*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Aug 13, 1997: -- Day 25 - August 12th, 1997 --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The Dolphins practiced yesterday afternoon after taking Monday
off in the wake of their victory over the Bears on Sunday night. When
they began practice yesterday, they were minus 7 players, who were cut
Monday and Tuesday. These players included former starters Joe Nedney
and Chris Gray and QB Spence Fischer, RB Brandon Bennett, WR Terrence
Davis, CB Melvin Cunningham, and CB Cedric Davis.
These cuts brought the roster down to 74 players, which still
includes the 3 who will probably be put on injured reserve for the
year - WR Yatil Green, WR Kirby Dar Dar and LB Larry Izzo. If these 3
players are put on injured reserve, that leaves 11 players that JJ
will have to cut by next Tuesday.
Here are the critical dates over the next few weeks:
August 19 -- Roster cutdown to maximum of 60 players
August 24 -- Roster cutdown to maximum of 53 players
August 25 -- Clubs may establish practice squad of five players
The cut of Nedney left the club with kicker Olindo Mare' as
the starter. Mare' comes from south Florida and used to dream of
kicking for the Dolphins when he was growing up and now he has a
locker next to Dan Marino in the Dolphins' training facility.
And now that Spence Fischer is gone, Damon Huard is the number
3 quarterback on the roster. However, the odds are that he's more
likely to end up on the practice squad than on the 53 man roster.
In practice yesterday, Fred Barnett returned to full practice
for the first time in several weeks. According to more than one
report, Barnett looked great yesterday and was more than ready to come
back and contribute. According to the Herald today, it's unsure
whether or not Barnett will play this weekend against the Bucs, but he
may see duty in one or two series.
Also returning to practice were WR Scott Miller and CB Sam
Madison. Both players had been out for a few weeks following
arthoscopic surgery, but both are practicing again and are expected to
be fully ready for the season opener on August 31st.
During the practice itself, the Herald says that Calvin
Jackson distinguished himself with an interception on a quick out
pattern and Charles Jordan made a nice catch over his shoulder.
And last (and definitely least), the New York Jets have
already signed Joe Nedney to a contract, less that 24 hours after he
was officially released by the Dolphins.
TODAY'S EVENTS:
The Dolphins are practicing a regular schedule at 2:00 PM this
afternoon and then tomorrow they begin practices against the
Buccaneers at the University of Tampa. Tomorrow's practice will start
at 3:00 PM and then they will practice again on Friday morning at 9:00
AM, all at the University of Tampa.
This is in preparation for the preseason game against the Bucs
on Saturday night in Tampa.
INJURY REPORTS:
As I reported before, Fred Barnett, Scott Miller and Sam
Madison all returned to practice yesterday and Fred Barnett, in
particular, looked very good.
Daniel Stubbs (fibula) returns to running this week and
expects to be back in time for the opener against Indianapolis. Zach
Thomas (fibula) is not yet running, but is off crutches and will not
require any surgery.
The "big three" - Larry Izzo (achilles), Yatil Green (knee)
and Kirby Dar Dar (knee) are expected to be put on the "Physically
unable to perform" list next week so that they won't count against the
number of players on the roster. They probably won't be put on the
injured reserve list until the absolute last minute, so that a
determination can be made as to whether they might be able to play
later in the season.
While it's not likely that Izzo or Green will return, there is
a slight chance that Kirby Dar Dar could be able to play in December,
if his rehabilitation continues ahead of schedule.
EYEWITNESS REPORTS:
Today, I am lucky enough to have an eyewitness report from
Chris Shashaty. Chris was passing through Miami on his way to the
Bahamas (or Bermuda - I always get those two confused) and stopped to
watch the practice yesterday. He phoned in his report to me and here
is a summation of what he told me:
The practice started early yesterday and ran over it's normal finish
time. Chris told me that the team was spending a lot of time working
on the passing offense and that the receivers, as a group, were
particularly impressive.
Also, at the end of practice, JJ kept the defense on the field and had
them running sprints while the offense got to go to the locker room.
He didn't know what happened to cause that, but he said it was a
little confusing, because he thought that the defense looked better
than the offense in the "middle drills", which was run at the end of
practice. Chris said that, for the most part, the defensive line
really pushed around the offensive line and looked very solid. He
specifically mentioned Gardener and Bowens as being very impressive.
On special teams, the Dolphins ran a number of fake punts, with John
Kidd passing the ball from the punt formation. Kidd apparently looked
pretty good throwing the ball.
Also, Terrell Buckley was splitting time with Charles Jordan fielding
punts and practicing punt returns.
In individual performances, Jerome Daniels lined up at right tackle
yesterday and looked very, very good. He was quick on his feet, had
good technique and was able to keep pass rushers off the quarterback.
His long arms and his size helped, of course, but no one got by him at
all during the drills and he also looked good during running plays.
He lined up repeatedly opposite Derrick Rodgers and kept Rodgers out
of the backfield all afternoon.
On the other end of the offensive line, Brent Smith kept getting beat
by Jason Taylor, who was in the backfield all the time. Smith
apparently did not look good at all. Taylor would have had at least 3
sacks had he been allowed to get all the way to the quarterback.
The most standout player, though, was Fred Barnett. According
to Chris, Barnett "was the practice". He had a number of good
receptions and was running crisp routes all afternoon. He looked
outstanding.
Also looking good were Charles Jordan, who beat Tim Jacobs on a fly
pattern; Ed Perry, who clearly is a talented receiver; Brian Manning,
who continues to look good and Lawrence Dawsey, who caught a number of
passes over the middle.
On the other hand, Stanley Pritchett had a tough afternoon, dropping 3
or 4 passes from the quarterback. Also, Bernie Parmalee was writhing
in pain after a hit during practice. This turned out to be a
dislocated finger, and Parmalee came back later.
Both Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bernie Parmalee looked decent during
practice and each broke a couple of runs and Sam Madison was back and
looked a little rusty, but overall played pretty well.
Special thanks to Chris and his efforts while on vacation to
get me this info. If you have info or an eyewitness report to give
me, please let me know.
My Comments:
The thing that is most interesting to me about this practice
session was the observations about Jerome Daniels. Daniels has been
getting bad mouthed all summer by the press and the staff and has been
sitting out part of camp injured.
But now, he seems to have come back and is performing well.
It kind of reminds me of what happened last summer with a young man by
the name of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Remember how "disappointing" he was
and how JJ "almost" cut him last year?
Daniels was considered to be a project from the beginning.
While I'm no expert at psychology, JJ certainly does seem to have a
way of finding out how to motivate people. Perhaps he really has
figured out how to get the most out of Daniels and that's what's
paying off.
The news about Barnett is good to hear. I think that Fred
could be the best receiver the Dolphins have had since - well, since
the early 80s. He certainly has the right attitude.
I'm still shaking my head over the Chris Gray release, but
not in disagreement. I'm just stunned at the swiftness of it all.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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