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Dolphins 2007 Training Camp: Day 2 - Sunday, July 29th |  | ||||||||
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Eyewitness Reports | Future Schedule | My Comments | Related Links TODAY'S SUMMARY: On the second day of Dolphins' Training Camp, the team had their first practice in full pads. Mother Nature, however, served up a dose of Florida thunderstorms that drove the practice into the bubble, preventing fans from observing and limiting some of the drills. The team did manage to get in a full practice inside and finally got to do some serious hitting. The practice was not supposed to include any full-speed tackling, but after a whole off-season without any serious hitting, the defense didn't always obey the rules put in place by Coach Cameron to limit contact. Coach Cameron said "We want to stay off the ground, we want there to be a thud, and we want to let the back run through. But our defense just refuses to let our back run through, and we're going to have to find a way to get that addressed. But that's a good problem to have." It wasn't all the defense's fault. Fullback Cory Schlesinger, known for his hard-hitting style, went hard at the linebackers in team drills. The result was that some of the linebackers felt they needed to get a little payback. Linebacker Channing Crowder said "We went out there kind of cool, but the fullbacks were trying to hit us, so we had to knock them around a little bit. " Overall, the defense continues to dominate practices, although the offense did have a few good moments. WR Marty Booker, in particular, had two highlight catches and is having an excellent camp so far. Also, RB Jesse Chatman did some hard running and impressed onlookers with his aggressiveness. On the other hand, none of the Dolphins' quarterbacks looked particularly sharp and Trent Green, Cleo Lemon and John Beck all threw interceptions during team drills. The biggest surprise of the day, however, may have been the one-on-one drills that pitted the offensive linemen against the defensive linemen. According to the Palm Beach Post, after 20 matchups, the defensive line only won 9 of them, lost 8 and posted 3 draws. Given the relative experience levels of the offensive and defensive lines, that was a surprising outcomes. See the Palm Beach Post article called "Bloggin from the Bubble" for more details about these drills.
At the quarterback position, it was a tough day. None of the quarterbacks did a very good job and there were too many missed throws and interceptions. QB Cleo Lemon took the snaps with the starting offense, but that is probably just a normal rotation. On the offensive line, Drew Mormino and Anthony Alabi continued to line up at right guard and right tackle respectively. There is no word yet on whether or not this indicates a real change in the offensive line starting lineup, but it seems unlikely that both LJ Shelton and Rex Hadnot will losing their starting jobs. Ted Ginn, Jr had some problems with dehydration on Saturday and did not appear very sharp on Sunday, fumbling at least one punt. Lorenzo Booker also apparently did not have a great day running the ball, getting knocked back a couple of times.
No roster moves were reported on Sunday.
FB Kyle Eckel returned to practice, while Andre Goodman and Joe Toledo continued their rehabilitation.
Because the practice was in the bubble and the fans are not allowed in the bubble, there are no fan eyewitness reports today.
Mon, July 30th: Morning - 8:30 AM Afternoon - 4:00 PM Tue, July 31st: Morning - 9:30 AM Afternoon - 7:00 PM Wed, Aug 1st: Afternoon - 3:30 PM
It is good that the team is aggressive and spirited at this point, but Coach Cameron is right when he says that it will be better for the team in the long run if they back off and don't get anyone hurt in the first few days of camp. While it's difficult to tell players to hit hard, but not TOO hard, it will pay dividends in the long run if the team stays as healthy as possible. The lack of progress for the offense - in particular, the quarterbacks - is disappointing, but not a cause for alarm just yet. Right now, the offense is a brand new unit with a brand new system under a brand new coach while the defense is essentially the same group under the same system as last season's. It's likely that the offense will be lagging behind the defense for quite a while. The experiment with the offensive line is interesting, to say the least, but I still don't believe that Drew Mormino and Anthony Alabi will start the season as the starters on the right side of the offensive line. I believe that Cam Cameron and Hudson Houck are just giving Mormino and Alabi as much time as possible on the right side so that they can take over in case of injury to Hadnot or Shelton.
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