*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Sep 30, 1996: -- Erickson To Start --
DOLPHINS NEWS:
The Dolphins announced today that QB Craig Erickson will start
at quarterback for the Dolphins against the Seahawks on Sunday.
Erickson was signed in September as the third string quarterback after
he was released by the Indianapolis Colts for salary cap reasons.
Erickson was drafted in the 4th round of the 1992 draft and
played for 3 seasons with Tampa Bay before being traded to the Colts
before the 1995 season. During his career, Erickson was the starting
quarterback for the Bucs in 1993 and 94. His best year as a pro came
in 1994, when he completed 225 of 399 passes for 2919 yards, 16 TDs
and 10 INTs. That works out to an 82.5 QB rating.
The Dolphins also announced two other roster changes for
Sunday's game - WR Randal Hill will make his first official start at
wide receiver in place of Lamar Thomas and TE Brett Carolan has been
awarded the starting tight end position ahead of former fullback Keith
Byars.
In an interview on ESPN this evening, JJ stated that he felt
that the team could win with either quarterback. However, he also
expressed his disappointment at the way that the team had practiced on
Monday and stated that if they don't practice better on Wednesday
there will be more changes in the starting lineup.
Also from ESPN, JJ apparently told Chris Mortenson today that
Dan Marino's recovery is going better than expected and he could be
back in as little as three weeks.
My Comments:
The designation of Erickson as the starter doesn't come as a
surprise. JJ recruited him out of high school to play quarterback at
the U of Miami and signed him in September to be the quarterback of
the future for the Dolphins. Well, with Marino down, the future is
now.
Erickson has a better arm and is a little more mobile in the
pocket than Kosar. The big question was whether or not he could learn
the system quickly enough. However, given that he has already played
for Stevens and JJ at the U of Miami, he probably didn't have that
much to learn.
The replacement of Thomas with Hill is also not especially
surprising, considering the relative talent levels. However, the
replacement of Byars with Carolan is a pretty big surprise. Even
though I've been hearing good things about Carolan from Miami, I
didn't think he'd be able to replace Byars at this point in the
season.
I think you'll still see Keith Byars in the game a lot, but JJ
has decided to go with Carolan, who reportedly has looked good in
practice catching the ball. And in a JJ system, the tight end is more
important as a pass catcher than as a blocker. It will be interesting
to see how well he performs on Sunday.
As far as Keith Byars is concerned, he really hasn't looked
the same since he came back from his knee injury two years ago. I'm
afraid his best days may be behind him.
Related Info:
[Return to Dolphins News]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New England
|
