Dolphins Training Camp, Day 17: Brandon Marshall bounces back

The Dolphins hit the practice field twice earlier today. And the nightlight of the day involved another punt...by another player who is not Dolphins punter Brandon Fields.

Marshall getting back to normal self
The talk of the past couple days has been about Brandon Marshall's sudden case of the "dropsies" and his infamous punt of a ball that he dropped in practice yesterday that would have been a touchdown. Today Marshall bounced back, catching 3 of the 4 passes thrown his way during team drills in the morning practice. After one of his catches, one that resulted in a touchdown, Marshall took the football and punted it again - perhaps making a statement to those who were in attendance. Omar Kelly believes he may have been making a statement to the media - his way of telling them they are making too much over nothing.

In between practices, the media asked Tony Sparano about Marshall's punting display. Sparano must have missed the incidents, though:

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no idea."

"I didn’t see it, but I got bigger fish to fry than to worry about that. If he drops them and he gets pissed off at himself about dropping them, I’m OK with that."

Considering they happened right on the field and everybody else seemed to notice, I doubt Sparano has no idea about what happened. I think he's just trying to put out this small media fire before it gets out of control.

The Sun-Sentinel's Ethan Skolnick, like many of us, is wondering why this is even a big story - writing that Marshall is just showing that he cares. And Ethan's right. I'd be more worried if Brandon didn't care about his drops.

Marshall's teammates seem to be having fun with this punting trend as well. Brandon reportedly also looked much better in the evening session, too. But that didn't stop Vontae Davis from poking some fun at the situation.

Davis, after breaking up a pass in the evening session intended for Marshall, promptly picked up the ball and punted it up into the air. Afterward, Vontae explained:

"He knows how to push your buttons. Now I do the same thing, I try to push his buttons. It's camp. We're trying to have fun."

Clearly the team is having fun with this. Most would agree that too much is being made of Marshall's drops and of the post-play punts. And you can count me as one who agrees with Sparano - I trust that Marshall will make these plays when they count. He's done it time and time again in Denver. That's not going to chance in Miami.

Camp Quick Hits

• Nate Garner is expected to be out for 4 to 8 weeks after having surgery on his foot last week. He's a big loss but the line has the depth to survive for the early part of the season.
• The starting offensive line might be taking shape. We'll probably know for sure after Saturday's preseason game. But right now it's looking like Richie Incognito will start the year as the first-team left guard, Joe Berger at center, and rookie John Jerry at right guard. Jerry even lined up with the first team in the evening session despite having a slightly hurt leg or knee.
• Channing Crowder sat out of the evening session but it's unknown what might be bothering him.
• Patrick Cobbs and Tim Dobbins have been practicing. Hopefully they will be able to get some work in on Saturday.