Day 17: Afternoon practice notes

On the day that the Almighty Brett Favre returned from his indecision to Minnesota to play another year, there were other happenings in the National Football League. Despite the fact that twitter was abuzz with professional sportswriters acting like preteen girls and the aging quarterback was Justin Bieber, the Oakland Raiders were allowed to complete their 17th day of practice with a single afternoon session. The passing game looked improved, but the run game came in fits and starts.

• Fans from the “Black Hole” fan club were on hand to watch today’s session.

• The dropped balls were reduced, but not eliminated. Louis Murphy had a two. Yamon Figurs had one.
• Hiram Eugene made a spectacular play to knock the ball out of Zach Miller’s hands on a shallow cross.
• Colt Brennan saw some time in drills, but didn’t look especially sharp.
• Twice the offense was told to go back to the huddle and start the play again. Both times, the team hustled significantly more to the line.
• Bruce Gradkowski looked like he was still shaking off some rust after his groin injury.
• Darren McFadden was seen doing speed drills off to the side. No timetable on his return.
• In 9 on 9 running drills, the defense got the better of the offense. Matt Shaughnessy got a stop in the backfield. Late in the drill, Michael Bush was able to break through. Most of the runs were wrapped up at the line.
• Charlie Frye had a procedure done on his wrist today, Coach Cable will know more tomorrow.
• One of the VIP fans was Gorilla Rilla, did not recognize him without the costume on.