Originally posted by Dude

It was raining on and off all day and magically stopped in time for the afternoon practice, so I headed over. Finally the crowds have died back down to a tolerable level. I?m used to it being much emptier and being able to move around to watch the different drills up close. With the crowds of late, it was so packed, if you got up from your seat, it was gone. It?s still crowded ? the stands were about ? full.

 

The whole practice was held on the far field today. Not sure why, maybe with the rains that field drains better? The closer one did look soppy when they drove the carts over it? Whatever the reason, it sucked. It?s much harder to see what goes on as well from that distance.

 

James McKnight did not practice.

Wally practiced on the individual drills, but I don?t think he was in on any of the 11 vs 11 stuff

Surtain also didn?t practice. He was dressed and hanging w/ the DB?s without taking any reps. He worked with a trainer for a little, but didn?t look like anything serious.

 

They did a bunch of punting reps in the beginning and Royals continued to look like a fine punter. Nice high kicks with good spirals that had decent hang time. Even his bad kicks weren?t that terrible. Only a little shorter and just not as pretty looking.

 

They got a little deeper then they did yesterday in the punting drills and actually practiced returns with a little emphasis. Newsom bobbled his first attempt but caught it and looked smooth on the rest of his attempts. Rogers also impressed with clean catches and nice bursts of speed. Simmons and Baker also looked good returning and Eddie Moore did a very nice job covering the punts.

 

They broke in position drills, and I watched the LB?s. They spent a bunch of time practicing shedding blocks and covering backs coming out of the backfield. Moore, Seau, Thomas and Greenwood all looked good. While practicing shedding blocks, I noticed Seau & Thomas cut inside the blocker and avoided much of the contact, and the rest gave the blocker a forearm and tried to bounce off. Guess which worked better? Moore seemed a quick study and was getting much better position by the end of the drill. He also looked good at times in pass coverage today.

 

I had a bad view, but at the same time the QB?s and WR?s were practicing. They were doing the side by side passing drill with 2 QB?s and 2 WR?s. Contrary to what the news said, Wanny was not with the D but very intensely watching and coaching the QB?s. They also did the drill right in front the camera that was set up at mid field and perfectly blocking my view?

 

4 DB?s vs 3 WR?s

There was a lot of emphasis on throwing to and covering a back out of the backfield today. About every other pass was a short dump to a RB. Also used a lot today was putting the TE in motion then throwing a quick pass him. McMichael and Lee both looked good catching the ball today.

First play was a nice deep catch from Fiedler to Chambers over Freeman in coverage. Got a nice cheer from the crowd.

Griese?s first attempt was tipped up in the air by Madison and picked off by Marion. Not a good decision, Madison had great position on the WR.

Griese?s second attempt ? couldn?t find anyone open and just ate the ball. Looked really confused.

Lon Sheriff didn?t look very good today. Had a low completion % on very few attempts.

 

11 vs 11

Ricky pounded it inside several times and looked good running. He also looked good catching short passes coming out of the backfield. RW got a throw on the halfback pass and overthrew McMichael who was well covered by #24 Sammy Knight. Also had a good run late beating everyone to the corner that was finally stopped after 20 yards by Knight.

Robert Edwards also had a good day running the ball. On his first attempt he exploded in to the middle of a seemingly tiny hole and came truckin? out the other side. Also looked GREAT catching short passes out of the backfield and showed some nifty moves.

Madison jumped offside on a blitz.

Griese struggled again today. With pressure on him he came up short on an easy throw to Edwards. One of his better completions was a very poorly thrown low ball that Baker went down on the ground for and bailed him out with a nice catch. Griese was at his best today when he was handing the ball off to Edwards!

Korey Banks had a nice sack of Griese on a blitz. This guy has a bad case of the quicks. He was in like a flash.

Fiedler had a great practice. On one rep he play action faked to RW and rolled out the other way and hit #85 Lee perfectly in the numbers as he was following Jay across the field. Another was a great deep ball to Thompson who out jumped the DB who had good coverage and got the ball. Fiedler also handled the pressure well by moving around and stepping up in the pocket.

On another Fiedler play, Williams charged in for a sack, but the play continues and Jay made a perfect throw to Chambers who got open deep behind Marion and Madison was also trailing the play?

Fiedler handed off to Chambers on a reverse and Fletcher smelled it out perfectly ? big loss. On 2 other plays I say a WR make a catch in front of Fletcher but he was in good position for the tackle.

#91 Jay Williams was dominant today taking Wally?s snaps. He sacked the QB 3 times, stuffed a Leonard Henry run with a big time hit at the line and disrupted a couple of other plays. Other then one play where Williams and JT met at the QB, JT was reasonably quiet today.

 

7 vs 7

Fiedler connected on a deep out pattern to Chambers right in front of Fletcher. Great throw.

Fiedler also connected on a quick out to Thompson in front of Fletcher.

He also hit McMichael in stride and had a big gain with Seau trailing.

Griese?s first attempt was his best throw over Omare Lowe to OG. Nice gainer. The pair also hooked up on a quick out later that OG tip-toed the sideline to catch and beat Wooden on the coverage.

One good thing I can say about Griese is he barks out the plays with authority! You can hear him loudly all the way in the stands. He also had one dropped on him by #82 Battaglia

Sage had a good practice. A nice pass to OG on a 10-12 yard out pattern. Another long pass to #8 Jackson and another deep to Baker over the middle. One to Tolver.

He also had one go through #19 Hook?s hands that had smoke on it.

RW caught one from Jay and pulled away from Zack in the middle of the field.

Tolver made his first catch late in the practice from Fiedler on the outside. Right after that, Jay rifled a pass to Tolver that popped up in the air off his shoulder pads and intercepted by Zack. Great throw by Fiedler and a catch Tolver needs to make!

Rogers had a catch on the sideline near the end of practice and Sammy Knight was right there with the big hit! Sammy always seems to be in good position.

 

They ended practice by practicing rushing to the line with the clock running down to get a play off. The put 25 seconds on the clock then ran a short dump to the back and from there tried to hurry to see how many plays they could run before the clock ran out. Judging by Dave W?s screaming we didn?t do well?

 

Play of the day:

Derald Lee makes a simple catch in the flat and puts a monster stiff arm on Trent Gamble to turn the corner and head up field. It happened right in front of where all the players were standing and they let Trent hear about it. Boo-ya!

hey, this is great minus, thanks bro, keep this up, its really good stuff to know, by the way, its donald lee.......not derald . anyways, it sounds like the team is doing really well, the D seems to be playing solid, and its good too see RW dominating and Edwards doing as well as you say he is.......any chance edwards will be our third down back instead of minor this season???.....question.......with chambers, thompsen, mcknight, and OG, who do you think our 5th reciever will be?? will we even carry one? i think tolver has a huge uphill battle since he missed a couple days, and doesnt sound like he was too good today, i really like baker and hope he makes it on special teams, although i know simmons has been impressive, we'll just have to see i guess, what do you think?

Well the Dolphins are planning leaving Ricky in third down situations this year so what in stake is backup rb spot.YOu have ot keep a close eye on last year 7th round pick Leonard Henry who might end up being #2 behind Ricky William after preseason.Right now the position is open and wide open.Minor will rejoin the team before Titans scrimage this saturday.I have my doubts if Gadsen could even make this team so I wouldn't pencil him a roster spot.He is overweight and looking slower than ever.I think 4th and 5th spot are wide open.

 

I would keep a close eye on:

 

Tolver:The Dolphins 5th round pick who looked very good during mini camps but up and down since he cameback from his hold out.This guy be another late round steal.

 

Baker:Hasn't looked good yet but if you follow the team the last four years,you would know that Baker always has a great training camp and preseason.I really believe this year will be his year and will make the team as 4th receiver when is said and done.

 

Kendall Newsome:I can't wait to see him return kickoffs and punts in preseason.He still needs alot work as a receiver but you have to like 6'2 frame with 4.3 speed.

 

Simmons:He is actually looking good in this year unlike last year so I wouldn't rule him out either.

Gadsden NOT making the team?

 

NOT a chance. I've heard great thngs about Tolver. What about Robert Edwards? He isn't in-line for the 2nd RB spot again?

Gadsden NOT making the team?

 

NOT a chance. I've heard great thngs about Tolver. What about Robert Edwards? He isn't in-line for the 2nd RB spot again?

Well the competition is close right now for 2nd and 3rd running back spot and keep an eye on Leonard Henry.Actually Gadsen doesn't get into shape soon and start perfoming than there is good chance.Gadsen hasn't look good in camp.Any of the young receiver has a hcance to unseat him and right now only lock at WR postion are

 

 

Chambers

Thompson

Mcknight

Good to hear Tolver is doing good. I heard they liked him alot after mini-camps...