Sparano: Development of Anderson, Moses ‘Critical’

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Sparano: Development of Anderson, Moses ‘Critical’

By Ben Volin | Thursday, August 21, 2008, 01:09 PM

Lawrence Taylor. Willie McGinest. DeMarcus Ware.

Bill Parcells’ teams always feature a fierce pass rusher on the outside.

That’s why Thursday’s practice was so important. For the first time since Aug. 7, all eight outside linebackers were healthy and participating fully.

Joey Porter has been up and down with knee, ankle and back injuries. Vonnie Holliday and Charlie Anderson strained their hamstrings.

On top of that, this is a brand new 3-4 defense. Quentin Moses, Matt Roth and Holliday are learning the transition from pure defensive end to the hybrid end-linebacker position featured in a 3-4.

With so many guys learning the position, and so many guys going up and down with injuries, head coach Tony Sparano said “it’s pretty critical” that Moses and Anderson, listed as backups, develop into serviceable pass-rushers.

“That’s a position where right now you can never have enough of these outside linebackers,” Sparano said at his Thursday afternoon press conference. “Quentin has been the one guy who has been out there each day and has really taken advantage of that. Today was nice to have them all out there on the field, but it is critical and I think at some point they’re all going to have to help us.”

Anderson began training camp as the Dolphins’ starting weakside linebacker, with Porter on the strongside. But with Anderson missing almost two weeks of practice, Porter got switched to the weakside, Anderson got bumped down to the second team, and Matt Roth took over at strongside.

Anderson finally got back on the field today. He had done nothing more than ride an exercise bike since injuring his hamstring Aug. 9 against Tampa Bay.

“I was happy to get Charlie back out there,” Sparano said today. “He’s doing really well right now, did a nice job in his rehab. It’s still a day-to-day thing with him as we go out there, but today was a good day. We were able to get him some work, get him rushing the passer a little bit.”

Moses, entering his second NFL season, has the most to prove. He was the first pick of third round pick in 2007 out of Georgia, but didn’t even make the Raiders out of training camp. Arizona picked him up the next day, but discarded him in October. Finally, he landed with the Dolphins, and appeared in five games with 1.5 sacks last year.

He began training camp at Anderson’s backup at the weakside, but now is listed with the Third Team, and could be in danger of being cut next week.

Sparano said Thursday that Moses has played about 40 snaps in each of the two exhibition games, but Moses does not have a tackle or a sack yet.

“In the first game I thought he probably got a little bit fatigued early in that game, and the second game he played a little bit more under control, showed a little bit more stamina, rushed the passer better early in the game,” Sparano said. Anderson “just hasn’t made a play that way yet, a sack, but he’s around the quarterback, had some good pressures and did some good things that way.”

Cut-down day is Aug. 30. The Dolphins have three days of full practice and two preseason games before then, and each snap will be critical for these linebackers.