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Dolphins 2009 Training Camp: Day 13 - Sat, Aug 15th |  | ||||||||
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Injury Reports | Future Schedule | My Comments | Related Links TODAY'S SUMMARY: The Dolphins held two practices on Saturday, both in shorts, helmets and shoulder pads. The morning practice was originally scheduled for outdoors, but rain drove the practice into the bubble and the afternoon practice was also in the bubble. The main focus of the practice was preparation for the first pre-season game against the Jaguars on Monday night. Phins.com will have a full preview of the game on Sunday, but at present, it looks like all of the players who have been starting this week will play on Monday night. The starting lineup remains the same from Monday, with Sean Smith and Randy Starks starting on defense and Shawn Murphy still starting at right guard, with Donald Thomas rotating into the starting lineup periodically. The offense dominated on Saturday morning, which is unusual for the team in this training camp. The Dolphins' defensive backs were, by and large, outplayed by the Dolphins' receivers, who either outran them or, in Greg Camarillo's case, took the ball away from the defenders. However, Edgar Thompson of the Palm Beach Post noted that players like Joey Porter, Jason Ferguson and Jason Taylor did not get a lot of play on Saturday morning. Without those three, there is no doubt that the first team defense would not be as effective as if they were playing. Coach Sparano seemed a little irritated at the work done by the team on Saturday morning, as he was more vocal than usual, getting on players a little more than normal. In his post-practice press conference, Coach Sparano also seemed a little more impatient with the questions than normal. Former first round pick Jason Allen was the target of many of the pass plays in the morning as he gets tested to see if he will stay with the team. Coach Sparano said a few days ago that he deliberately tells the offense to throw at certain defensive backs to test their abilities and for the last couple of practices, it appears to have been Jason Allen's turn. He had mixed results on Saturday morning, getting smoked by Anthony Armstrong on one play, but bouncing back to pick off a pass from Pat White on another. Speaking of Anthony Armstrong, he had an excellent practice on Saturday morning, catching three touchdown passes as he beat Jason Allen, Will Allen and Vontae Davis. The afternoon practice only lasted about 80 minutes in the bubble as the team worked on some specific things for the Monday night game against Jacksonville. Pat White reportedly ran a scout team offense for Miami's defense to practice against. After playing well for 3 practices in a row, Pat White regressed a little on Saturday afternoon, throwing 2 interceptions and overthrowing 6'8" Joey Haynos in the back of the endzone. There were very few notes from the afternoon session. PLAYER NOTES: Ernest Wilford has been very active over the past few days, finally looking like the kind of player the Dolphins hoped he would be when they signed him last year. He has caught several touchdown passes since Friday afternoon in tough situations and had caught the coaches' eyes. While he is still a long shot to make the team, he has improved his chances over the last few days. Anthony Armstrong has flashed big play ability since the off-season workouts back in April and May. He came up with several big plays over the past two days and reporters say he has looked very good. However, he needs to find a place on the special teams to take the final roster spot away from Brandon London. To that end, he has been playing as a "gunner" on the special teams. New fullback Joe Kowalewski has proved to be an excellent pass catcher - at least in practice. While Lousaka Polite appears to have the starting job to himself, the Dolphins could keep two fullbacks and three running backs.
Ernest Wilford's long awaited production in practice has finally started to appear. However, it seems unlikely that the team will be able to find room for him on the final roster. No significant changes have been made in the positions of the players in the depth chart and there have been no major developments in the roster battles yesterday.
None.
Matt Roth continues to miss practice with his groin injury.
The Dolphins will hold a walk-through on Sunday afternoon before playing the Jaguars on Monday night. They will have Tuesday off and return to work on Wednesday.
It looks like Coach Sparano is finally starting to feel a little of the strain of training camp. While he is not the most eloquent of men, he usually seems fairly cordial at his press conferences and he always has a good grasp of the facts concerning his team. However, on Saturday afternoon, he was pretty short with the reporters and wasn't joking much with anyone during his press conference. Apparently, the pressure of two-a-day practices and the first preseason game are making Coach Sparano a little irritable. Which is not surprising considering how many hours he puts in. Sparano has been spending 14-16 hours a day working at training camp, studying film and planning while his players go home. Of course, most head coaches do this during training camp, and Tony Sparano works as hard as any coach on the field.
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