Sunday's mandatory minicamp finale prelude

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/sundays-mandato.html

Sunday's mandatory minicamp finale prelude

Today is my wedding anniversary so the Dolphins are celebrating by having only one practice.

I will update you with what happens in that practice after it is over. I will update you immediately if something newsworthy happens -- like maybe a receiver not named Ted Ginn or Ernest Wilford hold on to a pass.

Meanwhile, you should read the column I wrote on Bill Parcells for Sunday's Miami Herald. I find the guy fascinating because he does try to intimidate people but I believe that to be only a facade. I relate in the column how it went the first three times I called The Big Tuna. It's pretty funny, in hindsight, though I wasn't laughing at the time.

Anyway, the point is for all his personalty traits, the one thing he does better than anything else is build football teams.

I got a chance to talk to him about that earlier this week and he relates in the column some of his thoughts.

One thing that he is already planning is picking up four or five guys off waivers after the Dolphins supposedly settle their roster. In other words, the Dolphins will make their final cuts. And then a couple of days letter, cut a few more guys because they're going to try and bring in a couple of other players from around the league.

The idea is that the No. 54 player on another team, the guy not good enough for that team, could be No. 50 or No. 51 on the Dolphins. So the Dolphins will set their roster with their best 53 players, then whack the last couple of guys on the roster and bring in better guys.

It is a way to strengthen the bottom of the roster -- meaning the depth of the team.

Smart stuff.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/06/sundays-minicam.html

Sunday's minicamp report

Sunday's practice primarily featured team drills - offense verses defense - so the coaches can figure out where they are, and from what I saw there was plenty of give and take.

One snap the offensive line was opening up decent size holes, and protecting the passer. The next Charlie Anderson had Josh McCown running for his life. One play Greg Camarillo's getting behind his defender, the next the cornerbacks are slapping down balls.

Ernest Wilford didn't participate in Sunday's practice. Coach Tony Sparano said he showed up for walk through but had to make a flight and was excused.

In his absence Ginn stepped up as the quarterbacks primary receiver, and was a nice deep ball along the sidelines from Josh McCown, who started practice with the first team.

The connection was good for about 40 yards but it might have been caught out of bounds. There was no ruling from the referee so it was hard to tell. Ginn, who I fully expect to spent his second season as a stretch the field receiver, also caught a few decent underneath balls in Wilford's absence. He did drop one critical catch on a nice pass from John Beck, who avoided pressure to get the ball off, that stalled a drive.

If I had to give a QB winner for the day, and I know you guys want to know, I would give McCown a slight edge over John Beck. Beck threw some nice touch passes, and connected on a touchdown pass to Jayson Foster, who beat Andre' Goodman. However, he was sacked twice by Charlie Anderson, who also got to McCown once. Most of Anderson's sacks came from the left side in instances where Joey Porter moved to the right, filling in for Jason Taylor.

I give McCown the edge because he threw the long bomb to Ginn, and he ended the scrimmage like situation with a touchdown catch to Sean Ryan, but it was close.

Much like the scrimmage, Jake Long was up and down. One minute he was standing up Kelvin Smith, the next he was put on roller skates by Porter. I can see him struggling against speed on the edge, especially from 3-4 schemes, but he should be fine by the end of training camp.

This weekend he showed he's a rare specimen as an athlete. He doesn't have problems against defensive ends who use power. It's the speed guys that cause problems. I can't wait to see him go against Jason Taylor. It should be an educational experience. But he'll be fine.

"He weighs 320 pounds and he's got abs. That's pretty unique," Justin Smiley said of Long, who he's now playing next to.

Smiley sounds like he likes the move back to the position he played his first two seasons at in San Francisco.

Smiley also said he has the most trouble against Vonnie Holliday, who was probably one of the guys I was most impressed with this weekend.

"He's got the longest arms in the world," Smiley said. "When you're [trying to get into] him he's holding you off."

It's hard to evaluate the defensive linemen because there was no hitting this weekend, but Phillip Merling made a few stand out plays early, then fizzled. I noticed Kendall Langford once all weekend, on Sunday, and NEVER noticed Lionel Dotson or Rodrique Wright. Not once, and that's not a good thing, especially considering I watch line play more than anything else (it's a habit, I even do it in games).

Sticking to guys I did notice, here's my (FILL IN NAME) impressed me this weekend list:

1. Will Allen - Handled most receivers, including Wilford, who is about twice his size. Was the only cornerback making plays on the ball.

2. Ernest Wilford - Dropped a few passes, but showed he can be a No. 1 receiver here. Major threat in the redzone. MAJOR!

3. Ricky Williams - He's running hard, and fast. I see 1,000 yards in his future. Ricky's back!

4. Yeremiah Bell - Didn't see one play made on him in five practices. If he stays healthy he's a lock for the starting spot.

5. Charlie Anderon - I don't know if it's the scheme, but he's applying pressure in Taylor's place. Is it the line, or his ability?

6. David Kircus - When he practiced before his hamstring injury he looked effective. Greg Camarillo, who made the nicest catch of the entire minicamp on Saturday, picked it up when Kircus was out.

7. Trey Darilek - I saw this Dallas rethread play every single position on the offensive line this weekend, and he did it well.

8. Tony Sparano - Great command of his team. Good communicator. Each time I interact with him I become more and more impressed.

I'd be fudging if I said anyone else REALLY stood out, but overall it was a productive weekend.

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 12:14:24 PM

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/06/08/sparano_pleased_as_minicamp_wr.html

Sparano pleased as mini-camp wraps up

By Edgar Thompson | Sunday, June 8, 2008, 01:09 PM

Rookie head coach Tony Sparano said the Dolphins “got an awful lot of accomplished” during this weekend’s three-day mini-camp.

Coaches entered the weekend with the idea of working on several different areas, including red-zone offense, two-minute situations, third downs, jumbo packages, blitz pickups and blitz packages.

Sparano said the Dolphins have reached the point where learning has become secondary to executing and competing.

He likes the level of competition from players, even though Sparano knows he won’t get a complete picture until players are in pads.

“I always use the term if they don’t bite as puppies, they don’t bite,” he said. “When they’re in T-shirts and you see them going at it, that’s a pretty good sign.”

The fifth and final practice of the weekend lasted about 90 minutes.

WR Ernest Wilford participated only in the team walk-through, but received an excused absence for the remainder of practice because he had a flight to catch.

During team drills, QBs Josh McCown, John Beck and Chad Henne shared reps.

McCown made the best throw of the day, dropping a long pass into the hands of Ted Ginn Jr. between S Jason Allen and CB Andre Goodman down the left side of the field.

McCown also hit TE Sean Ryan for a touchdown on a nice intermediate throw in the middle of the field. It was a nice end to a series during which McCown tripped on the opening snap and overthrew WR Devon Bess.

Ginn also made the catch of the day, showing some guts and sure hands as he snagged a high, hard throw from Beck on a slant pattern just as LB Edmond Miles was closing in at full speed.

Beck primarily was sharp on short and intermediate throws, highlighted by a touchdown to intriguing 5-foot-7 rookie Jayson Foster in front of Goodman. Foster was a star QB at Georgia Southern who looking to make the team as a special teams player.

“Every player needs to have some jobs he can do,” Sparano said. “If he’s going to be a guy on your team, you have to find him jobs (on special teams).”

The offensive line remained the same for the second day in a row, with G Justin Smiley working alongside No. 1 pick Jake Long on the left side. G Trey Darilek and T Vernon Carey flanked C Samson Satele’s right side.

The first-team defense hasn’t changed, either: LE Randy Starks, NG Jason Ferguson, RE Vonnie Holliday, LOLB Joey Porter, LILB Akin Ayodele, RILB Reggie Torbor, ROLB Charlie Anderson, LCB Will Allen, RCB Andre Goodman, S Yeremiah Bell, S Jason Allen.

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/mandatory-min-1.html

MANDATORY minicamp practices over

Pretty uneventful practice today.

I watched rookie Dan Carpenter on kickoffs and he does have a booming leg. He drove all but one of his kicks to the goal line and a couple even went out of the end zone. I will be writing a column about the kicking competition that Bill Parcells basically announced last week in the coming days. A couple of things in there will surprise you as Jay Feely attempts to keep his job.

The three quarterbacks all got first-team snaps today. John Beck had a couple of nice throws, including one in which he basically got the ball over a defensive lineman's helmet as that lineman was grabbing onto him and the rest of the pocket was breaking down.

Ernest Wilford was present for the walk-through before the media was allowed in to watch, according to coach Tony Sparano, but was absent for the actual practice because he had a flight to catch.

As to the advancements the team made during the three-day camp:

"I just told the team this at the end of practice, I thought we had an awful lot of competition during this training camp," Soprano said. "We had competition in the red zone, in two-minute situations, on third down. We were able to evaluate some of our bigger people packages and we got a chance to see our blitz-pickups and blitz packages."

So the Dolphins, like FedEx, got a look at a lot of packages this weekend.

The top performers of the weekend IMHO?

1. Ricky Williams. Looks cut, quick and strong. He is the best player on the team right now. It says something when Parcells gives the player a fist-pound after a play, which he did Saturday.

2. Yeremiah Bell. I kidded with him that he looks like Dan Marino out there because he's wearing two ankle braces and two knee braces. He laughed but Sparano called him the "a good quarterback out there," meaning that is the role Bell plays on D. I don't believe he blew an assignment all weekend long.

3. Vonnie Holliday. Let's face it, he is the team best DL right now. He is healthy, he plays smart. And frankly, he looked to be schooling some of the OLinemen most of the weekend.

4. Ernest Wilford. He is the team's best receiver right now. He catches everything, he knows how to run routes and he knows how to separate even though he doesn't have the greatest speed in the world. My prediction is he leads all receivers in catches this year although Ted Ginn is the No. 1 receiver.

5. Joey Porter. I know he was something of a disappointment last year, primarily because his performance didn't match his salary. But was he a bad player? I don't think so. This weekend he spent extra time working with defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni on his pass-rush technique. He told me to expect new things from him we haven't seen before. We'll see.

Also, the Dolphins brought former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer to training camp today and he spoke for 45 minutes about how to deal with the media.

"The most important thing about dealing with the media is mental discipline," Fleischer told me. "The same mental discipline athletes bring to the field, they should bring to the press. That way they don’t make mistakes. They don’t get taunted into a situation. They don’t get pitted against a fellow player or coach. I told them to respect the press. They have a hard job to do. They get paid to ask hard questions and you’ve got to work with them.”

The Dolphins will be off Monday and return for OTA work Tuesday-Thursday before going on vacay.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

A few observations:

1. Jake Long definitely looks like the safe bet he was made out to be when drafted #1 overall.  His struggling against speed rushers can definitely be worked on.  Improved footwork will take care of that problem.

2. To answer the question about Charlie Anderson "Is it the line or his ability?"  We'll find out in preseason. 

3. Jay Feely's days in aqua and orange are numbered if Dan Carpenter can prove to be accurate.

4. Earnest Wilford is looking more and more like an excellent pickup for a unit that lost it's top two receivers from last season and is sorely lacking right now.