A Phinsider Look at Training Camp (Day 8)

It was an overcast day in Davie, Florida. Chad Henne looked to continue having a good week of camp, players like Reggie Bush, Matt Moore, and Jason Taylor sought out to make a strong impact on the field, and incoming rookies were ready to show the coaches and the fans why they deserve to be on "The 53." Once again coach Sparano had practice be played on the farthest field from the stands which irritated a few fans, but you know what they say "The show must go on." Let's take a look at how the Phins did on their 8th day of practice.

TEAM DRILL:

The ball was placed on the 15-yard line and most of the plays used were runs with only a couple of passing plays in between.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne went 0/2 as he incompleted a pass to Brandon Marshall and fumbled a snap. Not the way you want to start if you’re Chad Henne.

Matt Moore:  Moore’s first and only pass was deflected by Jared O’Drick and ruled incomplete.

Pat Devlin: Once again the QB spot didn’t impress much as Devlin’s only appearance on the team drill was wasted on a fumbled handoff to Daniel Thomas.

Kevin O’Connel: Did not throw during the drill.

(For those who are curious, both Henne and Moore played against the 1st team defense as Devlin and O’Connel played against the 2nd team defense throughout the whole day)

RUNNING BACKS:

Daniel Thomas: was handed the ball three times, each time getting about 7 yards on the carry.

Reggie Bush: Had just one carry, which earned him a 15-yard pickup.

7 ON 7:

A good variety of players made a strong impact on "7 on 7’s," a couple may even surprise you.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne had a decent drill as he went 3/8, completing a 10-yard pass to Davone Bess, a 13-yard check down to Reggie Bush, and a 20-yard TD strike to Charles Clay. As for the for the incompletions, Henne was sacked, Roberto Wallace dropped a very catchable touchdown pass, Vontae Davis broke up a pass in the end zone, and the last two were simply bad throws.

Matt Moore: Moore had a nice drill going 4/5 with two TD’s, one to Charles Clay for 15 yards and the other to Davone Bess for 18 yards.

Pat Devlin: Devlin didn’t see much playing time on "7 on 7", going 2/3 with a check down and a 15-yard strike to Edmund Gates over the middle.

Kevin O’Connel: O’Connel went 1/2 throwing a beautiful 20-yard pass to Derick Epps for a touchdown.

WIDE RECEIVERS & TE:

Davone Bess: 10 yard pass over the middle from Henne, and a bullet pass from Matt Moore for a touch down.

Edmund "Clyde" Gates: 15-yard catch on the right sideline from Pat Devlin.

Charles Clay: Clay continues to impress everyone at camp. During "7 on 7’s" Clay cought 3 passes: one 15-yard TD pass from Moore, another TD from Henne, and back to Moore for a nice 10-yard catch, more from him in a bit.

11 ON 11

Once again, the "11 on 11" drill was the most anticipated moment of the day. The ball was spread out nicely and a handful of players made great attributions.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Strangely, Henne didn’t get much time on the "11 on 11," going 1/2 with a 15-yard scramble which had the fans in applause, a 20-yard pass to Brandon Marshall, and a sack from Paul Soliai.

Matt Moore: Moore continued to have a good practice going 2/2 with 2TD’s, one to Marlon Moore for 22 yards and the other to Lousaka Polite for 20 yards.

Pat Devlin: Devlin threw just one pass for a 13-yard gain to TE Mickey Shuler.

Kevin O’Connel: Like Moore, O’Connel also only threw two passes, coincidentally both going for touchdowns. One went to Phillip Livas for 10-yards and the other was a fade to Brandon Marshall who made a remarkable catch over Rashad Jones.

RUNNING BACKS:

Reggie Bush: Surprisingly, the Brandon Marshall catch was not the play of the day; Reggie Bush earned that honor (to be continued). As for the rest of the drill, Bush had a nice 8-yard touchdown.

WIDE RECEIVERS & FB:

Brandon Marshall. Received a nice 20-yard strike from Chad Henne and also had a sensational grab at the corner of the end zone.

Marlon Moore: 22-yard touchdown from Matt Moore.

Lousaka Polite: Unexpectedly had a nice 20-yard touchdown catch which had the crowd in laughter and surprise.

2-MINUTE DRILL:

On Wednesday the 2-minute drill turned out to be the most exciting drill of the day, would this one be the same?

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: For the past 3 days it seems as if Henne has been stepping up to the plate during the hurry-up offense, and I am glad to say he didn’t disappoint today either. Henne went 4/6 with two passes to Davone Bess (one for 5 yards and the other for 15), one 12-yard pass to Derick Epps, and finished it off shotgun pass to Roberto Wallace for 30 yards.

Matt Moore: Moore wasn’t able to get the time he wanted for the 2-minute drill as he only threw 3 passes. Two of them were incompleted (one was dropped by Julius Pruitt) but did execute a fantastic screen to Daniel Thomas that went for 30 yards.

GOAL LINE DRILL:

Players were lined up at the 5-yard line and had to punch in the ball anyway they could.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne had a couple of TD’s on this drill, both to TE Jeron Mastrud.

RB’s & FB’s:

Kory Sheets: 5-yard touchdown run from Sheets.

Lousaka Polite: 5-yard touchdown run from Polite.

Nic Grigsby: Punched in 2 TD’s on this drill.

D-Line: 4 stops.

Surprise of the Day:

I’m happy to say we have two surprises of the day.

Matt Moore: Moore had a great day of practice going 8/12, racking up 129 yards and 4TD’s. And with full confidence I’d like to say that we have competition at the QB spot.

Charles Clay: Clay has astonished every Dolfan, every coach, and every player out there, and still hasn’t stopped. He totaled 45 yards and 3TD’s; the man is a stud in the making and a definite steal from Miami.

PLAY OF THE DAY:

REGGIE BUSH: The play of the day goes to Reggie "The President" Bush on his 11 on11 run. The ball was snapped, Henne dropped back and handed the ball out to Bush, in a matter of milliseconds "The President" was able to cut back and start running down the right sideline only to meet up with starting CB Sean Smith. At this point, only one player was going to come out with bragging rights, and if Bush was to make an immediate impact on the crowd and the coaches, he knew he had to do something at this moment. Instead of making the usual juke move or spin out, Bush carried out a Ray Lewis mentality and ran over Sean Smith like a Hummer going against a Smart car and ran it in for a TD. The crowd cheered, the players yelled, and Bush threw the ball in the air showing everybody a preview of what this season is going to be like.

The day ended on a humorous note as all the players gathered around the 20-yard line for a round of golf, sort of. Although Jason Taylor is a Hall of Fame player, golfing is not his strong suit. After a pretty bad swing at the ball, Taylor decided to release his frustrations by throwing the club about 15 yards down the field. The winner of the tournament was none other than the representative of the team, John Denney. The team laughed it off and went inside the facility after a good day's work.