Good, bad, and the ugly

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/08/good-bad-and-th.html

Good, bad, and the ugly

The talk is a lot tougher this season because the ship is being steered by a couple of tough guys. But it's funny that last year's team got a better result in its exhibition opener against this very same opponent.

I know 2007 is like a nightmare you try not to think about, but the Dolphins did squeak out an exhibition win over Tampa Bay with a much worse roster this time last year. Maybe the Bucs were trying harder this time. Maybe the Dolphins will do a flip-flop of last season, putting together a bad exhibition showing and a good one in the regular season.

Who knows. But it never hurts to take an analytical look at Saturday's 17-6 loss, and what transpired in the locker room.

The good: Ricky Williams was running with the ball like he was ready to win the Heisman trophy again. Bill Parcells came up to him after the game and commended him in the locker room, praising him for how hard he ran. He encouraged Williams to keep pushing.

"He seems to care and I like that," Williams said of Parcells. "So, that's enough for me. I think he cares and if he sees something good he'll show me. And if he sees something not so good he'll tell me."

The bad: I asked Ricky if he was having fun after the game, where he was clearly one of the few bright spots, and his response is "I'm trying to."

It was an honest response, and one that was labored. Williams also points out he gets that question all the time, hinting that it's not a fair one. Maybe he gets it all the time because he looks like he's constipated every time we see him.

I know I don't always enjoy my job, so I guess I can relate. He plays a sport for a living. I cover a sport for a living. I guess we should both try to put a smile on our face.

The good: Rodrique Wright contributed one of the Dolphins three sacks, and he now has one in each of the last two preseason outings and three in his last five. He'll need to keep being productive to survive the turk and make the 53-man roster.

The bad: Wright got ran at a lot. And so did the rest of the Dolphins offense. The Buccaneers rushed for 114 yards and one touchdowns. Are we going to be looking at a defense that can't stop the run again.

The good: David Kircus and Davone Bess, two of training camp's more productive receivers, each caught three passes against Tampa Bay. Kircus finally showed Dolphins fans the playmaking ability I'd been talking about for weeks.

The bad: Kircus and Bess each individually tripled the output of Ernest Wilford, Derek Hagan and Ted Ginn Jr., who each caught one pass.

The good: The Dolphins now have four quarterbacks on the roster. Two of them are experienced veterans with a ton of starts under their belt, and the other two are youngsters the franchise invested second-round picks in.

When asked how long the team can keep all four quarterbacks coach Tony Sparano said "we'll see how things go."

"I expect that we'll have all four for a while. We may keep four quarterbacks. I mean, that's the truth. We might just keep four quarterbacks at the end of this thing. I mean, the team we just played has got a bunch of them," Sparano said.

The bad: Doesn't Sparano sound (I mean read) like a guy who is trying to convince himself that the Dolphins can, and will keep four quarterbacks. Wasn't he the same coach who two days ago said the Dolphins were having problems finding enough snaps for the three quarterbacks already in camp.

Interestingly, Sparano managed to find enough snaps for all three quarterbacks in the game. It'll be interesting to see if McCown and and new addition Chad Pennington are the guys who get the bulk of the work next Saturday against Jacksonville.

The good: John Beck completed 5-of-9 passes for 45 yards, and was only sacked once, on a cornerback blitz.

The bad: His completions were a designed pass to fullback Reagan Mauia in the flat, another designed dump down to Boomer Grigsby, and then two short completions to Ginn Jr. and Wilford. I didn't once seem him read the field in his first two series unlike Chad Henne.

The ugly: This team needs another quality tackle bad. Ikechuku Ndukwe has got to improve or he'll be shown the door...I wasn't impressed at all in the defense, but I'll give them a pass considering three of the team's top front line players (Vonnie Holliday, Joey Porter and Jason Ferguson) spent most of the game on the sidelines watching....Why is it that a rookie quarterbacks consistently looks better than the two veterans in camp? Is Michigan really that damn good at developing quarterbacks?....While the inside linebacker made a ton of tackles, especially Reggie Torbor, who finished the game with eight, a good amount of them were because the tailback or tight ends they were responsible for were wide open.

So what impressions were you left with of this New Beginning?

Deuces.

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 10:47:02 PM