[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I will be driving all day today, as I head back to Florida from Texas, so I will not be as active on the site as usual.]
Another day of practice for the Miami Dolphins during their 2011 Training Camp, and another day of the offense developing. Today, the quarterbacks seemed to shine, while receivers continued to work past the drops that have plagued them all for the first week of camp.
During the team's 7-on-7 drills, quarterback Matt Moore set the bar high, as he connected on the first two of his four touchdown passes on the day. But, incumbent starter Chad Henne wasn't going to be outdone. As the team transitioned to red zone drills, Henne led the team to two of his three touchdown passes, finding tight end Jeron Mastrud for both.
Pat Devlin and newcomer Kevin O'Connell upped their battle for the team's third string quarterback, with Devlin finding wide receiver Brandon Marshall in the back of the endzone. Meanwhile, O'Connell threw three touchdown passes, finding Derrick Epps, one to Phillip Livas, and one to Marshall.
Moore's performance at the helm of the offense was probably the best news of the day. While Henne once again had a solid practice, and is clearly in line for the starting job, Moore made an argument for the job. If Moore continues to perform like he did yesterday (8 for 12, 129 yards, 4 touchdowns), the competition we were all expecting for the starting QB slot may still materialize.
However, the star of the practice was, once again, Charles Clay. Clay made two touchdown grabs during the practice, and seems to always be a target of whomever is throwing the ball. If Clay can continue this performance, the Dolphins may have found a gem in the sixth round of the draft.
Practice was not all work, however. Head Coach Tony Sparano pitted the team against each other in a closest to the pin, golf chipping contest. Aiming at a trash can, loong snapper John Denney won the contest, beating out Marshall and linebacker Jason Taylor. After the contest, Denney said, "I play with J.T. quite a bot, so he was the one I was worried about. Brandon Marshall almost pulled off an upset there at the end as he hit a nice little lob shot in there, so he had me scared for a second. I think the pressure got to J.T. He's a pretty good golfer, so we're pretty close as far as that goes."
Sparano explained the reasoning behind the golf game after practice. "It was a little training camp fun. Tomorrow we have a scrimmage, so at the end of the scrimmage, we're going to condition. I broke the group into three groups here, and I let them play closest to the pin for conditioning tomorrow. The offensive line coach in me came out and I put John Denney, who is a ringer, with the offensive and defensive linemen, so they won."
And, yes, that is correct. Tomorrow's practice will be a full scrimmage. If you can get over there, the practice will be held at 1:50pm, at the Dolphins' training facility at the Nova Southeastern University campus.