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Observations from most recent Dolphins Camp


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Armando Salguero

 

MANDATORY minicamp practices over

Pretty uneventful practice today.

 

I watched rookie Dan Carpenter on kickoffs and he does have a booming leg. He drove all but one of his kicks to the goal line and a couple even went out of the end zone. I will be writing a column about the kicking competition that Bill Parcels basically announced last week in the coming days. A couple of things in there will surprise you as Jay Feel attempts to keep his job.

 

The three quarterbacks all got first-team snaps today. John Beck had a couple of nice throws, including one in which he basically got the ball over a defensive lineman's helmet as that lineman was grabbing onto him and the rest of the pocket was breaking down.

 

Ernest Wilford was present for the walk-Thur before the media was allowed in to watch, according to coach Tony Soprano, but was absent for the actual practice because he had a flight to catch.

 

As to the advancements the team made during the three-day camp:

 

"I just told the team this at the end of practice, I thought we had an awful lot of competition during this training camp," Soprano said. "We had competition in the red zone, in two-minute situations, on third down. We were able to evaluate some of our bigger people packages and we got a chance to see our blitz-pickups and blitz packages."

 

So the Dolphins, like FedEx, got a look at a lot of packages this weekend.

 

The top performers of the weekend IMHO?

 

1. Ricky Williams. Looks cut, quick and strong. He is the best player on the team right now. It says something when Parcells gives the player a fist-pound after a play, which he did Saturday.

 

2. Yeremiah Bell. I kidded with him that he looks like Dan Marino out there because he's wearing two ankle braces and two knee braces. He laughed but Sparano called him the "a good quarterback out there," meaning that is the role Bell plays on D. I don't believe he blew an assignment all weekend long.

 

3. Vonnie Holliday. Let's face it, he is the team best DL right now. He is healthy, he plays smart. And frankly, he looked to be schooling some of the OLinemen most of the weekend.

 

4. Ernest Wilford. He is the team's best receiver right now. He catches everything, he knows how to run routes and he knows how to separate even though he doesn't have the greatest speed in the world. My prediction is he leads all receivers in catches this year although Ted Ginn is the No. 1 receiver.

 

5. Joey Porter. I know he was something of a disappointment last year, primarily because his performance didn't match his salary. But was he a bad player? I don't think so. This weekend he spent extra time working with defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni on his pass-rush technique. He told me to expect new things from him we haven't seen before. We'll see.

 

Also, the Dolphins brought former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer to training camp today and he spoke for 45 minutes about how to deal with the media.

 

"The most important thing about dealing with the media is mental discipline," Fleischer told me. "The same mental discipline athletes bring to the field, they should bring to the press. That way they don’t make mistakes. They don’t get taunted into a situation. They don’t get pitted against a fellow player or coach. I told them to respect the press. They have a hard job to do. They get paid to ask hard questions and you’ve got to work with them.”

 

The Dolphins will be off Monday and return for OTA work Tuesday-Thursday before going on vacay.

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Also, the Dolphins brought former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer to training camp today and he spoke for 45 minutes about how to deal with the media.

:wacko:

 

So if one of your teammates outs a CIA agent just lie. No wait was McClellan. Same procedure though. Don't allow access unless they treat you well. Reporters would rather get stories from you than have to work for them. They are lazy.

 

 

 

 

Nice to hear about Ricky and Holiday. I like both players even though they are both getting up in age. Any word on Ronnie Brown? Will he be able to play at the start of the season?

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I've been carrying Wilford on a dynasty roster since he entered the league. He has been forced to watch bust 1st round darlings Reggie Smith and Matt Jones continually get love in JAX while he quietly got the job done while having lesser athletic ability than those two. Smith & Jones are athletes - Wilford is a WR. I'm looking forward to his finally getting a change of scenery where he'll get a fair chance to perform. He won't ever be a stud WR - especially as MIA sorts out its mess that it finds itself in - but I see him as a very credible #3 FF WR, with some upside to a lower end #2 FF WR.

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I've been carrying Wilford on a dynasty roster since he entered the league. He has been forced to watch bust 1st round darlings Reggie Smith and Matt Jones continually get love in JAX while he quietly got the job done while having lesser athletic ability than those two. Smith & Jones are athletes - Wilford is a WR. I'm looking forward to his finally getting a change of scenery where he'll get a fair chance to perform. He won't ever be a stud WR - especially as MIA sorts out its mess that it finds itself in - but I see him as a very credible #3 FF WR, with some upside to a lower end #2 FF WR.

 

Well stated. He is a pretty good WR. His college screwed him in the draft because they are a run first team. I hope he gets to shine as well now. But as you stated the QB situation is going to be his problem.

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[1. Ricky Williams. Looks cut, quick and strong. He is the best player on the team right now. It says something when Parcells gives the player a fist-pound after a play, which he did Saturday.

:wacko:

Hit your WW folks. Parcells has already said Ricky/Ronnie will have a combo similar to JJ/Barber.

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:wacko:

Hit your WW folks. Parcells has already said Ricky/Ronnie will have a combo similar to JJ/Barber.

 

Did that two weeks ago in Dynasty Wars. Caught everyone napping the week after the draft . . . I overbid highly to get him, but I might have gotten a primary RB for a relative song (in a league where that never happens).

 

Peace

policy

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Well stated. He is a pretty good WR. His college screwed him in the draft because they are a run first team. I hope he gets to shine as well now. But as you stated the QB situation is going to be his problem.

whoever starts at QB shouldn't have an issues with the dinks and dunks... and Wilford isn't exactly going to outrun any passes so he should be pretty decent. I think Ginn is going to have a bigger problem with the QBs

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Did that two weeks ago in Dynasty Wars. Caught everyone napping the week after the draft . . . I overbid highly to get him, but I might have gotten a primary RB for a relative song (in a league where that never happens).

 

Peace

policy

:D

I snagged him for $1 after our dynasty draft.

I heard he was reinstated and couldn't resist drafting The Gladiator.

 

 

I still have that poster on my wall... :wacko:

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Ronnie Brown at the camp.

 

Ricky looks pretty svelt.

 

From saturday's blog-

 

Ricky Williams, meanwhile, was showing a quickness and spurt through the hole I don't remember him having in his extremely limited practice time last season. He blurred through one opening and juked a DB, causing Parcells to meet Williams on the sideline with a fist-pound.

Edited by Randall
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