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Dolphins camp


Randall
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The Palm Beach Post is live blogging again, have a little less access this year.

 

Some quick hits:

 

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Chad Henne is the only one not here. John Beck and Josh McCown are getting a head start in the quarterback sweepstakes.

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Joey Porter is wearing a jersey, but instead of practicing, he’s standing next to team trainer Kevin O’Neill. That right knee gave him trouble all last season, and we’ll have to find out if the injury is still lingering, or if Tony Sparano is easing him into the program.

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Michael Lehan (ankle) isn’t practicing either, running sprints on the sideline. Those are the only two injuries thus far.

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Ronnie Brown, however, looks great. He’s in full pads, wearing a sleeve over his right knee (torn ACL), and participating in all running back drills. He’s even planting and cutting.

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Other injured players from last year who are participating fully in practice: Channing Crowder (knee), Yeremiah Bell (Achilles) and Renaldo Hill (ACL).

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Parcells and Ireland are standing by themselves, watching over practice.

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Ricky Williams looks impressive. He keeps welcoming contact, lowering his shoulder and running into defenders.

 

 

Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele appear to be the First Team inside linebackers, while Yeremiah Bell and Jason Allen are the safeties and Will Allen and Andre Goodman are at cornerback (no surprises there).

 

 

Anthony Fasano shows why the Dolphins were so high on him, making a great one-handed catch in traffic along the sideline.

 

 

Beck and McCown have each sailed a few throws. But it’s early.

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Dolphins Monday camp report per Sun Sentinel :

 

I find it intriguing that the Dolphins secondary is working in units. They aren't mixing and matching at all. However, sometimes the third unit will work with the starters, and the starting unit will work with the second team front in a rotation. I'm guessing this allows the players to develop a comfort level with one another, which improves communication.

 

Here are the units: Will Allen and Andre Goodman as the cornerbacks, with Yeremiah Bell and Jason Allen as the safeties.

 

Today the second unit secondary was Keith Davis and Cris Crocker as the safeties, and Joey Thomas and Travis Daniels as the cornerbacks.

 

The third unit is Scorpio Babers and Nathan Jones at cornerback, with Renaldo Hill and Courtney Bryan at safety.

 

I'd say the unit making the most plays so far in practice is the third unit. Jones has three interceptions and Hill has one. For those keeping tally, Will Allen and Jason Allen also have interceptions from the first three practices. There were no interceptions thrown Saturday morning.

 

However, there were plenty of would-be sacks again. And I'd like to point out not one ball was thrown to Ernest Wilford and Ted Ginn Jr. during the team portion of practice, which is a trend I'm beginning to find disturbing.

 

After closely monitoring the line play for the past four practice I've discovered C Samson Satele can't handle NT Jason Ferguson one-on-one. Ferguson puts him on skates in passing downs, and one-on-one drills. I'm struggling to figure out if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the Dolphins. You tell me? However, a good nose tackle SHOULD demand help from a guard.

 

By contrast, Satele handles Paul Soliai with ease. (It's not looking too good for his fellow Samoan)....

 

As requested, I paid special attention to Phillip Merling, who was hot and cold during Monday morning's session. He got into a mild scuffle with Jake Long during a special position drill after he got handled by Long TWICE. After Long finished off a pancake block Merling got up swinging. You could clearly tell he was getting frustrated with his fellow rookie.

 

But don't get too excited about Long, he's still struggling against the speed guys (Quentin Moses and Charlie Anderson). If Long gets his hands on you it's over. You're in cement. But if he doesn't he struggles to recover against those speedsters. Me and 560's Big O were joking around that Jason Taylor would have had a field day schooling the Trifecta's golden boy if he were still in camp.

 

Long's excellent on everything but handling the speed rush. Hopefully it will come in time.

 

Josh McCown and John Beck took the team work today in the morning session with Henne being the guy who was down till this afternoon's practice, which is closed to the public because it'll be inside the bubble.

 

The top performer of the day was Derek Hagan, who caught everything thrown his way, and made some REALLY nice catches in traffic, and against tight coverage. First, McCown connected on a drag to Hagan, who was playing the slot and slipped underneath a zone.

 

Beck also hit Hagan for a good pass in traffic on his very first pass of team drills. He threw away his second pass to avoid a sack, but followed that up by taking a would-be sack from Kendall Langford. His fifth pass was a good one to David Kircus (I didn't see who was defending because I was paying attention to Moses lining up as a defensive end on the same side with Anderson as the outside linebacker....It looked promising).

 

For those keeping tabs, the dime package on Monday featured a front line of Anderson, Matt Roth, Vonnie Holliday and Moses, with Channing Crowder as the lone linebacker, and the first team secondary with Jones as the extra cornerback.

 

But back to offense highlights because I know what you want....Hagan's best catch was during the final session of 11-on-11 when he caught a long bomb from McCown, who by far throws the best deep ball. Hagan beat Will Allen on the play that would have been good for a 30-plus gain. Allen was in position but simply couldn't make a play for the ball.

 

When Beck took over for the final team work he was sacked again by Langford (I've got to start paying more attention to him), handed off, got potentially sacked by Junior Glymph, who didn't touch him but jumped in the passing lane, preventing him from throwing the ball before the timer expired. His fourth play was a hand-off to Patrick Cobbs, who I must admit has impressed me with how hard he's running. Then Ferguson, who collapsed the pocket, tipped his fourth pass. His final play of the scrimmage like situation was a pass in the flat to Lex Hilliard.

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Tuesday's Report:

 

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NEWS OF THE DAY

Linebacker Joey Porter practiced for the first time, testing his sprained left ankle that kept him from taking the conditioning test Friday.

 

Porter passed the conditioning test Monday morning and had two would-be sacks in the afternoon practice.

 

"I told you it was something minor, but no use of me rushing out there with my ankle still tender," Porter said.

 

The defense the Dolphins are installing is a similar scheme to the one Porter excelled in playing for the Steelers for eight seasons.

 

 

"The 3-4 scheme. It's what I've been waiting for," Porter said. "We've got it now, and I'm going to try to put pressure on a lot of different offenses."

 

CAMP OBSERVATIONS

C Samson Satele is having a difficult time blocking NT Jason Ferguson in one-on-one situations. ...

 

Rookie OG Donald Thomas worked with the starters in Trey Darilek's place. ...

 

DE Vonnie Holliday spent the past few days getting one-on-one tutoring sessions from defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni. The Dolphins are trying to see if Holliday can be used as an outside linebacker in special situations....

 

Rookie DE Kendall Langford had two sacks against the second-team offensive line in the morning.

 

QB COMPETITION

Josh McCown edged out John Beck because he took fewer sacks, and connected on a deep ball with Derek Hagan. But Beck held his own, recovering from the three interceptions he threw Sunday.

 

McCown went against rookie Chad Henne in the afternoon and outplayed him, too. He connected on a couple midrange passes, including one to Ted Ginn Jr. along the sideline. So far, the veteran is executing the passing game the best. Henne was picked off by CB Will Allen.

 

WHO'S UP?

Hagan was a playmaking machine in the morning, and made the best catch of the day during the 11-on-11 session of that practice when he caught a long pass from McCown. Allen was in position to make a play on the ball but couldn't find it.

 

WHO'S DOWN?

FB Reagan Mauia is battling to catch most balls thrown his way. If his hands don't improve, the incumbent starter will likely lose ground to Boomer Grigsby. Grigsby caught a pass from Henne in the afternoon that was good for 30 yards along the sideline.

 

INJURY UPDATE

RB Ronnie Brown (knee) had a slight limp in the morning but looked sharp in the afternoon. ... CB Michael Lehan (ankle) continues his rehab work. ... C Steve McKinney (knee) sat out the afternoon session.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The one thing we spent time talking about last night as a team, no excuses. At the end of this, we need to make the right decision. You have to run the right route. We have to block the right guy. No excuses, OK? You make the mistake, take ownership of the mistake," said coach Tony Sparano, below, when discussing the offense's poor showing Sunday.

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9:31 a.m.

 

Let’s get started with a couple hot reads:

 

Shells and shorts this morning. I believe this is the first morning practice that isn’t full pads.

 

No Terry Glenn sighting. But there is a new guy, No. 30, probably a defensive back

 

Your First Team offense also includes: Josh McCown, Ronnie Brown, Ginn and Wilford, Anthony Fasano and David Martin.

 

Ronnie isn’t wearing a sleeve over his right knee anymore, and he doesn’t appear to have any stiffness in that knee today.

10:02

 

Cornerback Scorpio Babers has been released. No. 30, whoever he is, is the roster replacement. So if the Dolphins do sign Terry Glenn, someone else will have to be waived.

 

Team breaks out into 1-on-1 drills, or something like it. The running backs and tight ends are working on blitz pickup, and are going 1-on-1 with the linebackers. Each defensive lineman is going against two offensive linemen. And the skill players are doing 3-on-3 drills.

 

The RBs and TEs are at a disadvantage in this drill. The LBs aren’t having much of a problem getting around them. I guess the goal for of the drill is just to slow down the LB’s progress.

 

Given that, Lex Hilliard does a real nice job standing up Edmond Miles. Hilliard will need to excel in the little things like blitz pickup to impress the coaches and crack the roster.

 

Quentin Moses looks really quick. He blows right past Boomer Grigsby to the outside, then later glides right past Anthony Fasano to the inside.

 

Also, Ronnie Brown is really getting into it. He also takes care of Edmond Miles, keeps those feet moving and drives him back.

 

In the quarterback/receivers drills, that No. 30 guy (new to the practice field)makes a real nice play on a deep ball from McCown to Hagan.

 

John Beck looks good in this drill, hitting Davone Bess on a medium out pattern on the sideline.

 

Time for 11-on-11 team drills.

 

Here are the First Teamers of note: Charlie Anderson is ROLB, Joey Porter is LOLB, Vonnie Holliday is the RDE and Matt Roth is the LDE.

 

More importantly, here are the Second Teamers, the guys who appear to have a leg up on the bottom roster spots:

 

Phillip Merling is the RDE, and Quentin Moses is the ROLB. Vonnie Holliday stays out there and moves over to LOLB, and Randy Starks is the LDE. Reggie Torbor is an inside linebacker with Junior Glymph, and the safeties are Keith Davis and Chris Crocker. Travis Daniels is the RCB, and Joey Thomas is the LCB.

 

Holliday also stays at LOLB when the Third Teamers come out. He hasn’t come off the field. They’re really working hard to make him a Jason Taylor type of player.

 

They’re working mostly on running plays. Four yards and a cloud of dust type stuff. Jason Ferguson is clogging up the middle on every play.

 

Patrick Cobbs has a great run, breaking a sweep outside for a home run.

Edited by Randall
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Home > Inside the Dolphins > Archives > 2008 > August > 07 > Entry

 

SOURCE: DOLPHINS INQUIRE ABOUT PENNINGTON

 

By Edgar Thompson | Palm Beach Post Thursday, August 7, 2008, 11:48 AM

 

 

With Brett Favre now a New York Jet, Chad Pennington is now available to the man who drafted him in 2000.

 

Bill Parcells and the Dolphins haven’t wasted any time reaching out to Pennington’s agent, Tom Condon, an NFL source said.

 

To make room for Favre and his $12-million contract, Pennington, 32, will officially be released at 4 p.m.

 

Given the Dolphins situation at quarterback during training camp, Pennington could land in South Florida.

 

Veteran Josh McCown has looked shaky, including a three-interception day on Tuesday, while second-year pro John Beck has leveled out a bit this week following a rough opening week of camp.

 

Rookie Chad Henne, who turned 23 last month, has been the best of the three for the past week.

 

But Parcells is known to prefer veteran quarterbacks, other than his first season in New England when he went with 23-year-old Drew Bledsoe, who was the No. 1 draft pick in 1993.

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