Live Blog — August 13 Training Camp

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/08/13/live_blog_august_13_training_c.html

Live Blog — August 13 Training Camp

By Ben Volin | Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 01:55 PM

Good afternoon Dolfans, and welcome back to the live blog!

Three more to go until the team closes practice to the fans and media. Looks like we’ll be outside today, but we’ve been getting thunderstorms almost every day around 2 p.m., so I’m not holding my breath.

Expect to see plenty of Chad Henne-ton today, and probably not too much of Josh McCown or John Beck. And let’s see if Joey Porter’s balky back will let him participate in two practices in a row.

Feel free to post any questions or comments, and I’ll try to address them in the posts.

Enjoy practice!

2:31

Hey gang, a few quick updates before practice gets going:

Shorts and shells today.

Injury situation is the same as yesterday. Vonnie Holliday (hamstring) and Michael Lehan (ankle) are sitting out. Joey Porter (back) is practicing. Charlie Anderson (hamstring) is MIA.

Holliday and Lehan are taking turns on one of those speed skating things. They have bags wrapped around their feet, and are gliding back and forth on the slick white board. Looks like a lot of fun. Holliday has better balance than Lehan.

All four quarterbacks are participating and individual drills. The 7 on 7 and full team drills are the real barometer, though.

Nice one-handed catch by Andre Goodman during interception drills. And Jason Allen catches the ball like a wide receiver. Very smooth. The position coach that is throwing all these 35-yarders is going to need plenty of Advil tonight.

On the other side of the coin, Channing Crowder drops an interception.

The quarterbacks start working with the receivers. Lining up alongside First Teamers Ted Ginn and Derek Hagan is rookie Davone Bess, who by all accounts has had a great training camp.

That’s it for now. Back soon.

3:01

Hey guys, sorry about the delay. Some technical problems at the Palm Beach Post world headquarters.

Here are the goods:

11-on-11 team drills

Pennington looks a little rusty. He throws high to Hagan, broken up by Will Allen, and then throws a slant a little bit behind Ernest Wilford, which he drops.

Pennington comes back with a deep sideline route to Camarillo. Beautiful job by Camarillo to jump up over Andre Goodman and come down with the ball.

Pennington ends with a dump-off to Ricky, a playaction roll-out screen to Ricky and a slant to Davone Bess. Nice finger-tip catch.

Henne’s up. He overthrows Hagan, who was wide open deep down the field.

Henne finds Patrick Cobbs in the flat after checking down his other receivers. Nice job by Cobbs to scoot past Channing Crowder.

He throws a playaction roll-out out of bounds, a slant to Jayson Foster, and a slant to Camarillo. Great diving catch by Camarillo. This guy has looked really sharp in camp. Edgar and I would be shocked if he doesn’t make the team.

They break out into punt drills. Brandon Fields starts from his own end zone and does some quick punts. They slowly trickle down the field until they are practicing coffin corners.

Really nice job by Patrick Cobbs on punt coverage. Bess waives for the fair catch but lets it drop, and Cobbs downs the ball on about the 1-foot line.

They break out into more 11-on-11 drills. As I’m typing this, Edgar says McCown is finally getting some snaps.

More in a bit.

3:30

Hey guys, I realize you can’t read this in real time. I suggest turning back your clocks before you read this, so we can pretend like we didn’t have any technical issues.

Team drills, 11-on-11. Beck and McCown each take snaps.

Beck had a real nice deep pass to David Kircus, but also a couple of incompletions and a pass that was tipped at the line.

McCown looked pretty good. He completed three short passes — a curl to Camarillo, and out to Davone Bess.

But McCown also struggled a bit on the deep ball. He threw a couple of ducks, and Will Allen comes down with the interception on the second one.

Pennington struggled a bit today. He missed on his first four throws and finished 1-of-5. Andre Goodman also let Pennington get away with a bad throw, dropping an interception.

Henne completes a square-in to Ginn, real nice sliding catch by Teddy G. Then he throws over Boomer Grigsby’s head on an out pattern in the flat.

Kickoff drills. Dan Carpenter is booming them down between the 5 and the goal line every time. He kicks the ball really high, and puts a nice little draw on it. Wish I could get my 9 iron to look like that.

Rotation of special teams drills: punt blocks, fair catches, long field goals, etc.

Punt block drills. Brandon Fields gets it off every time.

Carpenter lines up for a 60-yarder, but with no defense and no snap. John Denney is holding the ball, and Carpenter essentially gets a free kick. His kick has PLENTY of distance, but goes wide left. That kick could’ve reached the goalpost from 75 yards.

That’s it for now. Thanks for your patience. Gotta talk to players soon, so the last update will probably come in an hour.

4:34

A few more updates to end the day:

Pennington worked with all three units in 11-on-11 drills. He began on his own 40, and slowly marched down the field.

Pennington throws a quick out to Sean Ryan and misses Davone Bess on a deep out.

A little miscommunication between Pennington and and Wilford. Pennington throws a deep out, Wilford runs a curl.

Kendall Langford is running with the 3’s, by the way.

Now they’re in the Red Zone. After a Jalen Parmele run up the middle, Pennington throws to Sean Ryan in the end zone. Ryan runs a flag route and is wide open in the corner. The throw is right there ….. and it goes off Ryan’s hands, right to Courtney Bryan, who takes it 108 yards the other way. Ryan, clearly upset with himself, chased Bryan all the way down the field.

Pennington scrambles into the end zone, and his final pass of the day is an interception to Will Billingsley on a fade to Derek Hagan. Way underthrown.

Here are some final passing numbers for the two Chads. It ain’t pretty:

Pennington: 6 for 21 with two interceptions.

Henne: 7 for 15

That’s 13 for 36, combined. Yuck. But tomorrow is another day.

Thanks for tuning in, and sorry about the technical glitches. I promise you, I was making timely, informative and downright insightful blog posts. We’ll come back strong tomorrow.

I gotta head back up to Boynton now. I’ll try to answer a few questions in the comments area later tonight.

Tomorrow is the last day of live blogging. The show starts at 9 a.m., and resumes at 5 p.m.

Have a Fin-tastic day,

BV
 

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/08/some-nuggets-fr.html

Some nuggets from Wed. morning presser

If you read this blog yesterday you saw the recount of an exchange between Bill Parcells and cornerback Michael Lehan. It was pretty clear that Parcells was tweaking Lehan.

Today, I asked coach Tony Sparano about Lehan and it seems clear, reading between the lines, the team is drawing near to that moment when they want the player who has nursed a high ankle sprain for over two months to get back on the field.

"Pretty soon it becomes important," Sparano said. "We're getting to a point right now where we're trying to make decisions as we get on with this thing on this team ... We need to see Michael out there ... We want to see Michael out there."

Lehan has been working off to the side and, according to my eyes, has been moving quite well. He was cutting pretty aggressively yesterday. "It looks like he's making great progress right now," Sparano said.

And it says here that progress needs to translate to getting back out there. "There's a lot of things taking place out there right, the competition is going on and he hasn't been out there," Sparano said. "There's a lot of things going on. Once he gets out there and he's healthy, I think he'll be fine, but he has to compete just like everyone else."

---------------

Don't expect to see Charlie Anderson (hamstring) on the practice field any time soon and he is not likely to play Saturday. Vonnie Holliday, nursing the same injury, is "probably close" to returning to practice so I believe he may play Saturday.

---------------

Expect Ronnie Brown, Jason Allen, Derek Hagan, Ted Ginn Jr., and the entire starting offensive line to get more playing time against Jacksonville Saturday night.

---------------

I asked how far along Chad Pennington is in learning the play book because it is not as easy as it looks. The answer is he missed all the installation of plays from early in camp and is expected to pick those up on his own.

"We're not able to go back and start from Day 1," Sparano said. "He's had to absorb that on the fly."

Sparano said Pennington has gotten all the "basic information," meaning he knows formations, the coverages, and obviously Miami's terminology.

---------------

Coaches are pleased that Ernest Wilfork this week has recovered from two pretty bad weeks of practice. He has improved visibly the last couple of days.

Sparano also said he has noticed rookie linebacker Titus Brown more of late.

---------------

By the way, tight end Aaron Halterman, waived injured earlier in camp, went through waivers unclaimed and his agent was unable to negotiate a settlement with the team. So he is now Miami's second player on injured reserve joining Tab Perry.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/08/starters-to-pla.html

Starters to play a lot vs. Jaguars

Normally, the third preseason game is the dress rehearsal, but coach Tony Sparano is planning on giving the starters plenty of snaps in Saturday’s second exhibitiion tilt against Jacksonville.

“We know there's a bunch of guys that are here, that are going to be here and they need to play more," Sparano said today. "A guy like [Derek] Hagan needs to take more plays in a row, [Ted] Ginn needs to take more plays in a row right now."

Sparano will play newly acquired quarterback Chad Pennington, but isn’t sure how much because he’s still learning the playbook.

"We're going to take a long look at it, but it's going to be something comfortable. I don't want to put him in a situation where it's too much right away, or we ask him to do too much,’’ he said. “We'll have to see where he is tomorrow. That will be a deciding factor."

Sparano stressed how important this game is for the bubble players.

“We look at this opportunity to start to get the players ready to play, that we feel really comfortable with, that are going to be on our team. Secondly, three’s a bunch of bubble guys right now because there is competition going on here at a bunch of positions that obviously we need to see and continue to evaluate,’’ Sparano said. “At the end of this game the picture will be a lot clearer.’’

As far as practice, Pennington struggled today, hitting just 6 of 21 with two picks in the red zone by S Courtney Bryan on a deflection off of TE Sean Ryan, and the other by CB Will Billingsley. His backup, rookie Chad Henne didn’t fare to well either, hitting 7 of 15.

DE Rod Wright and LB Rob Ninkovich both had sacks of Henne.

Other than individual drills, QBs Josh McCown and John Beck were relegated to working the scout teams.

RB Ricky Williams, who looks more and more like the starting back until Ronnie Brown is 100 percent broke off a nice TD run in the red zone.

Other than Davone Bess, the receivers are still dropping passes, including Ernest Wilford, who was praised by Sparano in the morning, but didn’t live up to it in the afternoon.

CB Andre’ Goodman had a solid practice with several breakups.

DT Paul Soliai was noticeably limping by the end of practice. He remained in, but I’m betting he’ll be on the bicycle tomorrow.

S Keith Davis also seemed to be nursing a shoulder injury of some sort. We’ll monitor that one as well.

There was a ton of attention paid to special teams drills – punting, kickoffs etc… Newly named starting kicker Dan Carpenter was booming balls from his own 20 to the opposite 5 on a consistent basis.

DE Vonnie Holliday is still out with a hammy, but will probably play next week vs. the Chiefs, while OLB Charlie Anderson (hamstring) isn't close.

CB Michael Lehan (ankle), a solid starter last year, is clearly favoring the ankle while running on the side, and could be headed for the PUP list.

> Posted by hfialkov at 4:08:39 PM

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/08/last-update-of.html

Last update of the day for Wednesday

The idea that Jay Feely needed to be cut by the Dolphins, in a small part, because he was too vocal in the media and with his teammates is not foreign to some players still on the team -- even one player who calls himself Feely's friend.

"Jay's my boy," linebacker Joey Porter said Wednesday. "I like Jay Feely a lot. But at the same time, certain players get to do certain things and certain players don't. Nothing against Jay, but kickers don't get to be as vocal as I would be. I don't care who you are. [Mike] Vanderjagt tried and he got kicked out of Indy and he was the best kicker in the game. Kickers don't get to talk a whole lot."

Porter said the Dolphins picked, "the cheapest player," in the kicking competition.

------------------------------

Josh McCown and John Beck had the best day of Miami's four quarterbacks in Wednesday's practice because, well, they took only a handful of snaps in team drills while Chad Pennington and Chad Henne took the 36 between them and stunk struggled.

Pennington was 6 of 21 with zero touchdowns and two interceptions during the entirety of the team drills, which were split up into three parts. Pennington and the starting receivers were not always on the same page but he was also victimized by some horrible happenstance.

On one sure TD pass he hit TE Sean Ryan in the hands and the guy not only drops the pass, he drops it into the hands of Joey Thomas for an INT. Pennington's second INT was legit as Will Billingsley simply plucked a weak pass in the corner of the end zone out of the air. Derek Hagan, by the way, didn't exactly defend well, which is what he's called to do when he doesn't have a chance to catch it himself.

Pennington did have the nicest completion of the day -- a 40-yard-plus connection with Greg Camarillo. Camarillo also had a leaping grab of a Henne pass across the middle later in the practice so he had a good day.

Henne was not so good either. He completed 7 of 15 passes without a TD nor an INT. Henne also took a sack.

------------------------------

An item in profootballtalk.com today confirms an item on this blog from Saturday that Chad Pennington's deal could be worth $11.5 million but only if the guy takes Miami to the Super Bowl and he wins the MVP. The real value of the deal is more like $8 million. He got $500,000 to sign last week.

-------------------------------

It was surprising to see but only hours after coach Tony Sparano said he's seeing improvement from Ernest Wilford in practices, I see him fall another notch in the ever-changing depth chart.

While we all know Wilford dropped from starter to third receiver last week behind Ted Ginn and Derek Hagan, today while the team worked in three-receiver sets, he wasn't one of the three receivers. Rookie Davone Bess, Ginn and Hagan were the three WRs working with the starters. Wilford was working with the second group. Interesting.

----------------------------

The Dolphins want to find a place for RB Patrick Cobbs on this team so don't be surprised to see him on kick returns Saturday versus Jacksonville.

----------------------------

Quickie Jake Long update: Good news. Nothing to report. He doesn't give up sacks, he doesn't jump offsides. Does he have work to do? Yes, on his technique. But he's never overmatched.

[StL FinFan]

"An item in profootballtalk.com today confirms an item on this blog from Saturday that Chad Pennington's deal could be worth $11.5 million but only if the guy takes Miami to the Super Bowl and he wins the MVP. The real value of the deal is more like $8 million. He got $500,000 to sign last week."

This is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. 

[CF DolFan]

Correct me if I'm wrong but this means the Chads have had two bad practices in a row.  Well I guess at least Henne.  I'm not sure if we canpile on Penny just yet.  Henne struggled going into the Tampa game in the last few practices. 

I only bring this up because it seems to me that he is coming down to the reality of being a rookie and his performances of playing against second and third stringers really do not matter.

Regardless of our QB situation Henne needs to sit this year before we screw his head up just like we did Beck's.  The odds of Pennington making it very long without getting hurt is not good and throwing another rookie QB to the wolves will certainly not help him.

[fyo]

Regardless of our QB situation Henne needs to sit this year before we screw his head up just like we did Beck's.  The odds of Pennington making it very long without getting hurt is not good and throwing another rookie QB to the wolves will certainly not help him.

I agree. Pennington will start at #1 and Henne should be the emergency QB. I.e. #3. Either McCown or Beck needs to be the primary backup.

The #3 QB runs the scout team and in many ways gets more "action" than the #2, although that player does usually get maybe 10% of the snaps in practice. The problem is, usually you want an experienced #2, since he's not going to get a lot of plays on a daily basis, but needs to be able to GO in case of injury. That, honestly, speaks to McCown more than Beck... even though I would, by far, prefer to keep Beck.

[DolFan619]

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/top_story.asp?contentID=5964

Camp Dolphins Report Day 17: Meet Titus Brown; Henne Roots For Phelps; Other Notes

August 13, 2008
   
By Andy Kent
MiamiDolphins.com

Never before had so many reporters gone ruffling through their notes to find a roster than after this morning's pre-practice press conference with first-year Head Coach Tony Sparano after he made it a point to single out undrafted rookie linebacker Titus Brown.

The 22-year-old product of Mississippi State has gotten a lot more repetitions in practice over the past week due to the hamstring injury suffered by fifth-year free agent linebacker Charlie Anderson in last Saturday night's preseason opener against Tampa Bay. Apparently, he has done enough good things out there to catch the eye of Sparano and the Miami coaching staff.

"I think when you're watching the tape, or really when you're out here in practice, sometimes practice can go on and on and on and at times kind of feels like you're just running plays, where all of a sudden somebody jumps out at you and does something different," Sparano said when asked what he means by getting a "feel" for a player.

"Then you start to feel him once and then he jumps out again and you feel him again. Then you go back to the film and you really watch this guy and you see that he's been playing pretty consistent. That's happened to me in the last couple weeks, really this week with a few guys. There's a young kid out there right now that I'm starting to feel and it's Titus Brown. I've seen him kind of do some things in the last couple days that have piqued my interest that way."

Brown, 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, was a four-year letterman at Mississippi State and started 30 of the 44 games he played, 23 over his last two seasons. He finished his career with 170 tackles, 18.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. As a senior he recorded eight sacks, 43 tackles (13.5 for loss) and was named second-team All Southeastern Conference, and this Saturday night at Jacksonville could be his time to shine.

Thanks to the public bone thrown in his direction by Sparano, Brown gave his first group interview following the afternoon practice and expressed his willingness to contribute on special teams, praising special teams coordinator John Bonamego and just about everybody else. He also is aware of how he won't be able to fly under the radar anymore.

"Anytime the head coach singles you out, good or bad, it's a good deal for you because that means he's really watching you and taking time out to sort through things with you and is giving you a great deal of respect," said Brown, who majored in interdisciplinary studies and is a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala. "There's a little bit of pressure because if you did one play good then he's going to expect more plays to be good, so you have to keep going 100 percent."

Sparano has made it clear that the best players will play no matter when or even if they were drafted and no matter how much money they are making. The fact that sixth-round draft choice Donald Thomas, who didn't even play football in high school, is lining up with the first unit at right guard is one prime example, with Tuesday's decision to release eighth-year veteran kicker Jay Feely and give the job to undrafted rookie Dan Carpenter another one.

Brown is battling with the likes of Junior Glymph, Keith Saunders, Kelly Poppinga and recently signed Maurice Fountain among the backup linebackers hoping to work their way onto the final 53-man roster. Injuries and how valuable any of these guys can be on special teams will be among the determining factors in the minds of the coaches.

"There are some other guys that we're wondering whether or not they can do more jobs right now, we need to see that via the special teams," Sparano said. "Then there's a core of special teams guys that you know you're going to carry to the game at some point that need to play together. We need to get them playing together as well. All of those things are taking place this week."

If things go according to plan against the Jaguars for Brown, he should find himself in high demand again after the game inside Miami's locker room.

WATCHING THE CUBE: Fellow rookies Chad Henne and Jake Long have a rooting interest in the Summer Olympics in Beijing this week, specifically when it comes to the swimming competition inside the incredible Water Cube.

Michael Phelps, who is more than half way to breaking the record for most gold medals by an individual athlete, is from Long and Henne's college alma mater, the University of Michigan, as is Peter Vanderkaay. The two swim for Club Wolverine, and Henne, who was drafted in the second round with the 57th overall pick by the Dolphins, is proud to say he knows Phelps and Vanderkaay.

"Michael and I, we weren't close friends, but I know him and I've approached him and talked to him a little bit," Henne said. "Both of those guys are on campus so it's a great feeling to have guys from Michigan succeeding also. It's great. He (Phelps) is the best in the world and we're all rooting for him to get all those medals."

Just how recognizable is Phelps on campus?

"Everybody knows who he is," Henne said. "He's a humble person. So he goes about his things the right way."

INJURY UPDATE: Anderson is further behind defensive end Vonnie Holliday (hamstring) as far as his recovery and did not even work out with the trainers on the side this afternoon. Sparano believes Holliday is close to being able to return to action, while cornerback Michael Lehan (ankle) continues to progress but has not been able to be removed from the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list.

"We want to see Michael out there, the problem is you have to take this thing a little slow and be cautious of it right now, and see how we get on in this thing here and how it heals," Sparano said. "It looks like he's making great progress right now and I think we're hopeful. I really liked what I saw of him in the spring, so I'm kind of anxious to get him back. In this game you can never have enough corners. They're like tackles. You got to have them and if you have them, you should keep them. Michael did some good things in the spring so he's a guy that we'd love to get a chance to evaluate and see."

FEWER BALLS BEING DROPPED: After chiding his receivers both before last week's preseason opener and after, Sparano has been a bit more pleased with their performance this week since the arrival of Chad Pennington at quarterback.

"I have seen some improvement. In fact the guy that I've seen improvement with, in the last couple of days has been (Ernest) Wilford," Sparano said. "I thought Ernest has caught the ball the last couple of days and you start to feel him a little bit more and he's made a few plays that way. I think the guys have made an effort to catch the ball a little bit better and they've spent some time out here, a little bit extra time that way, but we got a long way to go. We got to get it done in the games."

Pennington, Beck and Henne did some extra work with the receivers after practice while some of the others went over to the fence in front of the stands to sign autographs for the fans that had gathered.

O-LINE GETTING THE MESSAGE?: Sparano's background as an offensive line coach means there is no hiding for Miami's offensive linemen, and his voice can be heard loudly and clearly on the practice field. He has been critical of the line for a reason, because he has a high level of expectation.

"I want them to finish blocks. In this game you got to finish blocks. I don't really like touchy-feely," said Sparano when asked what it is that has raised his ire of late. "I like people that run across the ball and get on the other side of the football and can make some noise that way. I've tried to make them understand that. That's where we want to be, they're starting to get there, I see it. I do see improvement in that group, I really do. They're starting to get it a little bit but you got to remind them, that's my job. If I see something wrong out here in any place on this team my job is to try to fix it and I'll get in the middle of it to do that."

DOLPHINS TIDBITS: For the first time since he arrived in South Florida, Pennington faced a bit of adversity on the practice field. The 32-year-old struggled for the first time in 11-on-11 drills, completing just 6-of-21 passes with two interceptions, although one was not at all his fault. He floated a perfect pass to tight end Sean Ryan in the left corner of the end zone and the ball hit Ryan in the hands, bounced up and landed in the hands of safety Courtney Bryan ... Henne wasn't much better, going 7-of-15 ... Josh McCown was 3-of-5 on five snaps running the scout team and John Beck was 3-of-6 in six snaps, with one bad snap out of the shotgun that he chased down and then threw out of bounds ... Cornerback Will Billingsley picked off the final pass of the day from Pennington in the right corner of the end zone ... Tomorrow marks the official end of the portion of training camp open to the public, with two practices scheduled at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Only the morning practice is scheduled to be outside and open to the public. The Dolphins will leave for Jacksonville on Friday afternoon and their next home preseason game is Aug. 23 against the Kansas City Chiefs at Dolphin Stadium.

[Sunstroke]

Henne needs to sit this year before we screw his head up just like we did Beck's.

Aside from general skull shape, I see very little in common between Beck's and Henne's head... Henne reminds me of a young QB, while Beck reminds me of Tweak from South Park

Either McCown or Beck needs to be the primary backup.

Have you seen anything from Beck that leads you to think he'd even be qualified as a backup? Sadly, I should ask that about McCown as well.

Henne pretty much has to be prepared as our #2, because if Beck or McCown end up under center, we're going to feel way too much deja vu from last season.

[CF DolFan]

Aside from general skull shape, I see very little in common between Beck's and Henne's head... Henne reminds me of a young QB, while Beck reminds me of Tweak from South Park

Have you seen anything from Beck that leads you to think he'd even be qualified as a backup? Sadly, I should ask that about McCown as well.

Henne pretty much has to be prepared as our #2, because if Beck or McCown end up under center, we're going to feel way too much deja vu from last season.

This season isn't going to be much different than last season reagrdless of who is in there.

[fyo]

Have you seen anything from Beck that leads you to think he'd even be qualified as a backup? Sadly, I should ask that about McCown as well.

Henne pretty much has to be prepared as our #2, because if Beck or McCown end up under center, we're going to feel way too much deja vu from last season.

If Pennington goes down in a game - and that's not entirely unlikely - the #2 *has* to step in. I don't want Henne to be thrown to the wolves like that. He's too important for our future. Let's not mess this up... (again, I'm tempted to say)