*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Aug 10, 1999
: -- Day 14 - Aug 9th --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The Dolphins had a single practice on Monday afternoon after
taking the day off on Sunday. The most important news to come out of
the practice, however, was not about what happened on the field but
what happened in the training room.
It has turned out that RB James Johnson has NOT torn his
hamstring as was first reported. Now it looks as if he just strained
it and that means that he will only miss 7-10 days of training camp
instead of the 3-6 weeks that was first reported.
While missing 7-10 days still lowers his chances of challenging
for the starting job, that is not nearly as bad as 3-6 weeks would have
been. Most likely, James Johnson will miss the first two pre-season
games, but will return for the third.
In the meantime, Karim Abdul-Jabbar has returned to the
practice field following 3 days off to rest his knee and was impressive
in practice. Also impressive was Terrell Buckley, who picked off a Dan
Marino pass.
In fact, the entire secondary impressed onlookers, shutting
down all the wide receivers on several different plays.
One play in which they didn't shut down Nate Jacquet, however,
was a 50 yard bomb from Craig Erickson. Most of the day, though, the
defensive backs got the better of the receivers.
Also having good days were Dwight Hollier and Bryan Jones, who
each knocked down two passes and Shane Burton, who got in the
quarterbacks' faces a number of times.
Cecil Collins had a mixed day, showing good moves on one run,
but fumbling when hit hard by Dwight Hollier.
All in all, it was a pretty typical practice day with no major
surprises, good or bad.
OUTSTANDING PLAYS:
The big play of the day was Nate Jacquet's 50 yard catch from
Craig Erickson, followed closely by T-Buck's diving interception.
JJ'S COMMENTS:
JJ started his comments on Monday by stating that JJ Johnson
will only be out 7-10 days with a strained hamstring. He went on to
say that while Johnson's injury will hurt his chances, it won't
eliminate him from the running back competition.
JJ also said that the team will not rush to get Yatil Green and
Zach Thomas back in practice and may give each one of them a few more
days off. JJ went on to talk about the fact that the team has a
lighter practice schedule this summer because they've worked on getting
their playbooks down before training camp started and so they don't
have to practice as much during the summer.
ROSTER MOVES:
None reported.
FUTURE EVENTS:
The Dolphins practice twice on Tuesday and twice on Wednesday.
Thursday will be a walk through before the Friday night pre-season game
against the Saints.
INJURY REPORT:
LB Zach Thomas (concussion), WR Yatil Green (sore knee), RB JJ
Johnson (hamstring), TE Troy Drayton (thigh contusion), FB Roosevelt
Potts (calf) and DT Walter Scott (knee) missed practice. Returning to
practice were RB Karim Abdul-Jabbar (knee), RB Juan Johnson (back), WR
Larry Shannon (dizziness), CB Patrick Surtain (hip pointer) and DT
Antoine Simpson (back).
LB OJ Brigance and LB Sammie Burroughs are on the club’s
Active/Physically Unable to Perform List. LB Anthony Harris (groin) is
expected to be out 10-12 weeks as he recovers from surgery performed on
August 3. OT Joe Wong (torn ACL, left knee) will be scheduled for
surgery in a couple of weeks.
EYEWITNESS REPORTS:
Sorry, none today.
My Comments:
There's not much to comment on today. It's good news that JJ
Johnson is only going to be out 7-10 days, but that will still limit
his ability to compete for the starting running back spot with Karim
and Cecil Collins.
As far as the running back derby is concerned, right now it's
really only a two-back race, with Cecil challenging Karim. A lot will
depend on how Cecil performs against real NFL defenses in the
pre-season games.
As to the wide receivers, it looks like Nate Jacquet is still
impressing folks in practice, but he needs to do it on the field
against another team to take the next step.
The defense seems to be fine and it's a great thing to hear
that the defensive backs are practicing so well. Last year, defensive
back play was great overall, but a few breakdowns probably cost the
Dolphins a couple of games. If they can improve their play this year,
even a little, the team will go that much further.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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