Joint practices with Philadelphia Eagles from Miami Dolphins’ Adam Gase’s POV

The Miami Dolphins are in the middle of their joint practice schedule with the Philadelphia Eagles, working out with their Preseason Week 3 opponents on Monday and Tuesday before Thursday’s contest. The workouts come after Miami closed training camp, but it gives them an extended chance to work in a training camp like environment, facing off against another team, rather than just running into and around the same players every day.

“I think it was just being able to come up here and put ourselves in a different environment, go against different bodies, different skillsets for a lot of these guys,” Dolphins head coach Adam Gase said after Monday’s practice in Philadelphia. “Our defense is close to what (Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim) Schwartz runs here. Our offense is a different style. Just being able to (have) both sides of the ball being able to go against different guys, it’s just one of those things at camp where you can get a lot out of this.”

There is always a concern that things can get chippy during practices with other teams, either with some extra hitting or even full blown fights. Gase explained what the Dolphins’ and Eagles’ coaching staffs did to make sure that would not be an issue this year, telling the media, “We kind of just made sure nobody was getting any cheap shots taken on them if the guy wasn’t looking, just making sure we weren’t blowing anybody up. We were just trying to put a few rules on (the practice) to where we could avoid any kind of scuffle or start anything up, and just being able to come out here and get good work.”

That does not mean Monday’s practice did not have a little extra emphasis from the players when full contact started. “Guys were just going and they were working,” Gase explained. “It started heating up a little bit towards the end (of practice) when we were in full pads. I think guys were more focused on football than anything else.”

The Dolphins and Eagles will practice together again on Tuesday. They will face off on Thursday in a game televised on NFL Network.