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Live Blog — August 7 Training Camp

By Ben Volin | Thursday, August 7, 2008, 01:43 PM

Well now … Things certainly got a lot more interesting around here, didn’t they?

Brett Favre is now a nemesis. Chad Pennington has already been contacted by the Dolphins, and for all we know, he could be en route to Miami as we speak.

And coming up in 15 minutes is the last practice before Saturday’s exhibition opener against Tampa Bay.

Tony Sparano wouldn’t comment at his morning press conference on who will start at quarterback. He said he will tell the three quarterbacks later today, but we won’t get to talk to Sparano again until after Saturday’s game.

So it looks like we’ll all be in the dark until 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Quick programming note: There won’t be a live blog tomorrow because there is no practice, but I’ll be hosting a live chat from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Come on by and talk some Fins!

OK, practice starts soon. Updates will begin around 2:25.

Enjoy the show!

Let me help you out Dolphin619

2:24

A few quick hits to get us going:

No Chad Pennington sighting. Or anyone else. Still at 78 players.

Parcells and Ireland are standing on the sidelines, not working the phones.

Vonnie Holliday isn’t practicing today. Tony Sparano said Holliday tweaked his right hamstring yesterday, and we saw Holliday come off the field and get an ice pack taped to his leg. Holliday is riding the bike and doing some agility drills.

Jay Feely (groin) and Michael Lehan (ankle) also aren’t practicing. Everyone else is present and practicing.

Shorts and shells today in the bubble.

Donald Thomas and John Beck open up with the first team.

The drops continue: Ernest Wilford drops a ball in individual drills, on a lob from a coach with no one defending.

That’s it for now. Be back soon.

2:50

Not too much going on in individual drills. A few quick updates:

Parcells and Ireland have left practice.

But Dan Marino makes his second appearance in a week. He also showed up Saturday. He hangs out with Dale Murphy for a little bit, two MVPs chillin in the practice bubble.

Matt Roth, Joey Porter and Charlie Anderson are rotating between the two OLB positions with the first team. With Vonnie out, Roth may get extra work at linebacker.

Deep end zone punt drills. Brandon Fields keeps hitting the roof of the bubble.

Michael Lehan is working with a trainer and doing sprints, and he doesn’t look anywhere close to being ready to return. He’s definitely limping as he runs, and seems to wince when he plants his right foot and puts a lot of his weight on it.

Nice footwork by Camarillo on a sideline pattern. Excellent use of the tippy-toes.

That’s all I got. Back in a few.

3:19

Hey guys, one quick thing to note about Pennington: He’s also very familiar with current Dolphins OC Dan Henning, who was also the quarterbacks coach and OC with the Jets in Pennington’s rookie year.

A few more updates from practice:

11-on-11 drills for a good 10 minutes, focusing on running drills only.

Funny moment: Yeremiah Bell comes up to tackle Ricky Williams, but backs off at the last second. Williams ran over Bell like a Mack truck in yesterday’s practice.

11-on-11 passing drills.

Beck up first. The first play is a sweep left to Ronnie Brown. Great job by Reagan Mauia getting out in front and sealing off Chris Roberson to allow Ronnie to scoot up the sideline.

A quick hitch to Kircus, a run to Ronnie, a coverage sack and then a fumbled snap. “C’mon, run the play!’ a coach yells out.

Henne’s turn. First throw is an easy interception for Joey Thomas. Camarillo and David Martin were in the neighborhood, but it clearly was a miscommunication between Henne and his receivers.

After a sweep to Lex Hilliard, Henne does a great job selling a playaction fake, and feathers a pass to Derek Hagan just inches over Channing Crowder’s outstretched hands.

Jalen Parmele runs one up the middle, and apparently does something right. “That’s it, Jalen!” a coach shouts out.

McCown’s turn, and he only gets a couple snaps. Two running plays and a playaction pass to Fasano near the sideline, over Roberson and Courtney Bryan. Nice throw by McCown.

That’s it for now.

3:54

Practice is going until about 4:15, so we got time for one more update before I have to talk to players.

Ireland is standing on the sidelines again. Parcells, though, keeps popping in and out of the bubble.

7-on-7 drills

Hagan drops a crossing pattern from McCown, but comes back with a nice diving catch on a ball from Beck and a great leaping catch on a ball that was thrown behind him.

They’re doing OL vs. DL on the far field, but it’s tough to see what’s going on, even with the binoculars.

Nice post pass by Beck to Jayson Foster, putting it right out of Will Allen’s reach. Edgar has been watching the quarterbacks’ entire body of work today, and says he has been impressed with Beck today.

Beck sails a throw that lands in Chris Crocker’s hands, with Kircus the intended receiver. Looks like another mix-up between the quarterback and receiver.

Beck also hits Kircus on a beautiful deep pass for a touchdown, about 50 yards.

Henne throws a slant to Ted Ginn, and Ginn makes a beautiful fingertip catch in traffic.

Henne hits Hagan on a square-in. Nice separation by Hagan, who creates about 5 yards of space between him and Chris Roberson.

Ginn uses those cornerback skills he developed in high school to prevent Andre Goodman from making an interception on McCown.

Field goal drills. Dan Carpenter goes 4-for-4, all from 40-45 yards.

Then they break out into 11-on-11s. A couple highlights:

Great pass by Beck on a square-in to Davone Bess. Led him perfectly.

Lex Hilliard drops a swing pass. “C’mon, Hilliard, catch the ball!” Sparano shouts.

Nice pass by McCown on a deep wheel route to Patrick Cobbs over Will Billingsley. Cobbs has looked fantastic during camp, on both offense and special teams. He did this last year in camp, too, coming out of nowhere to make the team.

I’ll have a little more for you guys later. Back to the bubble

Looks like the QB's are starting to figure out this defense.  Let's see what they can do in game situations.  I'm really excited about tomorrow night. 

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/08/dolphins-repo-2.html

Dolphins report: Self-esteem Thursday

This was probably the first time I'd ever seen the Dolphins offense outperform the defense in nearly two weeks of training camp action.

However, I'm not sure if the defense was dialed down. I suspect they were in instances, especially during 7-on-7 because the cornerbacks rarely went for the ball, and released their receivers on a few throws. But the Dolphins offense actually seemed like they could move the ball and score points during Thursday's session.

I'm not talking about New England Patriots - Tom Brady - Randy Moss - move the ball. But it wasn't a putrid showing like most practices.

The running lanes were respectable, the drops weren't in abundance, and touchdown passes were actually thrown, AND CAUGHT. At least most of them were.

John Beck, who continues to make progress (REALLY), rolled out right on a play-action and threw a deep post into the corner of the endzone that David Kircus brought in over Chris Roberson. It was a beauty, and Kircus was open all day long. Kircus was the man!

On one play he beat Andre' Goodman and an unknown safety deep on a throw from Josh McCown. Goodman knew he was toast when the ball was in the air and started tugging on Kircus' hands, drawing a interference call from the ref. Kircus was so proud he'd beat Goodman he got up talking trash and pointed to the flag.

McCown also connected on a 9-route to Anthony Armstrong, who beat Travis Daniels while tight roping it into the endzone.

McCown finished the team drills by completing 9-of-12 straight passes that would have all been good for decent gains. It really should have been 11-of-12 completions but Anthony Fasano dropped his second easy catch of the practice, and Kircus had a 30-yard touchdown grab knocked out when Will Billingsley and Renaldo Hill hit him in the endzone.

The quarterbacks and coaches know who is playing on Saturday, and who is starting, but they all have been told to keep it secret. Top secret stuff here! In fact, we were interviewing Chad Henne and the rookie was about to crack when the media police pulled him aside for a debriefing. He came back speaking in cliches, telling us to "ask coach."

I suspect McCown starts, Henne plays, and Beck is the break in case of emergency QB. McCown clearly got most of the work today, and it looked like they were working on scripted stuff.

Tony Sparano has dropped too many hints that he might only play two quarterbacks for that exhibition strategy to be ignored. I don't really understand it, but I'll play along for now. I'm guessing they are rewarding the two QB's who have looked the best. That theory fits the Trifecta's mindset.

Here are the rest of my observations and thoughts from Thursday....

Donald Thomas is on his 10th straight day as the starting right guard. Only a fool thinks he's not starting Saturday against Tampa Bay. How he performs in that game will likely determine if he enters next week's practice as the starter....

Vonnie Holliday's hamstring injury likely means four rookies will be starting the exhibition opener. Jake Long and Thomas are locks, and Kendall Langford starts if he continues to hold off Matt Roth. Phillip Merling starts if Holliday doesn't play....

Holliday's injury will give Rodrique Wright one opportunity to catch the coaching staffs eye, and he better take advantage of it....

Speaking of Roth, he spent a good portion of the special teams practice working on the side with Paul Pasqualoni. He looks pretty decent dropping back into coverage. He moves his hips well. I'm not too surprised considering he was a linebacker his rookie season at Iowa....

I've discovered Junior Glymph is not just an outside guy. He's also an inside linebacker and outside linebacker. What a shock. Glymph also beat Long on a sack, and it was courtesy of a power rush....

Beck was responsible for two turnovers. He fumbled a snap from Samson Satele, and also got a pass intercepted by Joey Thomas. But I give 70 percent of the blame to David Martin because he never even looked for the ball. In fact, he had no idea it was intercepted....

Ted Ginn Jr. and Ernest Wilford actually caught passes that meant something today because the offense was working on third-down plays. Unlike the last coaching staff, I hope this one plans to use Ginn on drag routes because that's his most dangerous play....

Patrick Cobbs keeps on showing me plenty, and it makes me think he's going to make this 53-man roster. Today he got a "that a boy" from Sparano after catching a 20-yard pass from McCown along the sideline on a wheel route.

Derek Hagan had a few drops today. He was the only receiver that worked with the jugs machine after practice. I suspect Hagan hurt his left hand during practice, but he kept playing.

That's all I've got boys and girls. You know the routine. Hit F5 to refresh so you'll know this is the latest version, and post any questions here and I'll do my best to get to them.

So what are your thoughts on the Dolphins approach to handling the quarterbacks during the exhibition games?

Deuces.

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 4:07:46 PM

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/top_story.asp?contentID=5945

Camp Dolphins Report Day 12: Starks Not To Be Forgotten; QB Indecision; Other Notes

August 7, 2008
   
By Andy Kent
Special for MiamiDolphins.com

Rookies Kendall Langford and Philip Merling have garnered so much attention in training camp that fifth-year defensive end Randy Starks has gotten lost in the shuffle, but not to his teammates and his coaches.

The 6-foot-3, 305-pound Starks who spent his first four seasons with the Tennessee Titans is versatile enough to play on either side of the ball, and he provides the perfect mix for a defensive line that is either very young or equipped with cagy veterans like 12th-year nose tackle Jason Ferguson and 11th-year defensive end Vonnie Holliday.

"I think what he brings to the defensive line is strength at the point of attack, some experience but tremendous strength," said first-year Head Coach Tony Sparano about Starks. "He's a guy that can occupy two blockers in there, some position flexibility. He can bounce around to both sides if he needs to. I think that those are some of the things that he brings there. A little bit of experience, but a lot of strength."

Starks' best season with the Titans came in 2005 when he started all 16 games and registered 78 tackles (40 solo) and three sacks. As a rookie in 2004, the 24-year-old Maryland native appeared in 14 games and started eight of them, He finished with 53 tackles, 4.5 sacks, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

In Tennessee, the Titans ran a 4-3 defense as opposed to the 3-4 being run by the Dolphins and Starks said making the transition was tough early on in mini-camp and OTAs as well as the beginning of training camp. He feels like he's coming along much better just two days out from Miami's preseason opener Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Dolphins Stadium, and he is absorbing everything he can from his linemates.

"The younger guys they look up to us older guys for advice, and me myself I'm only going on my fifth year so I still ask Ferg and Vonnie for tips also," Starks said. "At the same time if a young guy needs something I'll give him any information I know."

Starks described his style of play as being someone who goes 100 percent all the time and focuses equally on being able to stop the run and rush the passer. He is battling Langford right now while Matt Roth has been moved to outside linebacker, at least for this week.

Fourth-year linebacker Channing Crowder has a great perspective on what Starks brings during a defensive series and he has been thoroughly impressed with what the former University of Maryland product can do from his spot on the defensive line.

"He's talented. I didn't know he was in the league that long," Crowder said. "I'm not a big football fan. I don't know a lot of people's names but he's been in the league longer than I thought. He's a pretty good player and he's going to help us out a lot to go in there and give some guys (a break) and through time I think he'll end up getting some starts. He's a great player and he'll be a productive defensive lineman for us."

GUESS THE QB: Sparano chose not to reveal who is starting quarterback will be Saturday night against the Bucs, but he did tell the three quarterbacks, so they are aware. Seventh-year veteran Josh McCown could be making his first start against his younger brother, Luke, who will start with Tampa Bay, and he shared what that experience would mean to him and his family.

"It would be fun because you don't know when it's going to happen again," McCown said. "We would certainly look forward to it and enjoy the opportunity to get to play one another, and more importantly just to be able to watch each other play and to be in the same stadium with each other when it's happening."

Rookie Chad Henne and second-year quarterback John Beck also are eager to prove themselves against a different team, and despite the news around the league surrounding the trade of Brett Favre from Green Bay to the New York Jets and the subsequent release of Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, neither the quarterbacks nor Sparano are allowing that to impact the Dolphins.

"We have three quarterbacks right now on our team and we're finding it hard right now to get all three of those guys the work they need but we're doing that," Sparano said. "We're happy with the people we have here now."

WHICH WAY DO WE GO?: The reason today's practice was moved inside the practice bubble is so the grounds crew could re-line the practice fields and set them up so that they run East and West instead of North and South. Now, when fans come out to training camp, they will be watching the action from an end zone perspective instead of a horizontal angle.

DOLPHINS TIDBITS: Rookie sixth-round pick Donald Thomas lined up at right guard with the first unit for the 10th straight day and continued to look good against the first-team defense ... Third-year wide receiver Derek Hagan overcame an early drop to make two very nice catches ... Joey Thomas and Chris Crocker had the only two interceptions on the afternoon ... Second-year receiver Ted Ginn, Jr. became a defensive back again on one long pass from Henne when he batted the ball away from cornerback Andre Goodman ... Undrafted rookie receiver Anthony Armstrong atoned for his dropped pass in last Saturday's scrimmage by hauling in a 41-yard bomb from McCown down the left sideline ... Earlier, Beck connected with David Kircus from about the same distance ... Dan Marino was inside the practice bubble again chatting with Parcells and first-year General Manager Jeff Ireland. But before he became engrossed in that conversation, the Hall-of-Fame quarterback was introduced to seven-time All-Star baseball player Dale Murphy, whose son, Shawn, is a rookie offensive guard for the Dolphins.