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Dolphins 2009 Training Camp: Day 15 - Wed, Aug 19th |  | ||||||||
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Injury Reports | Future Schedule | My Comments | Related Links TODAY'S SUMMARY: The Dolphins held two workouts on Wednesday, which will be the last day that fans will be able to see both practices. Both practices were outside, but the morning workout was in full pads, while the afternoon practice was in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets. After Monday night's game, the team spent Wednesday morning working on red-zone plays and running between the tackles. Both are areas that Coach Sparano wanted to improve this year, but the Dolphins struggled in both areas on Monday night. In the lineup, Donald Thomas finally settled exclusively into the starting spot at right guard and Greg Camarillo swapped places with Davone Bess to take over the starting wide receiver spot opposite Ted Ginn,Jr. In the red-zone drills, the first team offense improved on their Monday night performance with a touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano and avoiding any big mistakes. Unfortunately, the second and third team offenses had two fumbles, a penalty and a pick in the red-zone, continuing to look inept inside the 20. Highlights of the morning practice included a one-handed interception by CB Will Billingsley and pass breakup by Vontae Davis of a pass from Chad Pennington to Greg Camarillo. In the afternoon, several players took it easy and sat out at least a portion of the team drills, including Justin Smiley, Vernon Carey, Joey Porter and Ricky Williams. Even thought the depth chart says that Andy Alleman is Smiley's backup, Brandon Frye took most of the snaps at left guard. Frye has worked mostly at tackle, but doesn't seem to be having much success at that position. Afternoon highlights included Pat White White hitting Ted Ginn Jr. on a deep square in, a leaping catch for Brian Hartline of a Henne pass across the middle and Jason Taylor bull rushing Ronnie Brown back into Chad Pennington for a sack. Lowlights were Jason Allen getting beaten by Hartline and Bess, Brandon London dropping two passes and Sean Smith getting beaten by Ted Ginn. WR Chris Williams opened quite a few eyes on Monday night with his punt and kickoff returns. In practice on Wednesday, he spent a lot of time working on correcting the mental errors that gave him trouble during the first part of Monday night's game. LB Cameron Wake, who started camp slowly has been picking up his game and has begun regularly blowing past offensive linemen for sacks. He is looking more and more like the player who picked up 39 sacks in his last two years in the CFL. QB Pat White continues to play better in practice than he did at the start of training camp, but he still has a long way to go.
With Chris Williams' performance as a kick returner, Brandon London's chances of making the roster have just declined significantly. And he isn't helping himself by dropping passes in practice. It the season began today, London would probably find himself on the outside looking in. The right guard spot on the offensive line appears to have been settled, with Donald Thomas finally reclaiming the starting job he lost last year when he was injured. Both Sean Smith and Randy Starks have retained their starting jobs after Monday night's game. Now that Eric Green is gone, Jason Allen has a better chance of making the roster. But the competition is still pretty fierce in the secondary.
CB Eric Green was released by the Dolphins following his poor performance against the Jaguars on Monday night.
OL Justin Smiley did not work out in most of the team drills on Wednesday afternoon, but did dress and took part in some of the individual drills. There was no word on his injury, but it was apparently not serious. OL Vernon Carey had his wrist taped during practice, but did not miss much work. LB Matt Roth continues to miss practice, although his agent says that Roth plans to return to practice this week.
The Dolphins have one open practice left on Thursday morning at 10:15. The next pre-season game is Saturday night at 7:30 in Miami and that game will be televised on NFL Network on Sunday at 1 PM
The only thing about the release of Eric Green that comes as a surprise is the timing of it. Green was replaced as the starter by Sean Smith over a week ago and has been getting poor reports from people watching practice. And on Monday night, he has poor coverage on at least three passes thrown his way to receivers who were second string players for Jacksonville. By releasing Green this quickly, the coaching staff is saying that they have confidence in their rookie defensive backs and that anyone who is not performing will be let go - sooner, rather than later. But what is the difference between Ernest Wilford last season and Eric Green this year? Well, there is the money. Wilford was signed to a bigger contract and the Dolphins would have taken a bigger hit by releasing Wilford last year than they did by releasing Green yesterday. But more importantly, Coach Sparano genuinely liked Ernest Wilford as a player. He said last season that Wilford had a very positive attitude and would gladly do anything to help the team win, even if it meant sitting on the bench. Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano both say that they are looking for players who are "tough, smart and disciplined". Those are the most important qualities they are looking for in players and Ernest Wilford, by all accounts, does have those qualities. Eric Green doesn't.
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