*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Aug 16, 1999
: -- Day 20 - Aug 15th --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The Dolphins had one practice session on Sunday that consisted
mainly of long passing situations for both the offense and the defense.
JJ was disappointed with the coverage breakdowns in the pre-season game
on Friday night and spent most of the practice on Sunday working on
those aspects of the game.
The team worked in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets in brutal
heat on Sunday. They'll work out twice on Tuesday and then, following
the morning practice on Tuesday, the team will fly to San Diego to
practice with the Chargers.
The biggest news of the day was that Karim Abdul-Jabbar sat out
the day with a sore knee after Friday night's loss to the Saints. This
allowed Cecil Collins to get extra work with the first team offense and
that meant more chances for Collins to impress onlookers - which he
took advantage of.
Other players having good days were CB Emmanuel McDaniel, CB
Ray Hill, S Reyna Stewart, WR Larry Shannon and WR Yatil Green.
Unfortunately, WR Tony Martin did not have a very good day, dropping
several passes and C Grey Reugamer was pushed around in blocking drills
by DT Dwaine Robinson, who is on the bottom of the depth chart on the
defensive line.
Rookie Brent Bartholemew found himself punting alone after the
team waived P Nick Gallery on Saturday. That makes Bartholemew the
starter unless JJ decides to pick up a veteran off the free agent wire
- or unless JJ decides that Olindo Mare' should punt.
Seeing Gallery waived appears to have motivated Bartholemew,
because he had one of his best days at camp so far.
OUTSTANDING PLAYS:
CB Emmanuel McDaniel broke up a short pass to Lamar Thomas that
impressed onlookers, while Yatil Green made a fingertip catch of a Dan
Marino pass. Also, WR Larry Shannon battled FS Brian Walker for a
pass, eventually making the catch.
JJ'S COMMENTS:
JJ was unusually terse in his comments on Sunday, stating that
Karim was out for the day and would undergo an MRI to determine if his
knee was damaged. JJ also said that nothing has changed with the
competition for running back and that Karim Abdul-Jabbar would remain
the starter.
JJ also stated that they were probably not going to bring in
another punter, but that that could change at any moment.
ROSTER MOVES:
The team waived P Nick Gallery.
FUTURE EVENTS:
The Dolphins will practice at 9:00 AM and at 4:15 PM on Monday
and then will hold a morning practice on Tuesday at 11:00 AM. The
Dolphins fly to San Diego on Wednesday and hold their first combined
practice with the Chargers on Wednesday afternoon.
INJURY REPORT:
RB Karim Abdul-Jabbar was held out of practice with an irritated
right knee. WR Nate Jacquet left practice early with a sprained right
big toe. S Shawn Wooden was held out of practice because of an
irritation of his left knee. WR Oronde Gadsden (lower back contusion)
and WR Robert Baker (left hamstring strain) were also held out of
practice. FB Roosevelt Potts (right calf strain) and DT Walter Scott
(right knee sprain) missed practice and are listed as day-to-day. RB JJ
Johnson (strained left hamstring) is expected to be out for another
week. LB Sammie Burroughs (back) and LB O.J. Brigance (back) remain on
the clubĘs 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.
EYEWITNESS REPORTS:
We're in luck today. We actually have 3 eyewitness reports
from training camp today. The first is from Don:
I arrived a little late for practice today but the players were still
stretching.
It was very hot. Practice was in slow motion. Shoulder pads and shorts.
3:30 Walk throughs.
Filed goal tries. Mare was pounding them through from about the 30 -
Sometimes clearing the net protecting the parking lot. Huard was
handling the snaps.
Punts. Gallery was gone and it was just Brent punting. Avery was back
catching some and the first one I saw him try to catch was a drop. He
did catch two more however. Baker wasn't out there today.
The catchers for the warming-up quarterbacks was Yatil for Erickson and
Drayton for Marino.
3:45 Different groups went to their parts of the fields and ran their
drills. I went down and watched the linebackers. Nothing to report. I
saw #56 and thought I had some news for the list. #56 was Dixon Edwards
number, but someone said free agent Clement?? now had that number. (Ed
Note: Jimmy Clements is #56).
4:00 DBs vs receivers.
Marion looked good. [Willie] Green dropped a few and never caught one.
Steagall and Shannon both caught my eye. Shannon caught everything
thrown to him. Marino and Yatil had a nice bomb/TD. Yatil was very
active and seemed to be cutting well. He was running the crossing routes
today. Goodwin had a nice catch on ball thrown high. He made a nice
outstretched catch and then lumbered down the sideline.
4:15 Middle drill. Some runs appeared to be good, but you can't tell
when they aren't hitting. I didn't see Jabbar out there. Parmalee had
a lot of reps. Juan Johnson looked good.
4:30. Too hot - left and passed through the Training camp store. A
jersey(not a real game one) were selling for $134. Yikes!!!
Our second report today is from Charles from North Miami:
The stands were about 3/4 full and the weather great for sunday's practice.
During 1 on 1 passing drill, Tony Martin easily beat Brock Marion by a
full 2 steps and then juggled and dropped the ball. Martin showed great
speed and was getting open deep in practice, but had 2 drops.
Cecil the Diesel Collins appears to be the starting RB and had a great
run in the middle drill. Later he was stopped for no gain by the DL on
2 carries. Zach Thomas practiced and looked good. Parmalee and Juan
Johnson got plenty of carries for short gains.
Coach Johnson spent most of the practice watching the offensive
backfield with a Shula like pose. Arms folded across his chest, serious
and studious face. He would wipe his forehead and glance at the
Assistant Coaches after a bad play. Wannestedt spent most of his time
with the defensive line, but was walking around and talking with the
players.
Passing plays during scrimmage appeared to be a combination of a strong
pass rush and mediocre pass blocking. Trace Armstrong had 2 would be
sacks. Jason Taylor, Mixon, Bromell, Rich Owens and Jerry Wilson all
had sacks, and there were several QB pressures. The defensive line has
improved and Richmond Webb is still holding out.
The play of the day was Marino to OJ McDuffie beating Patrick Surtain on
a great deep route. Later, Surtain made a good defensive play by
breaking up a pass to Willie Green over the middle. Also, Brock Marion
intercepted a pass over the middle with Mixon rushing Huard, and E.
McDaniel broke up a short pass. Craig Erickson was throwing deep and
Yatil Green made a nice catch with a 1/2 step on Buckley. Larry Shannon
was running good patterns and made 2 catches. But he also dropped 2
balls that should have been caught. Ed Perry made a good catch, Hunter
Goodwin had a couple of catches and Troy Drayton dropped an easy pass.
Rob Konrad looks great. He has good hands and is too fast for most LBs,
and towers over DBs. Konrad gives us an extra dimension and could have a
big season. There seemed to be several miscommunications with the
receivers as a half dozen passes were thrown to empty spots. During the
2 minute drill, John Avery made a 10 yard gain on a draw play. Avery
caught a couple of passes both out of the backfield and lined up at WR,
and also dropped a pass.
At the end of scrimmage the players lined up by position and ran
sideline to sideline sprints. Ed Perry easily led the offensive
linemen, and James Brown badly lagged the others. Coach Rich McGeorge
gave him a dirty look.
After practice, OJ McDuffie and Lamar Thomas signed dozens of
autographs. One of the fans asked "who is that skinny player?" as Lamar
Thomas is built like a distance runner. But I give him credit for
making some tough catches and for staying long after practice to sign
autographs for the fans. Someone yelled "hey OJ". Thomas said, "OJ!
Who is calling me OJ? ... of course I'd like to have 90 balls and $4
million." Later someone said, Go Canes. He replied, "Man, that's been a
long time ago. But if they beat Ohio State and win a couple of games,
I'll be back on the wagon." He had a good time talking with the kids and
told the photographer to take pictures of them, not him.
Overall the Dolphins have potential to be a serious contender or could
end up as mediocre, depending on injuries and new players. Cecil the
Diesel has star potential. But can he handle NFL pressure? Let's hope
that Karim's professional attitude rubs off on Cecil. On defense, we
can stop the run and sack the QB. The question is probably our Nickel
passing defense. Madison and Buckley are both good. But opposing teams
are running crossing patterns with 3-4 receivers and creating
mismatches. Special teams could be an advantage with Olindo Mare
kicking and Avery returning. But our punting game needs work. This
should be an exciting and interesting season!
And last, but not least, we have another eyewitness report from
Brian in Port St. Lucie:
Quarterbacks-Dan Marino is a little rusty, but who wouldn't be. Damon
Huard looked ok, but missed the receiver a couple of times. Craig
Erickson missed the receiver almost every time.
Offensive Lineman-Blocking they are solid especially on the run. Pass
blocking seemed to be fine. They were holding back the the number one
defense so they are improved.
Wide receivers-Seemed a little rusty and out of sync. Nate Jacquet was
hurt but should be day-to-day.Tony Martin was a little unfocused, but we
all no why.Rob Konrad seemed to have some good route-running skills
Running Backs- Once again Cecil "The Diesel" Collins gives the ray of
hope to a desperate team that needs a star in the backfield. Rob Konrad
seemed to move the pile against the first string defense in the short
yardage situations. Juan Johnson seemed to be doing really well with
his game. John Avery still likes to dance around the line of scrimmage.
Defensive Lineman-Rich Owens seemed to once again look the best. Jason
Taylor had some hamstring problems but still practiced. Antoine Simpson
seemed to have a lot of trouble and may be cut.
Secondary-Looked sharp and the coverage was very good on the receivers.
Terrel Buckley was great and so was Sam Madison. Shawn Wooden seemed to
be doing well.
Special Teams-Nick Gallery was cut so that leaves Brett Bartholemew who
looks very shaky. Expect Jimmy to bring in a veteran punter. John
Avery fumbled another punt and had to work on his hands with a coach.
My Comments:
The release of Nick Gallery is not especially surprising after
Friday night. It did surprise Brent Bartholemew, but Brent has only
been in the NFL for a couple of months, while the rest of us have been
paying close attention for many years.
Personally, I think that Bartholemew will keep the starting
punter job now that it's his. Any veteran punters that are now
available are likely to be at least as questionable as Gallery was.
The only real alternative to Bartholemew at this point is
Olindo Mare' and while that is an intriguing option, it's not likely to
be a realistic one.
There is an interesting development out of Dolphins camp that
I'm only just now hearing about - Kevin Donnalley may be taking a back
seat to Kevin Gogan at right guard.
I haven't confirmed this yet, but if it's true, it does make a
certain amount of sense. Gogan's natural position the past few years
has been right guard. Mark Dixon is clearly the starting left guard as
long as he stays healthy and Gogan has been to several Pro-Bowls at
right guard.
I wasn't watching that closely, but I believe that Gogan played
a fair amount at right guard on Friday night against the Saints. Also,
JJ has been praising John Bock as Dixon's backup at left guard -
meaning that Gogan isn't needed there.
As for Donnalley - his mentor on the team was Larry Beightol
and Beightol is gone now. Paul Boudreau may have very different ideas
about who to start at guard.
And if that wasn't enough, Donnalley would make excellent trade
bait. Does anyone know where Larry Beightol is these days? Green Bay,
perhaps?
All in all, it's a very interesting development and it will be
interesting to see what happens in the next week and who starts against
the Chargers at right guard.
Personally, I wouldn't mind having Gogan start at right guard
ahead of Donnalley. Donnalley is good, but Gogan is almost certainly
better.
As an aside, when the Dolphins were scrimmaging against Tampa
Bay and Cecil Collins made his 6 yard touchdown run, he went back to
sit on the bench in front of the fan. The first person I saw go up to
him on the bench to congratulate him was Kevin Gogan, who walked over
to Collins and playfully swatted the rookie and congratulated him.
I think that having Gogan is definitely going to be a good thing
for the team.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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