*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Aug 09, 1999
: -- Day 13 - Aug 8th --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The Dolphins had Sunday, August 8th off to rest up after the
scrimmage, but there was a notable development on Sunday. It was
announced that the Dolphins' first pick in this year's draft, RB JJ
Johnson, had torn his hamstring in the scrimmage on Saturday.
Typical recovery time for this kind of injury is 3-6 weeks,
but Johnson's injury has not been fully evaluated yet. If it's a
small tear, then it could heal in as little as 2 weeks or take as long
as 3 months. More details will not be known until he has a full
examination.
FUTURE EVENTS:
The Dolphins will go back to practicing on Monday afternoon at
3:00 PM.
INJURY REPORT:
Yatil Green is expected back on Monday, while JJ Johnson will
be out for an extended period. There is no further word on any of the
other players.
EYEWITNESS REPORTS:
One of the reasons I'm posting this report is that I have two
eyewitness reports that I just received. Both of these reports are
from last week and/or the scrimmage.
The first report comes from Philip and includes Friday
morning. Remember that this is only one practice:
You give a good account of Thursday's practice. Generally, very
lackluster. J. Wilson int. Did not see Zach get hit in the head. D.
Rodgers looks very motivated. Only player to leave full uniform on
during end of practice running. Looks bigger.
Friday A.M (10:45-12:40).: In position to witness offense only. Defense
on far side working against Bucs offense. Torrential thunderstorm at 2
P.M. Field and stands a mess and did not witness P.M. practice.
11:00 A.M. Dolphins intrasquad: Interesting DB drill of bump and then
turn and run and catch a 25yd. pass. Offense passing drill: Generally,
Baker looks better (quicker, betters cuts, mentally appears more into it)
than Shannon. Martin looks very sharp in these drills - one great catch.
Konrad had one easy drop. Y. Green not in uniform - knee taped - Limping
slightly (!)
11:20 A.M.: Against 7 rotating Bucs DBs one on one (minus J. Lynch):
- Jaquet long catch from Marino. Beat his guy easily.
- Baker long (TD) catch from Huard.
- Martin falls incomplete middle route pass from Marino.
- O.J. short out route catch from Marino.
- W. Green come back route catch from Erickson.
- Gadsden great catch over middle despite interference from
Huard. These guys always connect.
- Jaquet short catch.
- Shannon drop. Not a great throw but he just doesn't seem to
go for the ball given his height advantage
- Jaquet nice catch.
- LT short catch.
- Martin incomplete. Good coverage.
- Baker catch middle route from Huard. Baker is very quick.
Good route runner. Active. Looks smaller than O.J.
- Steagall nice long catch in stride from Marino. Steagall
looks recovered. Fast, thick-legged with good hands.
- Martin incomplete.Marino poor throw.
- O.J. short catch.
- W. Green incomplete. Covered well.
- LT short catch.
- Shannon nice come back catch. Long strider. Seems to have his
head down psychologically.
11:40 A.M.: Middle Drill. Tedious cloud of dust drill. Difficult to
analyze. If runner breaks thru generally whistle blows. Coaches obviously intent however.
1. JJJ good run. Breaks thru a few tackle attempts. Defense
(esp. beyond front four) NOT going all out - probably for good reason.
2. Pritchett nice run. SP is back to 1996 form and fighting
hard for a job.
3. JJJ another tough run. I think he has T. Davis type
potential.
4. Collins short run. Note: Every time Collins touches ball
whether he fumbles or not Dolphins fans (most of whom have limited
attention spans and remarkable lack of player personnel knowledge) go
wild.
5. Having said that, nice run by Collins breaking thru.
6. JJJ short run. Stuffed.
7. Ditto
8. Collins stuffed
9. Konrad nice run thru line. Clearly faster than SP.
10. Collins stuffed. YAWN.
11. Pritchett another nice, hard run breaking arm tackles.
11:55 A.M. 8 on 8 formation (essentially no rush and no running plays)
against various Bucs including starters (I live in TB area and am
painfully aware of this team's personnel):
1. Perry short catch - 10 yards from Marino.
2. W. Green. short catch.
3. Huard run (what's he doing?)
4. Parmalee short catch and run.
5. Konrad short screen pass catch and run.
6. JJJ short catch and fall.
7. Martin short catch over middle.
8. LT long bomb catch for what would have been TD from Huard.
Huard has nice touch on this throw. Probably better than 1999 Marino
in this area.
9. Jaquet drop. (poor throw from Ercikson)
10. LT easy drop.
11. Martin nice catch medium route from Erickson.
12. O.J. from Marino. He had 6 recivers in pattern and looked
nowhere else.
13. Shannon GREAT catch from Marino. Went up and got over DB ala
Oronde and then got drilled in the chest and planted in the ground
ala a real game. He held on. Big applause from the crowd. Catch and by
far biggest hit of the day.
Overall, Dolphins receivers consistently beating Bucs DBs but no
pressure on QB. Too bad Baker and Steagall not in this one.
12:05 P.M. - Standard 11 man formations against Bucs defense:
1. Pritchett short catch
2. JJJ short run up middle.
3. Long pass attempt to Martin from Marino.
4. Gadsden drop. Underthrown.
5. Collins nifty 10yd. run (crowd goes wild)
6. Goodwin incomplete. Interference called.
7. Avery short pass from Erickson. Tackled immediately.
8. JJJ nice 8 yd. run outside left.
9. JJJ 5yd run up middle.
10. JJJ short catch.
11. Collins stuffed. Sapp blows up backfield.
12. Pritchett. good hard run for 5.
13. W. Green catch out route catch.
14. Parmalee nifty cut-back run following blockers.
15. Konrad nice run breaking outside a little.
16. Reader short run.
17. Jaquet short-armed drop. Not good.
Again, did not see Baker or Steagall both of whom look very good.
Baker is more versatile. Both look better than Willie Green but
obviously lack experience/S.Bowl credibility. Jaquet makes team for
wing play on special teams and potential. Roster spot hinges on Martin
trial outcome. Dolphins should keep Baker on roster and put Steagall
on practice squad. Potts not dressed. Still, very tough decision at
FB. Barber and Reader have no chance. Barber to practice squad
possibly. Looks like Bernie might get squeezed unless KAJ is traded
for defense or draft pick. OL solid even without Webb.
Charles from N. Miami sends us this eyewitness report of the
scrimmage on Saturday against the Bucs:
Fan Report
Dolphins vs. Tampa Bay
Aug. 7, 1999
I attended the Dolphins -Tampa Bay scrimmage along with my neighbor,
Fred, who was a Defensive Back in college and helped evaluate the
passing game.
There was a good sized crowd at the Orange Bowl on a warm , but
pleasant afternoon. Both teams held out some of the starters. Zach
Thomas, Karim Abdul Jabbar, and Yatil Green did not play.
The controlled scrimmage began with a series of kickoffs. Olindo Mare
was kicking the ball out of the end zone with the wind at his back.
Finally he kicked a ball 8 yards deep into the end zone and Autrey
Denson made a great run cutting across the field out to the 37 yd
line. John Avery returned kicks for the Dolphins.
After the kickoffs the scrimmage finally began. Each team started at
their 35 and had 12 plays to score. Tampa Bay had the ball and the
Dolphins lined up in a standard 4-3-4 defense. The corners, Madison
and Buckley, were man to man and the safeties, Marion and Jackson,
were even about 10 yards deep. Sam Madison made a great play,
fronting the receiver and then breaking in front to intercept. Brock
Marion had an outstanding game at safety with 2 Interceptions, the
first he ran back for what would have been a TD.
The Dolphin's 1st team looked great, but were helped by a lackluster
performance from QB Dilfer. The defensive line was stuffing the run,
and putting pressure on the Quarterback. Bowens and Gardner were
controlling the middle. Brommel and Owens were shuffled in on
passing downs.
Then the Dolphin offense took over with Marino at QB, Cecil the Diesel
Collins at RB, McDuffie and Martin at WR. Cecil the Diesel almost
single-handed marched the team down the field for a Touchdown with
Gogan and Donnalley opening big holes. The crowd was shouting
"Diesel, Diesel!" after each of his runs. He has good size, speed,
and the ability to cut and change gears. His style of running is
somewhat like Thurman Thomas and hopefully he'll shred the Bills and
Jets defense this year! Cecil has the athletic talent. The biggest
question may be whether he has matured since college.
Tony Martin was getting open deep. McDuffie runs great patterns and
is in sync with Marino. Oronde Gadsden makes great catches in
traffic. He seems to be a foot taller than the DBs and looks like
Alonzo Mourning pulling down a rebound. This year the team is deep
at receiver with Lamar Thomas, Willie Green, Yatil Green (DNP), Nate
Jacquet and Robert Baker. The starters will probably be McDuffie
along with Martin and Gadsden.
Eric Zeier led Tampa Bay's 2nd team offense and did look sharp. He
remained calm under pressure and made some precise passes against our
2nd team defense. CB Ray Hill made some good plays. We are thin at
LB with all the injuries. Hollier is a veteran LB, but isn't quite
as fast as Zach Thomas in the middle. The Dolphins 2nd team offense
was led by Damon Huard, who is proving to be a very capable backup QB.
He made several nice passes and scrambles. James JJ Johnson doesn't
have blazing speed, but is big and powerful. On one play he ran
through the middle and knocked the LB backwards.
There was a 50 yard pass by Tampa with Yo Murphy beating E. McDaniel
deep, man to man. But Murphy stutter stepped on his pattern and then
tried to catch up. The pass went off his fingertips, but should have
been a TD. This could be our defensive weakness and we need to keep
pressure on the opposing QB.
The next series Craig Erickson was QB and it was "3rd and 1,000 !"
after a couple of penalties and a slow start. Erickson threw a
beautiful 60 yard pass to Robert Baker. He ran past the DB down the
sideline, the Safety was late coming over, and Baker kept running his
pattern and made the catch for a big gain and an amazing 1st down.
Overall the Dolphins look very good.
The offense has many weapons. Rob Konrad had several receptions and
runs well. Cecil has star potential, Karim is a consistent runner,
and JJ Johnson is a big RB. The offensive line is big and can run
block. Competition is fierce at WR and Marino will have a variety of
receivers to throw to.
The defensive team will be among the best. The DL is deep and strong.
Right now the LBs are thin with injuries, but the starters are solid.
Our starting DBs looked good. But man to man coverage on 3rd down
might be a question on 3 and 4 receiver formations, if we don't
pressure the QB. It should be an exciting, playoff season!
My Comments:
I've said several times that just one minor injury in training
camp could dramatically change the picture of the running back
competition. Well, on Saturday, on relatively minor injury did just
that. With James Johnson's hamstring problems, he effectively loses
any possibility of starting this fall.
That, of course, doesn't mean that he couldn't work his way
into the starting job sometime in the future. But for this fall, his
chances of starting for the Dolphins have just dropped dramatically.
And if that wasn't enough, Cecil Collins is showing all the
right moves.
Having said that, I think it's important to remember past
training camp warriors who turned into duds in the regular season.
Guys like Brian Manning, Charles Jordan and Kirby Dar Dar have showed
great things in the past during training camp and then fizzled out
when the real season began.
I'm not saying that Collins is going to turn out like those
guys. But we need to avoid putting all our hope on one guy. It's a
long season and a lot can happen between now and January.
But it's really a shame that James Johnson had to go down with
an injury right now. He'll rebound, I'm sure, and do well later on in
the year, but the next 3 to 4 weeks are going to be very frustrating
for him.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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