Which Dolphins need to play better in practice?

The Dolphins have completed 21 practices since the start of training camp, not counting Sunday's walk-thru practice. The team will play its first preseason game Monday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

And while every player will, no doubt, give all he has in the coming games, Tony Sparano says in my Sunday Dolphins column that not every player on his team gives his all during every practice.

Sparano tells me in the column what he does about those players.

I also speak to a player who admits coaches have confronted him and want him to practice harder. Read the column to learn who the player is. This player has great potential and Miami coaches are doing all they can to milk every ounce of effort from him in practice.

So why is getting the most out of players in practice so important to Sparano?

"How we practice really does affect how we play," Sparano told me. "Some guys have the abitlity to not practice well all the time and play well. But most guys, it goes the other way."

Well, what's the big deal with practice, you might ask, as long as the player is a gamer?

"And people say to me, what do you prefer?" Sparano said. "You prefer the way who plays on Sunday, right? Sure, you prefer the guy who plays on Sunday. But that guy could be a distraction. That guy that doesn't practice well enough during the course of the week becomes a bit of a distraction sometimes.

"My job is to eliminate distractions and that's where I go to confront."

By the way, the column identifies one player that needs to practice better. Can you identify others?

Comments

[TCA]

First

[Despacio]

Will we find out who this mystery player is?

[odinseye]

Deja Vu Baltimore.
Suckers.

Beck's out for the season whether his collarbone's broken or not.
That's OK have no fear Ca-Moron has a plan: Cleo Lemon!

Ozzy Newsome must be sleeping at the wheel. Wake up and smell the stench. The Ravens are one injury away from complete disaster.

Thank God Parcell's and Co. work in Miami.

[Fake GM]

Good article Armando. Anyone who has played a sport competitively knows that how you practice carries over into the game. You dont need to be a pro athlete to realize that.

[GetterDone Phins]

That player is clearly Merling.
He has been confronted by Sparano before about his lazy practice habits.
He does turn it on during a game, but I am with Tony on this one.
Your getting paid to be consistent, and play at a high professional level from the time you walk thru those locker room doors, to all points in between!

Plus you don't want other players thinking they can also slack some in practice and be good enough to pick it up come game time.
Odds are it usually won't happen, very few athletes can do that.

Other guys who may be slacking has been Paul Solai in the past.
Same with Vernon Carey in the past.
Also JT was a slacker in camp in 08, which got him sent to Washington.
I hear JT is committed this time, which is great.
I believe Carey is more up to snuff now too.

I wonder if Carpenter is slacking this camp, hence his kicking being off.

Possible Lionel Dotson, but did hear flashes about him on some days in camp.

Green sounds like he is either not that good or playing 3/4 speed, the way he keeps getting beat in camp.

Maybe some of the rooks too, like Turner, and Vonte Davis are not giving their all yet.

Ya gotta love Sparano's all or none intensity tho. A lot of camps give the vets leeway.
Tony Sparano is the type of coach that demands the best from himself on down to the waterboy.
That my friends will take this franchise far as the years go by.
With Parcells or No Parcells.

Tony Sparano sounds like a a real NFL head coach and a bonafide winner. Glad we ended up with him!

GetterDone Phins

[carlito from golfito]

if this how he talk to Merling, what he say for Jason Allen?

[perspective]

Merling will learn soon enough, nothing in the nfl comes for free. And at first, I thought this was about Roth, until I remembered he doesn't practice at all.

[Stu Pidd.]

My sources tell me that the Slacker is Chad Pennington. Those of us in the know are well aware of his negative attitude toward practice and preparation.
Perhaps w/ the Eagles signing Vick, they will make A.J. Feely available, and we can right the grievous wrong committed when Felly was let go several years ago.

[Tommya]

After watching Hard Knocks, the Bengals clearly need a coach like Sparano to clean that organization up.

Those fools have a FB that reported to camp way overweight at 276 lbs.
And after one week of camp did he lose weight? Hell no... he gained weight and was at 281 lbs. all sloppy fat.

I'm sure Sparano and the Fins would have cut that fool a loooooong time ago.

Good article Mando!!!

[Omar Kooky and Harvey Fialwhatever]

You sed everyone would know Phillip Merling don't be practicing good. We didn't know that. Thanks for the infoemation.

[Willi Chirino]

That was a good article Armando. I read your blog and columns but I also look at the Dolphins website and read what Coach S. says to you guys. None of that was in the transcripts of what he said to the other reporters. Excellent digging.

[FLPD]

As I wrote in your comments section below your column, I love Tony Sparano's combative nature!

Also think you do a great job of uncovering interesting stuff like which player isn't practicing hard enough. That's almost impossible for most anyone to know unless they have sources.

But where's the classic training camp moment? What happened?

[Finheavenblows!]

Other players that need to practice better:

Ernest Wilford
Pat White
Ted Ginn
Shawn Murphy
Dan Carpenter

[phinfan1975]

wow were on the brink of greatness and we get who needs to play better? what about the chip on our shoulder ,jrove needs to impress,ronnie on the brink of mvp year,i got more cmon mando damit

[FinFanEd]

Man I really like Tony and the culture change he is bringing to a team that has needed it for far to long.

[Tony]

Nobody ever seems to mention that a player's poor practice habits impact the player on the opposite side of the line of srimmage. That player is not ready for game day and it is not fair to the other player!!!

[-JP]

anyone know if we will be able to see on tv the jags vs fins game?

[Absolute Combat]

"Nobody ever seems to mention that a player's poor practice habits impact the player on the opposite side of the line of srimmage. That player is not ready for game day and it is not fair to the other player!!!" I totally agree with Tony on this.

[cuban menace]

Ok kids its time to name a "nick name", todays player will be joey Porter, the menace is on line..

[cuban menace]

You know J.Peezy's not one of the smartest guys on the fish..

[carlito from golfito]

I think Vontae Davis nick name to be Tyson because his voice similar to boxer.

[cuban menace]

Carlito, we'll get to Mr.Davis as soon as he's a starter, the nick name game is ONLY for starters and the menace will use these nick names for the up coming season..

[cuban menace]

OK guys only 15 minutes left for the nick name of Joey Porter..

[carlito from golfito]

Sean Smith = stretch
JT = Hollywood

[carlito from golfito]

J Peezy = mouth
Solai = chunk

[phinfan1975]

how bout a nickname 4 cuban menance i got it ass hat perfect

[cuban menace]

Calito, You win with Joey (Mouth)Porter congratulations,But the nick name for me (turd burglar) reflects that I'm gay which I'm not.(not that there's anything wrong with that)

[cuban menace]

Thanks for playing, tomorrow's phin to name a nick name will be Ricky Williams, so every one come up with a perfect nick name for maybe the strangest man that ever put on a dolphin uniform..

[GetterDone Phins]

"Weedy" is what Ricky Williams has always been known by.

[Ace]

Finheavenblows!,

In the previous blog you insult souljabeats and myself. Why do you insult me? Is it because I agreed with souljabeats on the Don Shula story. I had a RRM (Road Rage Moment)when I read the story about Shula and the beers. I was just stating what I would have done if I were in Don's shoes. There are plenty of people that rip on Mando daily and weekly on this blog. I am not one of them. I love the Phins and that is why I come here. Don't judge me and you don't want to start with me. Gop look and you will find many bozos here to pick on. What a pizz ant!

[Finheavenblows!]

Souljahbeats was ripping Mando because he gives us classic moments and talks about brady and tells you stuff like today's blog about Merling not practicing like he should. You have to be on drugs not to appreciate that.

I see plenty of stuff on this blog about who is practicing good and who isn't. I can get that anywhere because the other blogs do the same thing. But Mando gives us that and more. And when you guys rip him for it, you are directly affecting me because it raises the possibility he will stop going the extra mile with the extra stuff.

So shut your piehole. If you don't like it, don't freaking read what the dude writes. He blogs like five times a day. Read the next post. Just don't screw things up for the rest of us.

[Gopts]

i love to see ace retire from blogging and just be a king , sleep,eat and have good time far from us dwcent people like soulj , cuban and me .

[Gopts]

decent people

[Gopts]

Finheaven, also should go in vacation untile football season is over then he can come back .

ps...i a gree with ace on not attacking ace or soulj

[phinfan1975]

finheaven go f yourself and stop blogging u idoit

[Gopts]

and good night to all.
go fins monday.i can't wait to see the first sake by WAKE .

[Ace]

Finheavenblows!.

You insulted me first. I never insulted you. All this anger because I went against Mando one time. I appreciate the work he does and enjoy his blogs, but have the right to disagree once in awhile. "Shut your piehole you say" Why don't make me azzz wipe. Don't even go there punk. Remember you started it pal. Go after all the other fools that dump on mando if you want. Fool!!!!!!!!

[carlito from golfito]

finheaven very too sensitive. I think he have special feeling for mando.

[Gopts]

sack

[carlito from golfito]

Finheaven,

why don't you admit for the only reason you to come here is to cry and complain and look for mando picture at top of page?

[Gopts]

guys, no fighing, it's not good for you .
make love

[C]

Mando is Finheavenblows pimp

[odinseye]

Finheaven

Armando blogs 5 times a day?
Where?

[carlito from golfito]

gopats

I would like to see sack for wake. but also i like to take sake with sushis.

[odinseye]

Finheaven

You sound like a patsy fan the way you wine.

Grow a pair home skillet.

PS: Is Finheavenblows and advertisement?

[Gopts]

carlito.you starting to sound funny at last .
god bless you and all.
why pork meat test like sh..t ?i just ate it for the second and last time in my life,now i know why it's so dam cheap,may e b/c it's the only animal who let his feamle mate w/ any pig in the middle their waste

[odinseye]

Ace

Be careful what you say. Armando's been covering the Dolphins for years. He's dealt with the likes of Don Shula, Jimmy Johnson, Parcell's and Sporano. If we give him too hard of a time, he might not go that extra mile.

Finheaven I'll bet you Armando's even laughing at your wimpy post.

[FPLD]

Ace

No problem I guess...but was it bad what I said? You do know the number of fools on here that rip him all the time and it is not me.
I can see finheaven sitting on the toilet waiting for Mando to tell him which hand to use to wipe with.

[carlito from golfito]

Its ok finheavenblow (don't understand name, you can explain for me?) we forgive you. As long as you dolphins fan, you are ok. Who you want to watch most on monday?

[odinseye]

Finheaven?

Finheaven?

God I hope we didn't push him over the edge.

[Gopats]

why the best names like Finheaven belong to most idiotic people ? and a name like odinseye belong to the most beautiful .

[M]

notice how nj not here?

[odinseye]

Gopats

Your making me blush.

[odinseye]

**Meaningless Predictions**

Henne: 3 scoring dives. 1 through the air.
Grove: Plays like a Mad Man!
Clemons: Int.
Smith: Int.

[Finheavenblows!]

I intend to crap Ace after breakfast.

[Finheavenblows!]

Hey phinfan1975, it's 2009 you tool. How about getting rid of the polyester bellbottoms and getting with the new century.

[klndry]

Practise makes perfect. It also creates team unity and spirit. It is tough to say that practise would affect a professional athlete because they are paid to be their best.

It is absolutely amazing to me that these guys show up overweight and out of shape with a lazy attitude. They risk not making the team, not playing the game and giving up some very lucrative options.

To a guy that lays bricks everyday or grinds it out in a bank, we all feel they have it made.

So Sparano can cut any lazy butt he wants. I don't blame him and we don't need them.

[Cuban Monarch]

"Hey phinfan1975, it's 2009 you tool. How about getting rid of the polyester bellbottoms and getting with the new century."

Finheaven you are the tool. Please go away, no pencil necks allowed. You are becoming like justin bad move

[Jason]

anyway, what about tonite's preseason game?

[Jason]

one of you had asked and I know that the game will be shown on nfl network at 11:00 tonite..