*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Aug 19, 1999: -- Day 23 - Aug 18th --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The Dolphins had one practice with the San Diego Chargers on
Wednesday at 4:00 PM PST after a long flight to California from Miami.
When the Dolphins arrived, the Marriott Hotel in La Jolla didn't have
enough rooms ready for them and some of the players had to wait in the
hotel lobby for several hours before they could check in and unpack.
Following the trip, the delay at the hotel and the trip to the
practice facility, the Dolphins practiced with the Chargers. JJ
characterized the Dolphins' practice as "sloppy", but went on to say
that the team was probably not focused after their trip.
During the course of the practice, more players dropped passes
than in any of the previous practices. However, Larry Shannon had a
good day, making a couple of impressive receptions and even throwing a
block or two for the running backs.
WR Oronde Gadsden (back), FB Roosevelt Potts (calf), DE Walter
Scott (knee) did not make the trip to San Diego due to injuries.
However, most of the other players did accompany the team. In fact, RB
JJ Johnson spent Wednesday at the practice field doing sprints while
recovering from his hamstring problems.
And it looks like JJ will meet with rookie Dimitrius Underwood
next week to see what Underwood wants to do this year. JJ has said
that it's all right with him if Underwood wants to sit out this year
and play next year, but nothing has been decided yet.
It's not clear at this point if Tony Martin will be in San
Diego to play the Chargers on Saturday night, but if he doesn't have to
appear in court on Friday, then he will take a plane out to California
and suit up for the game.
OUTSTANDING PLAYS:
The newspapers only reported one catch by Larry Shannon as
outstanding, but Zach Thomas also had an interception and Robert Baker
made a great play on an underthrown pass, coming back to make the
reception.
JJ'S COMMENTS:
JJ said that he felt the team was sloppy and that he hadn't
seen that many dropped passes in any practice all year. However, he
went on to say that it was probably due to the flight and hotel
problems.
ROSTER MOVES:
None today.
FUTURE EVENTS:
The Dolphins practice twice with the Chargers on Thursday and
will practice once by themselves on Friday morning at 11:30. The team
will play the Chargers in their 2nd pre-season game on Saturday night
at 8:00 PM, PST (which is 11:00 PM on the east coast).
Last week, the Saints game was carried in it's entirety by WQAM
over the Internet on RealAudio. This week, they say that they're going
to be broadcasting the Marlins game, but they said last week that they
would drop coverage of the Dolphins game at halftime and they stayed
with the entire game, so WQAM may broadcast it over RealAudio again
this week.
Also, after being told by almost everyone (including DirecTV)
that the Saints game would not be broadcast nationally on DirecTV, it
was broadcast on a tape-delay basis by SportsChannel Florida and was
accessible over DirecTV from New York.
This week, DirecTV has the following broadcast times and
channels listed for the Dolphins/Chargers game:
Sat - 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT on Channel 653 (FoxSports Southwest 2)
Sun - 3:00 AM EDT/12:00 AM PDT on Channel 653 (FoxSports Southwest 2)
Sun - 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PTD on Channel 634 (SportsChannel Florida)
INJURY REPORT:
FB Rob Konrad has sustained some minor irritation to his knee
and sat out Wednesday's practice, but should be back in time for the
game on Saturday. WR Oronde Gadsden (back), FB Roosevelt Potts (calf),
DE Walter Scott (knee) did not make the trip to San Diego due to
injuries. Also not practicing for the Dolphins on Wednesday were RB JJ
Johnson (strained left hamstring) and WR Nate Jacquet (sprained right
big toe), although JJ Johnson did run some sprints on the sidelines.
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 lucky to have two eyewitness reports from the first
practice with the Chargers on Wednesday. The first is from Jason, who
is at UCSD:
I figured I would give you my impressions of the dolphins from my first
look at them. They are practicing against the Chargers at my school and
I was able to sneak over to see them during my lunch break, one word...
impressive. I'll run down my thoughts...
Cecil Collins- Quickest running back by far, they grass was slippery but
it didn't seem to bother his cuts, very quick, worth the excitement.
John Avery- Looked outstanding in practice, feet seemed jumpy, ready to
explode.
Karim- Very steady, body always in balance, no drops.
McDuffie- Glue, this guy caught everything, lost the CB on a deep fly
pattern but was unable to accelerate to the ball, his only missed catch.
Thomas- Very good day all around.
Gadsden- Looked good, his cuts were freeing him well. [Ed Note: This
couldn't have been Gadsden, because Oronde is still in Miami. Perhaps
it was Willie Green]
Yatil- Looked absolutely terrible, was getting stuck on the line during
the initial bump and had trouble pulling away after cautious cuts, made
two good deep patterns though.
Shannon- Very Big, and good hands, used his body great in the drills.
Robert Baker- By far the most impressive of all the receivers, speed and
cuts, and fought for a couple underthrows for catches (see play of the
day).
Z. Thomas didn't show any signs of a concussion, Rogers looked real
good, might become the best of the group this year. The rest of the
linebackers didn't impress, or disappoint.
The D-line dominated. And that is an understatement. Gardner and Mixon
were the most impressive, but Taylor, Bowens and others weren't far
behind, the traction on the grass must have some effect but it didn't
show on the dolphins side of the line, they repeatedly put the Chargers OL
on the ground, keep in mind these are 4/3 on 2 drills.
Huard and Marino looked extremely crisp, Erickson had a problem
getting the ball deep and accurate.
Play of the Day: On Miami receivers vs. SD secondary, Baker beat a
Charger CB deep but Erickson underthrew the ball, Baker came back and as
being pulled from behind to the ground he catches the ball and slams
back into the grass.
Bizzare: After a great catch Lamar was walkin back, when Wanstedt
yelled out "good catch Lamar!" and Lamar didn't turn, then he yelled
"Lamar!" and Lamar kept walking, hmm, bizzare.
Defense unit of the day: The D-line, the secondary from what I saw was
getting beat deep on 1-on-1 drills and the DL was invincible.
Offensive unit of the day: The receivers, if the wideouts play like
this all the time, we shouldn't have a problem scoring, Martin wasn't
here today either.
Summary: Cecil Collins is worth the hype, he looked great, but then so
did Avery.
Needless to say the Dolphins looked real good, but I only get to see
them once a year in person (Raiders game). The crowd was huge, about
400-500 DOLPHIN fans there, they were everywhere, wearing the jerseys
and hats, it was great.
Our second report is from Dorian:
Thought I might be able to contribute a little to your web page. I was
able to stop by the Dolphin/Chargers practice on the way home from work.
I'm not familiar with all of the Charger lineup so I have substituted
jersey numbers when necessary. Unfortunately, I showed up about 35
minutes after the practice started. Here is what I've got:
Chargers offense vs. Dolphin's defense - (Plays are numbered sequentially):
- Gardener jumps offsides
- Zach Thomas stops Jermaine Stevens on a run up the middle; Stevens
gets 2-3 yds
- Pass to RB out of the backfield who was immediately met by Patrick
Surtain; gain of 7 yds
- Bynum breaks out right on a sweep and goes about 20 yds untouched
(not sure where the D was on that play)
- RB (No.43) goes up the middle and is immediately wrapped up by J.
Clements
- J. Stevens goes up the middle and is stopped by R. Owens; 3 yd gain
7-on-7 drills start:
(I have moved to the other side of the field to observe the offense.
Announcement over the intercom that Zach has nabbed an interception in the
7-on-7!!)
In this drill players are constantly run in and out of the lineup.
- Erickson completes a pass to Drayton in the flat who is immediately met
by a defender; minimal gain
- Gonzales passes to Jamie Reader out of backfield.
- Marino passes to a receiver on an out pattern; pass is well placed
but dropped
- Huard passes to McDuffie; 7 yds
- Marino takes the snap from the shotgun and has to scramble (looks
kind of like Robocop when running), is able to dump the pass off to Avery
- Marino connects with McDuffie on an out pattern; 10 yds
- Huard overthrows Avery on another out pattern
- Huard connects with Avery on yet another out pattern; 5 yds
- Erickson completes a 7 yd pass to McDuffie with two defenders within a
oot of him (O.J.)
- Erickson badly overthrows Larry Shannon in the flat; Shannon was wide
open
- Marino tosses to L. Thomas in the endzone but Thomas bobbles and
drops it
Line of scrimmage is moved to 15 yds outside the opponents endzone:
- Marino dumps a screen pass to C. Collins (who looks very impressive
running up the field)
- Huard connects on a TD pass to Hunter Goodwin
- Huard runs
Line of scrimmage is moved to 20 yds outside the opponents endzone:
- Erickson's pass is broken up in coverage; this would have been
interference in the game as the DB connected a moment before the ball
- Erickson overthrows Avery on an out pattern
Line of scrimmage is moved to 5 yds outside the opponents endzone:
- Marino throws to McDuffie; ball is on target but is dropped
- Marino rifles one to Willie Green in the endzone; ball is perfectly
thrown but dropped
Line of scrimmage is moved back to the Dolphins 25 yd line:
- Dan connects with Willie Green on a 10 yd up and out
- Abdul-Jabbar breaks right off-tackle and goes untouched down the field
(great run!)
- Huard tosses to No.1 in the flat; short gain (guesses on who No.1 is?)
- C. Collins runs off-tackle for a tough 5 yds
- Juan Johnson sweeps left for no gain
- Marino hands off to Avery who hits the hole fast (finally!) and takes
it 20 yds down field before being contacted
- Play-action to Parmalee (nice fake) but the subsequent pass to L.
Thomas was overthrown
- Huard attempts a 5 yd pass to Drayton which is dropped
- Huard to McDuffie is incomplete
- Huard completes to Drayton on an 8 yd out play
- Erickson scrambles (shows good presence on this play) and connects
20 yds down the middle of the field to Robert Baker
- Erickson sacked (kind of balances out the previous play)
- Erickson, from the shotgun, completes to Avery 8 yds down the
middle; Avery immediately tries to spin away from a defender and lands
right in the arms of another one
- Marino overthrows a bomb down the sideline to R. Baker (only bomb
thrown today)
- Marino passes incomplete to L. Thomas
Sides of field are switched and the line of scrimmage placed 20 yds from
the opponents endzone:
(It appears that the offense has 4 attempts from the 20 to reach the
endzone on this drill)
- Marino connects with No.63 on the sideline for 6 yds (I'm not sure on
this jersey number - it is usually Mark Dixon unless I am mistaken
(catching a pass!??!)) [Ed note: It was probably #83 - Hunter Goodwin]
- Abdul-Jabbar goes up the middle for 2-3 yds
- Abdul-Jabbar takes it off the left tackle for 4 yds
- Juan Johnson is stuffed at the line of scrimmage
Ball back to the 20
- Marino zips one to L. Thomas across the middle for 5 yds
- Marino throws a nice low ball to Yatil Green running a curl pattern;
8-9 yds (nice adjustment by Yatil)
- Huard throws to L. Thomas in the endzone but the ball is a little high
and just of his fingertips
- Erickson throws to a covered W. Green; pass incomplete
Special teams drill begins, each field goal unit tries 4 field goals from
the 28 yd line (38 yd kick): Mare is successful on 3 of 4.
And that about sums it up. Marino and Huard both looked good but
Erickson continues to struggle. I was impressed with the little bit I
saw of both Collins and Abdul-Jabbar. They both looked good, but I
think it is time to start Collins in a game to see if he brings that
"umph" he shows in practice. Lamar Thomas and O.J. McDuffie also
performed well, but overall I was annoyed at the number of dropped balls
that should have been caught. Reminds me of some games last year. I
also thought it was interesting to see the Dolphins use so many short
and out patterns. It was almost like watching the West Coast offense in
play.
And by the way, I got a chance to talk to Zach Thomas on the way out while
he was signing autographs for some kids.
Me - "Hey Zach, how is the head feeling?"
Zach - "It's alright. I feel fine."
Me - "Sounds like it. We heard that interception all the way on this side
of the field."
Zach - "Yeah, well he threw it right to me."
Let's hope they throw it right to him all season long.
My Comments:
It sounds as if the team didn't have a very good trip out to
San Diego. That's a long trip and it can be exhausting, especially if
you have to go right out to the field to practice.
I certainly wouldn't want to try it.
And for those who were asking me where the Dolphins are staying
when they're in San Diego, the answer comes to us courtesy of Armando
Salguero of the Miami Herald: The Marriott in La Jolla.
I'm just guessing here, but I'll bet Armando wasn't supposed to
let that little piece of information slip out.
Too late now. Thanks, Armando.
There's nothing else much to say about the practice on
Wednesday, so I'll close this off and post it. There will be more
tomorrow, of course, maybe even including some pictures. Keep your
fingers crossed.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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