since the speakers were stationed right between the hill and field.<\/p>\n<p>Roll call: McGary and quarterback Emory Jones were not seen at practice. Jones drew a question mark. However, McGary&#8217;s absence didn&#8217;t after Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said Friday that McGary will have some &#8220;modifications&#8221; to his routine. McGary was absent from the offseason program due to an ankle injury, but after a scope, said he feels &#8220;tremendous.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; With the absence of Darnell Mooney, who&#8217;s missing time due to a shoulder injury, KhaDarel Hodge became the third wide receiver on the first-team offense. Hodge joined Drake London and Ray-Ray McCloud III as Penix&#8217;s main targets during 11-on-11 work. DJ Chark, whose signing <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantafalcons.com\/news\/dj-chark-wide-receiver-signed-stats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was announced before practice<\/a>, was present but very limited in his reps, which makes sense since he did just arrive in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; London had an impressive one-handed catch along the sideline during position drills. A kid on the sideline yelled, &#8220;Nice catch!&#8221; During 11-on-11 work, though, London struggled. He caught two of his six passes from Penix, but one of those two turned into a fumble. London was visibly frustrated, chucking his helmet after a dropped pass that hit him in the hands.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Penix overall completed five of his 14 pass attempts. Cousins went 9-of-10, while quarterback Easton Stick was 1-of-2. Don&#8217;t read too much into these stats, which are admittedly taken by hand. It&#8217;s only the second open practice of 2025 with Penix as the starter. There&#8217;s going to be an adjustment period, especially since this is also only Penix&#8217;s second training camp, ever. Cousins, meanwhile, is a veteran who&#8217;s in his 14th preseason.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Looking at the tight ends, Kyle Pitts Sr., Feleipe Franks and Teagan Quitoriano were Penix&#8217;s targets during position drills. Charlie Woerner, Nikola Kalinic and Joshua Simon were slotted with Cousins. Pitts and Woerner are givens among the first-team offense. The third spot will be one to keep an eye on throughout training camp. Saturday, Quitoriano caught a pass from Penix during 11-on-11 work, and Franks did so from Cousins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Safety DeMarcco Hellams was full-go. He forced the London fumble, clearly punching the ball out of London&#8217;s arms. Hellams also almost picked off a pass Hodge bobbled from Penix.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; These cornerbacks each had a pass breakup: Mike Hughes (Penix incomplete to London), Mike Ford Jr. (Penix incomplete to McCloud) and Natrone Brooks (Penix incomplete to McCloud).<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Not exactly sure which unit the false start was called on, but after a flag was thrown during 11-on-11 work, defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro was seen giving the finger guns to left guard Matthew Bergeron. Perhaps a little smack talk between the linemen?<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Kickoff returners included these pairings: McCloud and Jamal Agnew; Elijah Dotson and Natrone Brooks; Dee Alrod and Mike Hughes; and Jesse Matthews was with either Lamar Jackson or Nathan Carter. Couldn&#8217;t tell from a distance which No. 38 it was.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s next: The Falcons hold their third open practice Sunday at IBM Performance Field. Tickets are sold out.<\/p>\n<p>Countdown to kickoff: There are 43 days until the Falcons&#8217; Week 1 opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 7 inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantafalcons.com\/schedule\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">See full schedule<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open practice count: 2 of 11 | See all dates Most notable player: David Sills V. The wide&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[23699,223,254,2554,47511,224,7,88,6,11428,1024,8896],"class_list":{"0":"post-241681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-2025-training-camp","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-camp-report","13":"tag-falcons","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-ryan-neuzil","18":"tag-terrin-waack","19":"tag-training-camp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114928602556277794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}