Miami Dolphins In Depth

Quickie camp post for Wednesday afternoon

Today was not exactly a stellar day for Miami's quarterbacks but if you're evaluating man versus man versus man, David Garrard versus Matt Moore versus Ryan Tannehill, the advantage again went to Garrard with Moore and Tannehill struggling behind him.

More on that in a few paragraphs ...

First the news: Brian Hartline (calf) and Clyde Gates (hamstring) did not practice today. Rookie Kelcie McCray (broken foot) was scheduled for surgery today.

The Good: The starting safety duo of Reshad Jones and Jimmy Wilson is being asked to come up with turnovers this season. They need to make plays, which the deep secondary for the Dolphins has done very little of in recent years. Wilson picked off Ryan Tannehill today and Jones picked off Matt Moore.

The Bad: Matt Moore threw two interceptions (by Reshad Jones and Anderson Russell) and fumbled on a strip sack by Randy Starks. I asked Moore how he's evaluating himself so far among the QBs. "I'm in the middle somewhere," he said ... Reggie Bush had two fumbles today, one on a rush and one after making a reception.  

The Ugly: Chad Johnson painted his fingernails black. Some of you may dig that kind of thing but I guess I'm not hip like that. Johnson said it had to do with him working with KISS rocker Gene Simmons on some song. I have no clue if he was being serious. Coach Joe Philbin? "In what was probably the wisest approach of the day, he said, "Certain things are important to me ... that's not one of them." Philbin then added, "He should have used light blue or something." 

Special teams note: Davone Bess, Marcus Thigpen and Reggie Bush are taking most of the punt return repetitions at this point. Thigpen is also taking kickoff return reps so the door is open for him to make the team on special teams if he can show that he's actually, you know, special at returning kicks.

The quarterback battle: If the season started tomorrow, I assume coaches, having seen the same thing everyone else has so far, would go with David Garrard as the starter. Obviously, the season does not begin tomorrow. Games will be important and Moore is a so-called "gamer." So we shall see.

Moore has been inconsistent and Ryan Tannehill, spectacular his first couple of days, came back to Earth today.

Let me give you a taste based on team drills.

First team offense versus first team defense:

Garrard complete to Reggie Bush who beats Vontae Davis one-on-one, but Davis strips the ball for a fumble.

Garrard complete to Legedu Naanee for 12 yards.

Garrard incomplete when Roberto Wallace drops a pass.

Garrard to Davone Bess for 8 yards.

Garrard incomplete

Third team offense versus second and third team defense:

Tannehill incomplete.

Tannehill to B.J. Cunningham in flat.

Tannehill to Cunninghamfor 20 yards.

Tannehill to Rishard Matthews for 18 yards.

Tannehill to Michael Egnew in the flat for 4 yards.

Two minute drills to end the practice ...

First teams:

1-10-40 -- Matt Moore to Anthony Fasano for 5 yards

2-5-45 -- Moore incomplete.

3-5-45 -- Moore to Davone Bess for 8 yards.

1-10-47 -- Moore to Marlon Moore for 9 yards against Vontae Davis.

2-1-38 -- Moore incomplete

3-1-38 -- Moore to Chad Johnson for 18 yards.

1-10-20 -- Moore incomplete.

2-10-20 -- Moore incomplete (Charles Clay drops a potential TD pass on skinny post)

3-10-30 -- Moore incomplete.

Second team two-minute:

1-10-40 -- False start.

1-15-35 -- False start.

1-20-30 -- Garrard incomplete when Clay drops a 20-yard gain.

2-20-24 -- Garrard scrambles for 6.

3-14-31 -- Garrard complete to Julius Pruitt for 8 yards.

3-24-21 -- (situational repetition) Garrard 79 yard pass to Roberto Wallace down right sideline for a TD.

Chad Johnson, by the way, spoke the media for the first time since camp opened. It was, shall we say, different. He's engaging, entertaining, enlightening and potty mouthed -- yeah, he uses curse words easily, I don't know if it's for effect or not.

Anyway, the audio is below. I must warn you, this is not suitable for youngsters. It is very much R-rated material. I do not recommend you listen to this at work. It contains foul language. It could be considered offensive to some.

Chad Johnson's first Dolphins presser

 

 

 

Things to look for as Dolphins camp starts Week 2

The Dolphins are back today after getting their first day off since the start of training camp. Some things to watch:

Brian Hartline: Will he return to practice? He's been nursing a calf injury and missed all but one day of practice. On Monday he said he wasn't going let the pressure of getting back prematurely bother him, but make no mistake, the pressure is there. Simply, the coaching staff wants to see him practice to get a comfort level with him because it hasn't seen him very much based on the fact they're new and Hartline missed much of the offseason work as well with the calf and appendectomy.

[Update 1: Hartline is not practicing.]

[Update 2: Safety Kelcie McCray, who left practice Monday, tweeted early this morning that he broke his foot and will have surgery today.]

Eric Steinbach: Will he see movement? He's played every one of this 124 NFL starts at LG. He was working at LG on the second unit all of last week except for a couple of periods on Monday. But as everyone knows, Miami's need is at right guard. So is the get acquainted period that coach Joe Philbin discussed over? Will Steinbach get more RG work today so that he can begin to mount a challenge to Artis Hicks for the starting job? Or does he stay at LG, get promoted to first team and Richie Incognito get moved to RG, which is his more natural position anyway?

[Update 3: Steinbach is working with the second unit and is still at LG.]

Ryan Tannehill: Today will be his first day in full pads. It doesn't really matter from a contact perspective because quarterbacks don't get hit in practice. But it could matter for the Dolphins if they're going to let him take first-team snaps and actually have an opportunity to mount a campaign to become the team's starter. If, if, if, if, the Dolphins are serious about letting Tannehill win the job, today could be key because today could be his day to get first-team snaps.

[Update 4: Not today. He's working primarily with the second unit.]

Clyde Gates: I have serious doubts about this cat. I don't know if he's tough. I don't know if he knows the plays. I don't know if his speed translates to this level. He missed a day of practice with a hamstring tweak. Does he shake it off and get right back into today? Or does he allow himself to cruise a little? We'll see.

[Update 5: Gates is not working during the early part of practice.]

Chad Johnson: He's scheduled to speak with the entire media corps for the first time since camp opened. Will he be humble? Will he be boastful? Will he throw the Patriots under the bus for his inability to get on the field last year? Will he have outlandish predictions? Will he even do the availability as promised? It's all unpredictable with Johnson.

Jamaal Westerman: Miami's vision for him initially was as a solid special teams contributor and backup defensive end. Except that the first four days of practice he showed impressive pass-rush skils -- albeit against mostly second-team personnel. So does the coaching staff react? Do they introduce Westerman into the competition for starting defensive end by letting him take some first-team snaps? Do they watch him more closely in the competition for pass-rush personnel? The competiton between Jared Odrick, Olivier Vernon and now Westerman got a lot more interesting last week. Let's see where it takes us this week because, after all, Westerman can't afford to let up as consistency is important.

[BLOG NOTE: I'll have the practice and interview update early this afternoon so make sure you come back for that. If you're looking for realtime updates, follow me on twitter. That's @armandosalguero.]