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Dolphins 2007 Training Camp: Day 7 - Friday, Aug 3rd |  | ||||||||
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Eyewitness Reports | Future Schedule | My Comments | Related Links TODAY'S SUMMARY: The Dolphins held two practices on Friday, the morning practice being a light workout that emphasized mostly special teams while the evening session was a full pads practice with some serious hitting. The biggest news of the day was that Yeremiah Bell was injured during the evening session after colliding with Travis Daniels in the endzone while going for an interception. While it's not known yet how serious the injury might have been, it appears that Bell was favoring his lower back when he left the field. He did walk off under his own power, but didn't return last night. The morning session started with punt returns and punt coverage, with many different players getting their chance to field the ball. Ted Ginn is the starting punt returner and has looked solid catching the ball. Lorenzo Booker is his primary backup and has improved from mini-camp, when he initially had some trouble handling the punts. Other players who practiced returning punts included Travis Daniels and even kicker Jay Feely. The Dolphins ran a new wrinkle on standard kickoff drills when they practiced blocking in cases where the kick is short or doesn't go to the normal return man. They had the regular return men blocking for linemen who got short kicks. Towards the end of practice, John Beck got to quarterback a few team drills, but didn't look as sharp as he had the past few days. Apparently, the heat and constant work are wearing him down a bit. He did have one highlight throw to David Sutton between two defenders, however. The evening practice started at 7 PM and was run under dark clouds and a light rain. Joey Porter was on the sidelines in street clothes, but he didn't appear to be injured and was probably just taking the evening off. Keith Traylor did join the practice, however. Traylor usually doesn't practice twice a day. For the second day in a row, the offense managed to score some points against the defense with Trent Green and Chris Chambers hooking up on some impressive plays. Green hit Chambers on a 50 yard catch and run to the endzone and threaded another pass through multiple defenders to him. Later on, Green hit Ronnie Brown in the flat for an easy touchdown and ended the night with a 20 yard touchdown pass to Marty Booker. Ronnie Brown also showed improvement, scoring two touchdowns during red zone drills with runs over 10 yards. On the defense, Michael Lehan showed he is not just a pass defender when he was hit solidly by Cory Schlesinger, but managed to shake off that block and make the tackle on Ronnie Brown anyway. Safety Courtney Bryan, an undrafted rookie, took the ball away from PK Sam for an interception and Abraham Wright beat Anthony Alabi on another play for a sack. Unfortunately, Jason Allen continues to have the lowlight play of the day. Last night, Allen was in coverage on Marty Booker (who is not known for his speed) when Green hit Booker for the 20 yard touchdown pass.
The most interesting news of the day in roster battles was that the punters are neck and neck. We had been hearing that Brandon Fields (who was drafted) had an amazing leg and would probably win the job if he could develop a little bit better control. Now, however, reports are that Ryan Flinn is doing a good job as well and the competition may go down to the last day of training camp. Flinn actually punted in the NFL last year for the Packers, appearing in two games and averaging 42 yards per kick. That would put him near the bottom of last year's stats for NFL punters. Trent Green finally made a strong case to be the starter on Friday night, hooking up repeatedly with his starting counterparts during team drills. While it hasn't really been in doubt that Green would start, it is nice to see him finally assert himself and get more comfortable with his receivers. And, for what it's worth, Drew Mormino and Anthony Alabi continue to line up at the starting right guard and right tackle spots.
None reported.
Andre Goodman and Joe Toledo continue to ride the bikes during practice and there is no word on when either player will return. As I reported earlier, Yeremiah Bell collided with Travis Daniels in the endzone and left the field. He did walk off under his own power and appeared to be holding his lower back. More information will be available on Saturday morning at 11:30 AM, EDT.
There is one report from a fan today at Phinfever.com. It can
Saturday, August 4
Sunday, August 5
Monday, August 6
Tuesday, August 7
Another good day for the offense seems to indicate that Cam Cameron's training camp regimen is working out pretty well. After a deliberately slow start, the offense seems to be making some real progress. The defense looks like it will be as good or better than last year and with expectations as low as they are, the Dolphins have a good chance to surprise a few opponents. Of course, we won't really know if Cam's system is a good one until December and that's a long way away. But the tough, physical training camps of Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt and Nick Saban didn't work, so maybe Cam's easier schedule will pay dividends in December. Certainly, Bill Belichik's training camps are not known for their hard hitting and his teams seem to do pretty well at the end of the year. After all, in the final analysis, it's not how you start, but how you finish.
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