By BARRY JACKSON
bjackson@MiamiHerald.com

The Dolphins' disappointing start generated plenty of commentary from team alums at Don Shula's and O.J. McDuffie's charity events last week. Ted Ginn Jr. drew derision from several former Dolphins for drops and his penchant for running out of bounds.

``He's an embarrassment and a coward,'' Bob Kuechenberg said. ``He's got alligator arms. It's sad. I don't even know that he has the ability. I haven't seen it.''

McDuffie lamented, ``Every good team has a solid No. 1 receiver, and we have nobody. Just a bunch of twos and threes. Teddy can run, but how much of a football player is he? You either have it or not. Teddy is not as astute a player as I thought he would be. I've seen him go down when nobody is around.''

Jim Kiick diagnosed Ginn's problem as mental. ``He doesn't concentrate. And his route running is not good.''

Mercury Morris said Ginn ``needs to talk to either me or [inspirational speaker] Tony Robbins about becoming enlightened and doing the opposite of the things he thinks are right.'' Mark Duper said he sent Ginn an e-mail, offering tutoring, but Ginn never responded.

``The only way you're going to get better is if you get somebody to come in and work with him,'' Duper said. ``I would do that for him. I wouldn't charge. As far as not wanting to get hit, I could [fix] that. He's got the speed I had when I came into the league. You can't teach that. What you can teach is technique and fundamentals, which he's been missing. I was fortunate enough to have Nat Moore to play with. Ted doesn't have that.''

Still, Duper, McDuffie, Shula, Dan Marino and others said the Dolphins should not bench him.

``No way,'' Shula said. ``If you have a guy with that talent, you've got to give him every opportunity and the time and confidence to do it. He's got all the tools, but he's got to start making those plays he's capable of. Some of the things haven't been his fault.''

Marino's take: ``They need more playmakers [but] Ginn has his place. You have to play him. He was a high pick. He makes some plays, sometimes he doesn't. What are your other choices, really?''

The Dolphins' pass defense also troubled alums. ``Gibril Wilson came with the reputation of being a big hitter, but we haven't seen it,'' Larry Little said.

``The other thing,'' McDuffie said, ``is every other week, there's no pressure on the quarterback. Cameron Wake should be playing more.'' Wake said he had fewer than 10 plays on defense against New Orleans.