 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
News
| -- Advertisement -- |
 |
Dolphins 2007 Training Camp: Day 4 - Tuesday, July 31st |  | ||||||||
 |
News Wire | Roster | Depth Chart | Last/Next Game | Schedule | Links |  |
||||||||
Eyewitness Reports | Future Schedule | My Comments | Related Links TODAY'S SUMMARY: The Dolphins conducted two practices on Tuesday, the first of which was a special teams practice in the morning, followed by the first evening practice of training camp. The morning practice featured the rookies and younger players, while the veterans mostly watched from the sidelines and walked through position drills. The evening practice was a full team practice, including position drills, team drills and red zone situations. The morning practice was conducted in jerseys and shorts and began with special team drills, without even a football. The point of these initial drills was to teach the players their blocking assignments and position responsibilities during punt and kickoff returns. Once the team broke into these drills, many of the veterans left the field. During 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills in the morning session, John Beck took all the snaps at quarterback. The first and second string players did not take part in the morning team drills. Coach Cameron's idea was clearly to give the younger players extra repetitions and let them work on fundamentals without having to face the first string. By all reports, Beck continues to improve both his command of the offense and his poise. He had the highlight play of the morning session when he hit Ted Ginn with a 50 yard bomb in the endzone. Even though it was completed against the third string defensive backs, Beck reportedly placed the ball very well and hit Ginn between two defenders. The other standout of the morning session was Lorenzo Booker, who was very impressive making would-be tacklers miss in the open field. At one point, he took a dump pass and made eight different tacklers on his way to the endzone. The evening practice began at 7:00 PM and started with the team moving into the bubble to avoid a late thundershower. However, they moved back onto the field after about half an hour and conducted a full practice outside for the fans and press. The practice started with individual position drills and progressed to the middle drill on one field and 1-on-1 passing drills on the opposite side. During the middle drill, the offensive line and defensive line face off while a back tries to get upfield past the defensive line. When the starters faced each other, the defensive line dominated, as expected. Ronnie Brown did manage to get past the line of scrimmage on one play, but was rewarded by being leveled by Renaldo Hill. RB Jesse Chatman has a good burst through the hole and managed a couple of nice runs in the middle drill, although he was going against the 2nd team defense. In 1-on-1 passing drills, Chambers, Ginn and Reed all had at least one terrific catch. Ginn and Reed worked with Trent Green on at least some of the drills. Chambers unfortunately made up for his highlight catch by dropping an easy pass from Trent Green a little later on. The starting offensive line continues to consist of Anthony Alabi at RT and Drew Mormino at RG. Pressed on the changes yesterday during post-practice comments, Coach Cameron hedged and wouldn't commit to anything in particular, although he seemed to indicate that Hadnot and Shelton would still be the starters when the first games come around. During red zone drills, the defense dominated once again, especially when the starters were on the field. When both the first and second string was on the field, the defensive lines were getting too much penetration against the offense. Overall, things continue to progress about the same as they've been moving. The defense continues to outshine the offense, although Ted Ginn and John Beck are showing clear progress, which is a good sign. Unfortunately, Trent Green - the most experienced offensive player on the roster - is still showing problems connecting with his receivers. Whether that is his fault or the fault of the receivers is not clear, but that problem needs to be addressed or the offense will be in for a lot of turnovers this year.
All reports say that Beck is improving with each practice. His command of the offense is excellent and his ability to go through his progressions to see which receivers are open is getting better. His arm and his accuracy are everything the Dolphins had hoped for. Ted Ginn is also improving, using his speed well and learning his routes. Each of the last several practices have included at least one highlight reel catch by Ginn and while it is still early, his speed and ability to separate from the defensive backs show clearly why Coach Cameron and Randy Mueller picked him. Jason Allen got generally good reviews in Tuesday's practices and he has done a good job covering Ted Ginn when they've been matched up. However, he still sits at the #4 cornerback spot, which is a lot lower than last year's first round pick should currently be sitting.
There were no reported changes in the roster on Tuesday.
Andre Goodman and Joe Toledo remain on the PUP list, but Goodman is working hard and doing some individual drills and strength training on the field. Toledo is reportedly still wearing a protective boot.
There were two fan eyewitness reports from Tuesday's practices that I've found. The morning practice report is at FinHeaven and the evening report is at DolFanTalk.net. FinHeaven.com: Morning Practice Report DolfanTalk.net: Evening Practice Report All the major papers also have reports, with the Palm Beach Post having the most detail.
Wed, Aug 1st
Thu, Aug 2nd
Fri, Aug 3rd
The continued improvement of John Beck and Ted Ginn, Jr is good news. An AP article that came out yesterday says that Beck and Ginn are spending free time working on the playbook together at the team hotel - a refreshing change from the days of John "video game" Avery. While it's way too early to draw any definite conclusions, early indications are that Randy Mueller and Cam Cameron knew what they were doing when they passed over Brady Quinn for Beck and Ginn. Both Beck and Ginn appear to be hard workers and good men as well as talented football players. They are in camp, doing their jobs while Brady Quinn is still unsigned. There is not much else that's new to take away from Tuesday's practice. The offensive line starting lineup is still uncertain, the defense continues to dominate for the most part and Cam Cameron continues to put his own stamp on the team.
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
