*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Aug 28, 1999: -- Day 32 - Aug 27th --
TODAY'S REPORT:
On the first full day when the Dolphins had Tony Martin without
having to worry about whether or not he would play this season, the
Dolphins had one normal practice on Friday as they prepared to face the
Detroit Lions on Saturday night. Tony Martin celebrated his first
full day out of court by catching a deep pass over the middle against
Ray Hill.
During the practice, Larry Shannon and Troy Drayton had big
plays with Shannon catching a deep pass over Terrell Buckley for a
touchdown and Troy Drayton making a one-handed grab that impressed
onlookers. Also having a good day was Derrick Rodgers who showed that
he has learned to cover receivers.
Players having a poor day included Craig Erickson, who had some
trouble on a couple of roll-out plays and Roosevelt Potts, who was cut
by the Dolphins. Potts was signed by the Dolphins in the off-season and
was expected to at least become a steady backup at fullback and possibly
to challenge Stanley Pritchett as the starter. However, Pritchett's
performance in the off-season and the drafting and performance of Rob
Konrad has made Potts expendable.
Mostly on Friday, however, the Dolphins worked on game plans
for the Detroit game. The third pre-season game is typically the one
that the Dolphins spend the most time preparing for and also hope will
be a showcase for the coming season.
This Saturday, the Dolphins will play their first string for
all of the first half and possibly into the third quarter. With the
first cutdown day coming up on Tuesday, when the Dolphins must cut the
roster down to 65 players, this will be the last chance for many
players to show how well they can play.
JJ'S COMMENTS:
Most of the question for JJ on Friday surrounded Tony Martin and
how he felt about having Martin back in practice. JJ responded
predictably, saying that he was glad Martin was back and that he had a
good day of practice. He also commented that Martin might be a little
behind in terms of practice, but that he was not concerned because
Martin was veteran and would get up to speed quickly.
JJ also said that while Martin would help the deep passing
game, the whole team has been focusing on it and that Oronde Gadsden,
Yatil Green and Larry Shannon were all capable of providing big plays.
He went on to put a little pressure on Shannon by saying that Larry
Shannon gets open better than anyone, including Tony Martin. But he
also said that getting open was just one part of the passing game.
Finally, on Roosevelt Potts, JJ said that he released Potts at
this point so that Potts would have a chance to catch on with another
team. He commented that, any other year, the Dolphins would have kept
Potts.
ROSTER MOVES:
Roosevelt Potts was released by the Dolphins.
FUTURE EVENTS:
The Dolphins face Detroit on Saturday night in their third
pre-season game of the year. JJ has said that while winning would be
nice, the only year he had a winning pre-season in Dallas was his first
year there, when they went 1-15 in the regular season. He did say that
he expected the team to be sharper than they've been if only because
they actually plan to face Detroit, unlike previous pre-season games
where the Dolphins just ran a vanilla offense and defense.
The biggest news of the night will be that Yatil Green will
start with Tony Martin at receiver, because of the injury to OJ
McDuffie. If this was a regular season game, OJ probably would be
starting, because he's just got a sprained thumb, but there is no
reason to chance aggravating his injury tonight.
It looks like Green will play 20-25 plays tonight. For Larry
Shannon, he should get a huge chance to prove that he can play in the
NFL tonight as he'll get a big chance to impress with all the injuries
to the receiver corps. If he plays well tonight, Shannon will make the
team. If he keeps dropping catchable passes - he may have to find
himself a new job.
Shawn Wooden is the defensive player who is most on the spot
tonight. JJ has said that Wooden will get the most playing time he has
gotten this summer and that means he'll get a chance to take the
starting strong safety job away from Calvin Jackson.
Karim Abdul-Jabbar will probably continue to start, but I
expect that you'll see a lot of Cecil Collins rotating in and out with
KAJ during the game. Also, you'll see a lot of Rob Konrad rotating
with Stanley Pritchett for the first team.
Once the game is over tonight, the Dolphins will have to decide
by Tuesday afternoon who they are going to cut to reach the 65 player
limit on Tuesday. They will take Sunday off and come back to work on
Monday, but the cuts will probably already have been made by then.
INJURY REPORT:
WR Oronde Gadsden (back), RB JJ Johnson (hamstring), WR OJ
McDuffie (thumb), WR Lamar Thomas (shoulder), S Brian Walker (knee), WR
Nate Jacquet (sprained toe) and DT Walter Scott (sore knee) did not
practice. Gadsden has been practicing on a limited basis and should be
ready next week against the Packers. OJ McDuffie could play if
needed, but will probably sit out of practice until the middle of next
week. There is no word on when JJ Johnson will return.
LB Anthony Harris (groin) is still expected to be out 10-12
weeks after groin surgery, but he could be cut or placed on injured
reserve next week. LB Sammie Burroughs (back) is still on the
physically-unable-to-perform list.
EYEWITNESS REPORTS:
There are no more eyewitness reports this summer, as the
Dolphins have closed practices at the training facility because of
construction.
My Comments:
As I'm typing up this report, the Dolphins game against the
Lions is about to begin and I'm thinking about what I want to see the
Dolphins do tonight. I don't think I'm alone in saying that I'm more
concerned about the offense at this point than the defense, so I'm
hoping for a good performance from the offense tonight.
And unless the Lions have a bunch of big plays against the
Dolphins' defense, I'm not going to worry about the defense at all -
except for Shawn Wooden. It will be interesting to see how well
Wooden performs.
On the offense, I want to see a couple of deep passes by the
Dolphins. And I don't want to just see a couple of deep pass attempts
- I want to see a couple of deep completions. They don't have to
complete a lot of them, but at least two would be nice.
The other thing I'd like to see would be a decent running game,
provided by Cecil Collins. The Dolphins should know that Karim
Abdul-Jabbar is not going to be the future of the Dolphins' running
game and just give Collins the ball and see what he can do.
Otherwise, I just hope that the Dolphins don't make too many
mistakes. By now, the team should be ready to play some football and
too many penalties or turnovers would be an indication that the team
might not be ready to start the season.
It would be nice if the Dolphins won, but it's not necessary.
What is necessary is that the Dolphins first team show that they can
play football at a high enough level to carry this team to the playoffs
this year.
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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