Posted: 6:55 p.m.
SLANTS AND SCREENS
» After watching the tape of the scrimmage, Zimmer wasn't as nearly as upset as he was after it was immediately over. The shortage of linebackers forced him to use safeties in some packages, but he still said, "We're not a very good tackling team right now and we have to work on that."
"We'll be OK," he said. "I was kind of glad last night we didn’t play as well as we normally play. Maybe we've had only two bad practices the whole camp so far. I was kind of glad that happened because we're going to get hit in the mouth some time this year and it's going to how do we respond to that. Anybody can be a frontrunner."
» Wide receiver Antonio Chatman (lower leg) could be out awhile, which really opens things up at receiver. Bratkowski did say that Maurice Purify is making a run.
"He had a good week. He had big hit on Roy Williams in the Oklahoma drill and came up with a 16-yard catch Saturday from Jordan Palmer." Bratkowski said. But he also said the reason Purify has a shot is that he's doing well on special teams: "And if we can find a role for him on offense, he's got a chance to be a contributor."
» Wide receiver Jerome Simpson's trouble is that he doesn’t excel on special teams, but he also teases with inconsistent play. Yet he had to get a lift from Saturday. After dropping one of the balls he's supposed to reach (a high ball over the middle) and one when he was more wide open down the middle, he ran a great route down the right sideline past cornerback Jamar Fletcher for a 63-yard touchdown pass from J.T. O'Sullivan.
"He didn't get down on himself. That's what you want to see from young guys," Carson Palmer said. "They get down in the dumps and lose confidence and you don't see them the rest of the game. But he stood up and made a big play in a one-on-one situation."
