A Phinsider Look at Training Camp (Day 10)

After an exhausting yet satisfying Sunday scrimmage and a much needed Monday's rest, the Dolphins were ready to get back to work and take the field on a hot August day. Chad Henne looked to continue his streak of consecutive positive practices, Brandon Marshall sought out to have a practice like that of Sunday, the defense looked to bounce back after what was an unorthodox practice last time up, and an unsuspected UDFA had his best day at camp so far. With all that said, let's take a look at how the Fins played on August 9th.

First drill of the day was a simple 1on1 drill where receivers and Tight Ends matched up against a DB and tried to break loose for a pass. These are the players that stood out (for good and bad) during the short timed drill.

Marlon Moore: Although Moore has fallen somewhat under the radar this past week due to names like Clyde Gates and Charles Clay, he has shown some signs of brilliance on the field. During 1 on 1’s Moore had a Brandon-Marshall-like leaping catch over UDFA Jose Perez out of SDSU for 50 yards down the left sideline; caught the attention of the whole crowd.

Charles Clay: Clay performed the drill on the near field so I was able to have a good look at the Training Camp stud. Unfortunately for Clay, he looked a bit clumsy during 1 on1’s, dropping very catchable balls and slipping at times. Clay didn’t really excel in a catching point of view today, but was able to keep his FB duties intact. More from him later.

(Henne and Moore played against both the 1st and 2nd Team Defense as Devlin and O’Connel battled the 2nd and 3rd)

Team Drill: 

Ball was placed on the 20-yard line. Not a lot of throwing action went on during the drill; mostly straight, up the gut runs with a few HB’s going for big-gainers.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne went 0/1 on the drill by overthrowing a wide-open Brandon Marshall down the middle of the field.

Matt Moore: Like Henne, Moore also went 0/1 by overthrowing Clyde Gates.

Pat Devlin: No passes thrown

Kevin O’Connel: It seemed as if Déjà vu got sucked into our minds as O’Connel also threw just one pass; that pass being overthrown to Phillip Livas.

RUNNING BACKS:

Reggie Bush: Bush came right out the gate today with two 10-yard gainers up the gut. Mike Pouncey, along with the rest of the O-Line, played extremely effective today, making a lot of room for our speedy backs to run in.

Daniel Thomas: Thomas had a couple of carries, his longest going for a solid 13 yards.

Kory Sheets: Sheets had a decent day on the ground today with a nice 8-yard run during the drill.

Nic Gribsby: The UDFA out of Arizona broke out a fast and powerful 15-yard gainer on his first and only touch during the team drill.

7 on 7:

Once again, the running backs continued to shine as the QB’s looked to find their rhythm

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne had a decent "7 on 7" going 6/10 for 77 yards. He had two 20+ yard gainers to both Brian Hartline and Reggie Bush, one 11-yard strike to Charles Clay, and two 8-yard check downs to Reggie Bush and Brookes Foster. However, Henne did have 4 incompletions, two of them being overthrown.

Matt Moore: Matt Moore looked to bounce back from a seemingly disappointing outing during Sunday’s scrimmage, only completing 4 of his 13 passes. Unfortunately, Moore continued on his "slump," going 1/5 on the drill with two overthrown balls to Clyde Gates and Roberto Wallace and two dropped balls by Clyde Gates and Anthony Fasano.

Pat Devlin:  Devlin went 2/2 on the drill for 13 yards completing passes to Julius Pruitt and Brian Hartline.

Kevin O’Connel: No playing time.

RUNNING BACKS:

Reggie Bush: Bush continue to have a big day making a simple Chad Henne screen turn into a 22-yard gainer.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TE:

Brandon Marshall: Caught a 10-yard bullet from Chad Henne over the middle.

Brian Hartline: Had a good drill catching two passes for 28 yards.

Clyde Gates: 25-yard drop.

Patrick carter: Nice 13-yard pass from Matt Moore down the left sideline.

Charles Clay: 10-yard slant route catch from Henne.

Phillip Livas: Over the past week or so Phillip Livas has not really been involved. His only catch of the day came from Matt Moore on a 13-yard slant route.

CORNER BACKS:

Sean Smith: Broke up what would have been a 13-yard gain from Chad Henne to Brandon Marshall.

11 on 11:

The "11 on 11" drill seemed to be the moment where all the running backs truly broke free and gave us a glimpse of what kind of competition we’re in store for this pre-season.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne had an awful outing on this drill against the 1st Team D going 0/3 with a dropped check-down to Charles Clay and a broken up 15-yard pass to TE Mickey Shuler.

Matt Moore: Moore didn’t have much action during the drill throwing only 3 passes, but he made the most of it by going 2/3 with 50 yards. First completion was a strike down the left sideline to Roberto Wallace for 30 yards and the other was a nice rollout pass to Nic Grigsby for 20 yards, who flew by Karlos Dansby and Cameron Wake to reach the ball.

RUNNING BACKS:

Reggie Bush: Bush earned every yard he could get during "11 on11" getting 3 handoffs for a total of 20 yards; both the O-Line and D-Line went at it on this drill.

Daniel Thomas: Thomas showed his size, speed, and strength on this drill having 2 carries for 20 yards. DT broke out a 15-yard run on an inside handoff and a 5-yard run up the gut which echoed out every pad that was hit on the play.

Kory Sheets: Sheets was handed the ball off once for a very nice 7-yard gain.

Nic Grigsby: One again Grigbsy showed his speed and agility by running for a solid 9-yard gain down the left sideline and by turning what would have been a 3-yard checkdown from Matt Moore into a 21 yard gain.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TE:

Roberto Wallace: Wallace was one of the only receivers to get any action on "11 on11" and made it count by tiptoeing down the left sideline for a 30-yard pass from Matt Moore.

Charles Clay: Today, Clay didn’t show us what we’ve seen in the past from him (as a Tight End) by dropping two catchable, softly thrown balls. As I’ve said before, punishment from drops results in pushups. Omar Kelly said today via Twitter "I'm starting to conclude Lousaka Polite is in the danger zone. Charles Clay taking plenty of his reps. Just saw Polite drop passes." Clay might have taken some of Lou Polite’s reps, and might have done well in blocking situations, but he did drop more balls that Lousaka, so officially putting Polite in the "danger zone" is a bit of an exaggeration. However, I will say that with Charles Clay in the mix, the competition at the FB spot is a tough one that will have to be played out during all of pre-season.

SAFTETIES:

Yeremiah Bell: As Chad Henne eyed down a wide-open Mickey Shuler down the left sideline, Yeremiah Bell was in the process of sprinting down the field dodging LB’s. Once the ball was in the air, Yeremiah knew had no chance of making a play without spreading his whole body. The ball was inches from Mickey’s fingertips until a flying Bell jumped 5 yards, arms spread out, legs extended, to make the extraordinary deflection.

2-Minute Drill:

The infamous 2-minute drill where passing becomes priority and running stays incognito has established itself as the most watched drill in Davie, Florida.

QUARTERBACKS:

Chad Henne: Henne only threw the ball three times, going 2/3. He was able to execute a 20-yard screen pass to Reggie Bush and throw a short 10-yard pass to Roberto Wallace (against the 2nd Team D)

Matt Moore: Moore left practice today in a disappointing manner going ½ with an 8-yard check down to Roberto Wallace followed by a pick-6 by Nolan Carroll. Moore didn’t have the best of practices, and if he wants to compete with that starting job then he has to get his act together.

Pat Devlin: Devlin’s first appearance during the 2-minute drill resulted in a poorly executed Play Action Pass, which was in completed.

RUNNING BACKS:

Reggie Bush: Finished off his good day of practice by executing a screen pass from Chad Henne perfectly and turning into into a 20-yard burst.

Daniel Thomas: Like Bush, Thomas also finished off the day on a high note by bursting up the gut for a 16-yard run.

Kory Sheets: Sheets ended his day with a speedy 20-yard sweep down the right sideline.

Nic Grigsby: As we saw the Quarterbacks do on the "Team Drill," there was also a sense of Déjà vu on the 2-minute drill as Grigsby used his quickness to escape the D-Line and shoot out for a 15-yard run.

WIDE RECEIVERS:

Roberto Wallace: caught two passes for 18-yards; one from Chad Henne and the other from Matt Moore.

O-LINE:

I was impressed with the O-Line on this drill as they were able to make all sorts of running room for every Half Back to run in, but Marc Colombo had a false start which upset Coach Sparano.

End Zone Drill:

The End Zone drill was not as entertaining as it was on Saturday. Players were tired and it seemed as if not much effort was put into this drill (maybe that’s what coaches wanted.)

PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY:

The "Performance of the Day" goes to the running game as they racked up 213 yards on 14 carries and 3 catches. Not one running back outdid the other as they all excelled on the ground, but if I had to say who had the most surprising practice, it'd have to be Nic Grigsby who finished off the day with 56 yards on three carries and one catch. 

NOTABLE MENTIONS:

Roberto Wallace: Wallace had a quiet yet strong day today as he caught 3 balls for 48 yards. Although Moore's speed is not yet developed, his physical presence was able to fend off defenders for those three balls today.

O-Line: Although the D-Line was able to get passed on a few occasions during passing plays, the O-Line, especially rookie Mike Pouncey, held it’s ground during running plays as they held off defenders numerous of times and made running room which is a good sign to see from this new and improved O-Line.

Defense: The reason why not so much happened on the air today was because of our top-5 defense. Jason Taylor was deflecting passes, Paul Soliai was getting through the line and getting tackles for losses along with Kendall Langford, and the Secondary was able to pick balls off and breakup what looked like perfectly thrown balls. Today the Defense simply played better than the offense, and the offense didn’t even play badly.

Practice was over, but no golf rounds were played today. It seemed as if Tony Sparano was frustrated in the way the offense played (lack of energy) and made the whole team run sprints for 10 minutes. The IV’s were broken out and another practice was in the books.