*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Jul 25, 1997: -- Day 14 - July 24th --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The injury bug bit the Dolphins again yesterday, when starting
defensive end Daniel Stubbs broke his leg during practice. The injury
is not considered that serious and Stubbs will sit out the rest of
training camp, but should be ready to start against the Colts on
August 31st.
In place of Stubbs, rookie defensive end Jason Taylor will
start at right defensive end. JJ did say that Taylor is playing the
run better than either Stubbs or Armstrong, but that may be a bit of
an exaggeration.
Stubbs is expected to recover quickly from the break in his
left fibula, which is the non-load-bearing bone in his lower leg. In
fact, Stubbs got up after he broke the bone and walked to the
sideline. He thought it was just a sprain and he walked around the
hospital while waiting for the X-rays to develop.
If that wasn't enough, rookie James Dye tore the ligament in
his thumb and will require surgery. Dye will be out indefinitely.
Also, wide receiver Fred Barnett sat out of practice with a
sore knee. The knee is not damaged in any way, but JJ doesn't want to
take any chances with one of his wide receivers and is holding Barnett
out to allow him to rest.
In addition to giving Jason Taylor more playing time at
defensive end, defensive tackle Shane Burton will also get more
chances to line up at defensive end. It was hoped that Burton would
get to play more at defensive tackle, but he hasn't been practicing
all that well at that position and the Dolphins need help at defensive
end.
In practice yesterday, Scott Miller leaped over the head of
Tim Jacobs to make a terrific fingertip catch. Unfortunately, his
coworker Charles Jordan made a mistake running a pass pattern and had
to run it again. When he repeated the pattern correctly, he then
dropped a Dan Marino pass.
Praise continues for Norman Hand, who has solidified his
position on the defensive line this summer after having had an almost
invisible year last year.
Missing practice yesterday for personal reasons were Dan
Marino, John Kidd and Trace Armstrong. All are expected to
participate in the Green Bay game on Saturday.
TODAY'S EVENTS:
The team will be traveling to Green Bay today in preparation
for their first pre-season game. The game will be played tomorrow at
6:30 PM EST and will be broadcast on a 1 hour tape delay on WFOR in
Miami and on Sportschannel Florida.
INJURY REPORTS:
Daniel Stubbs broke his leg and will be out 3-6 weeks. Rookie
wide receiver James Dye tore a ligament in his thumb and will be out
indefinitely.
TE Troy Drayton (ankle) and OT Jerome Daniels (ankle) both sat
out yesterdays' practices and will miss the game on Saturday. Drayton
is expected back next week.
Kirby Dar Dar, Larry Izzo and Yatil Green are out for the rest
of the season.
EYEWITNESS REPORTS:
We do have one eyewitness report today from Scott Dean:
* Sims is blocking well on the second team. The others on the second
team do not look too good, but I keyed on Sims. He's still good.
* Webb is an animal. Awesome pass blocking, even on Jason Taylor...
Taylor's tall, lanky, has leverage, and would be a nightmare to block
for most others
* Armstrong was in practice on Wednesday...He only left about 45 minutes
early
* Charles Jordan is holding onto some balls...I'm fairly impressed.
Scott Miller got thrown around a bit, the crowd noticed. Manning's good,
but did drop an easy one. OJ had a great catch in tight double coverage
(Marino throw).
* If Dan gets hurt, Erickson will do well...I think he would be a starter
elsewhere
* Shane Burton is Big...and SLOW
* During first team practice, defenders were running by Jeff Buckey
before he could get out of his three point stance...Webb had to block
for both of them, more than once.
* Barnett could be the go to guy for deep threat...I don't know why no
one is talking about him.
* Truly, Dolphins are at best 9-7 this year, possibly 8-8. They are
still missing the rest of the line (mostly offensive, but also
defensive). But it's going to be a fun year.
My Comments:
Argh.
Notice, please, that this is just a small "argh" when compared
with Yatil Green's injury. First of all, Danny Stubbs will return in
4 to 6 weeks and will probably be ready for the first game against
Indy.
Secondly, Stubbs was not the most effective player on the
defense. Oh, he was decent, but it's not likely that he would have
gone to the Pro-Bowl this year.
And third, this will give Jason Taylor a chance to show what
he can do. Taylor will get even more attention than he has been
getting and more chances to play, learn the defense and get acclimated
to his new job. Taylor was already going to play in the defensive
line rotation, but this will definitely give him a chance to get some
quick experience.
There is no injury to Fred Barnett, but I can see why JJ is
holding him out. With all the injuries going around, it makes sense
to allow him to rest his knee.
As for James Dye, I had hopes that he might turn out to be a
serious punt returner, but it looks like his career might have just
come to a premature end. However, he might wind up on the practice
squad.
I hope to find time to post a preview of the game, but I'm
dragging my butt to New York tomorrow, so I may be a little busy
tonight.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New England
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