August 7 - Tuesday

[Paul Mad Scot]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/c...g_session.html

8/7 morning session

By Ben Volin | Tuesday, August 7, 2007, 09:36 AM


Welcome back to the live blog! Sorry for the late start, but the team did warm-ups in the practice bubble. Only kickers and punters are on the field now, but we’ll be getting under way shortly.
The players are wearing only helmets this morning, as the team is probably saving its energy for tonight’s Tuesday Night Lights at Dolphin Stadium. Autographs at 5:30, full team practice at 7.
No updates yet on Joey Porter, who was in Alabama yesterday getting a second opinion on his right knee by Dr. James Andrews. We’ll see if Cameron has anything to say later.
RT Anthony Alabi is back on the field after leaving yesterday morning’s session with a knee injury. Porter, Andre Goodman and Joe Toledo are the only ones out.
Let’s go!
9:42

• Yep, it’s a light practice. The team is mostly focusing on special teams. Right now the gunners are practicing their sprints upfield while Brandon Fields and Ryan Flinn are booming away to the punt returners.
  I’ll wake you up when something interesting happens.
• Lorenzo Booker just muffed a punt with two defenders flying at him. Rookie mistake for not calling for a fair catch.
• Lots of standing around right now as they practice punt blocking and punt rushing.
• Not to pick on L. Booker, but he is not making the best decisions returning punts. Brandon Fields just hit one short to about the 15, and while Booker waived for the fair catch, he instead let it hit the ground. The ball rolled to the one and was downed by Chris Harrell.

10:11

• 15 minutes of kickoff drills. Wish I had more to tell you, but it’s a pretty slow practice.
• Kickoff drills are over, and JT, Zach Thomas, Vonnie and Traylor just came out of the locker room, so it’s time for position drills.
• Alabi is back on the bike instead of doing position drills. Guess his knee isn’t 100 percent. We’ll ask Cameron for an update.

10:33

• 7-on-7 time. Beck, Ginn and the third team in against the third-team defense.
• Beck just threw a nice ball to TE Aaron Halterman about 25 yards up the right sideline. The pass was perfectly placed between two defenders and the sideline, but Halterman couldn’t hold on. Beck’s accuracy is impressive.
• Nice-looking play. Beck finds Patrick Cobbs on a drag across the middle, and Cobbs takes it another 30 yards.

10:40

• 11-on-11 drills. More third-team offense vs. third-team defense. Practice is probalby winding down soon.
• I realize he’s facing the third-team defense, but Beck looks real solid out there. Beautiful drop-back and throw to Kerry Reed 15 yards downfield. Reed also continues his solid camp.
• Ted Ginn bumbles a Gibran Hamdan pass over the middle, and Chris Vedder comes away with the interception.

10:45
And that just about wraps it up. Very light practice. Tonight should be more exciting.
Until then,
BV

[Paul Mad Scot]

http://www.miamiherald.com/1191/story/195299.html

Dolphins notes from Tuesday: Just wait till later

Posted on Tue, Aug. 07, 2007

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By DAVID J. NEAL AND JEFF DARLINGTON

dneal@MiamiHerald.com

Smart fans avoided Tuesday morning's practice, a no-pads, helmet-only trot-through before Tuesday night's 7 p.m. practice at Dolphins Stadium. All players were in attendance, save linebacker Joey Porter.
• Tackle Anthony Alabi and his gimpy left knee were back on the exercise bike again with fellow offensive tackle Mike Rosenthal, tackle Joe Toledo and cornerback Andre Goodman.
• Not a great practice for Ted Ginn Jr. Although Ginn looked pretty fast in special teams workouts, often making defenders miss, he wasn't as impressive in team drills at wide receiver.
Ginn let one pass from John Beck across the middle slide through his hands. And while the pass was a bit high, it hit both of Ginn's hands -- and we all know the rule about that. Several plays later, he missed another one from Gibran Hamden that also hit his hands. Only this time, the ball deflected high in the air, allowing safety Christopher Vedder to snag it for an interception.
• During the special teams portion of practice, wide receiver Michael Malone, child of Moses, showed some proficiency at being a gunner. He actually recovered one Lorenzo Booker muffed punt and would've had another but bumbled it into the hands of a member of the return team.
• Can't wait to see if John Beck can drop the ball over defenders in games as well as he does in practice. Aaron Halterman, on a sideline pattern about 20 to 25 yards downfield, dropped Tuesday morning's best example.

[Paul Mad Scot]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/c...ice_87_un.html

Tuesday evening practice 8/7 under the lights

By Edgar Thompson | Tuesday, August 7, 2007, 06:53 PM


Welcome to the first “live” practice blog from Dolphin Stadium.
The team spent 60 minutes signing autographs to kick off “Tuesday Night Lights” - a fan appreciation night and marketing tool for the team.
Looks like about 10,000 DolFans braved the ongoing construction and chain link fencing to come see the team.
Now to the field …

• Warming up before practice with a holding device, K Jay Feely was unbelievable. He nailed three straight 47-yard field goals to the west end of the stadium, followed by 50-yarder and a 55-yarder.
  He then switched ends and hit two straight 50-yarders and a 55-yarder. Wow.
  Now for 60 yards … good! The crowd cheers.
• The Brandon Fields show is next. The rookie punter is killing the ball. If he can nail those 60-yard spirals in a game, he might be the team’s biggest impact rookie
• The whole team finally shows up and breaks into offense and defense. No helmets, but the team is in pads.
  Even at 7 p.m., the heat index is 93 degrees.
  Will get back to you once things pick up.
• Rookie Reagan Mauai, a 380-pound NT turned 270-pound fullback, continues to line up at TB. Is Lorenzo Booker really that ineffective running the ball?
  Mauia, nicknamed the “Little Fridge” by Barry Buetel, could be a stud on short-yardage situations.
• Time for 7-on-8 passing drills.
  Green up first, lining up with back-ups. He goes 3-for-3, with a leaping snap by Mauia the highlight.
  Lemon up next. Also, working with back-ups. Maybe coaches are getting more reps for players who are going to see the most action.
  Goes 4-for-4, ending with a nice completion downfield to TE Doug Rader.
• Quick segue to 11-on-11 team drills. Looks like a walk through.
  Green working with first team.
  Working on hand-offs.
• By the way, RT Anthony Alabi, who’s nursing a sore left knee, isn’t practicing. He did position drills, but no contact this morning.
• Fields just nailed a 65-yard punt toward the sidelines. There’s a reason the team felt OK letting Donnie Jones go.
• A few boos for rookie Ted Ginn, who just dropped the next punt by Fields.
  Special teams is finished.
• The team splits up with the first-team O and D working on 9-on-9 at three-quarters speed.
  QBs and WRs vs. CBs on the other end.
• Chris Chambers just beat Will Allen long down the sidelines. Nice throw by Beck.
• Jason Allen beaten on a slant by Ginn and moments later by P.K. Sam.
• Green and Ginn just hook up for a 40-yard TD behind DB Derrick Johnson. Textbook execution.
• Derek Hagan just drops a TD pass from Green. Credit Johnson’s D for distracting Hagan.
• CB Kerry Reed just jukes Travis Daniels and Green shows perfect touch for another TD.
  Fun drill. Lots of action.
  Team heads off for a 12-minute break. A simulated “halftime.”
• By the way, Ted and Dom, I’ll give you directions to the stadium.
• k-bayfinfan, your civility will be rewarded.
  Yes, Mauai has been toting the rock quite a bit. Since the team is going three-quarter speedf on running drills, it’s hard to gauge his effectiveness.
  He does have quick feet, good balance, sure hands - a lot of the qualities you seek in a TB. But he’s also toting around 270 pounds … at least.
• Man, you guys and gals are gluttons for this stuff. I’ll hit the save button every time I type a sentence.
• Team just line up in 7-on-7.
  Green hits Martin for four yards.
  Green to Chambers, broken up by Allen. Nice play by Allen.
  Green in back of the end zone to Hagan, beat Travares Tillman. Nice leaping catch, used his body well to shield Tillman.
  Green follows with a bullet to Chambers, who beat Daniels on a slant in the back of the end zone.
• Lemon in. Hits Ginn on screen for five yards, gains five yards.
  Dump off to Jesse Chatman, for a two-yard gain.
  Pass out to the sideline to TE Justin Peele. Another short, safe throw, not making things happen like Green.
  Drag route to Ginn, Renaldo Hill corrals him for short gain.
  -Beck in.
  Incomplete to Kerry Reed in traffic.
  Beck hits TE Jason Rader for a three-yard gain.
  TD. Beck finds Reed on a slant in front of Geoff Pope.
  Beck gets one more chance. No one open, throws it out of bounds.
• Green back in.
  W. Allen breaks on the ball nicely and breaks up pass to M. Booker.
  Yeremiah Bell whistled for interference on Peele, who ran a buttonhook.
  Green behind M. Booker, who makes a nice deflection to prevent an INT by Daniels.
  Drill over … on to 11-on-11.
• Green overthrows Chambers on a deep out.
  Green forced to scramble. He’s really slowed down, but who hasn’t at 37.
  Next play, he overthrows Hagan, but back-up CB Michael Lehan drops it.
  Green makes up for it with a perfect throw down the sideline to Chambers, over Lehan. Chambers stepped out of bounds.
  Green finds Peele across the middle for a short gain. Hits Hagan on a comeback route on the sideline on the next play.
  Time for Lemon’s turn.
• Nice throw to TE Andrew Halterman across the middle. Nice catch with LB Derrick Pope hanging all over him.
• BTW, live blog is stopping momentarily. But first, Courtney Anderson with a drop, pass a little behind him.
• Hey guys, quit the vulgarity on this blog. Seriously. There is no place for that.
  If you want to criticize the effort, fine.
• Nice screen pass to L. Booker, who had a step on Donnie Spragan. Spragan makes a nice shoestring tackle to minimize the damage.
• Anyway, like I said please keep the comment clean. Civil would be nice. Thanks.
• Beck in.
  First play, he’s picked off Chris Vedder who takes it the distance. Intended target: Anderson.
  Next play, TD over the top to Reed. Vedder feel down in the baseball infield.
• Oh, and now, you get to miss a few snaps so I can go and delete the comment by the bignasty.
• You just missed one of the throws of the night - Hamdan to Ginn down the sidelines. Hamdan with a perfect throw.
• I’m back.
  Team red-zone drill.
  Third play, Hagan makes the catch of the night. A leaping, stretching snag of Green’s pass in front of two defenders.
  LB Channing Crowder bats down a pass over the middle intended for TE David Martin. Crowders
  On the next play, Tillman intercepts a weak throw from Green intended for Martin.
  Shaky series of throws by Green, who until now was having a good practice.
• Lemon in, from the 30.
  First play, he goes for
  Ginn wide open in back of the end zone. The throw is long, but Ginn catches the ball out of bounds and runs into the padded wall behind the end zone like a CF.
  Impressive concentration.
  Lemon dumps on off to Chatman, for a decent gain. A couple of handoffs to Chatman follow.
  Lemon isn’t showing much throwing the ball tonight.
  If that wasn’t interference, I don’t know what is. S Cameron Worrell just climbed on the back of Halterman in the back of the end zone. No flag?
  Either way, Beck’s in.
  Handoff around end to Ray Perkins. Perkins plays with a lot of energy, just don’t see a place for the guy.
  Next throw, Beck out of the back of the end zone, intended for Michael Malone. Even Mose Malone, his dad, couldn’t have gotten a hand on that one.
  Back to Malone on a short out. Beck has great touch on these throws. He leads the receiver every time and puts the ball right in his hands.
  L. Booker up the middle. No tackling so hard to tell if he’d have gained anything. He did look quick.
  Beck ends the drill with another throw out of the back of the end zone. Coaches really must be telling him when nothing is there, get rid of the ball.
  He has definitely listened.
• Two-minute drill up next.
  Lemon in.
  1-10: Lemon to Az Hakim for 5 yards. 2-5: Lemon hits Peele in stride on a short out, 8 yards. 1-10: Lemon to Chatman on another short one, gain of 3. 2-7: Hakim makes his best play of training camp, beating Will Allen on a short crossing pattern. Hakim takes a perfect pass by Lemon close to 50 yards. 1-10: Handoff to Chatman. Zach T stops him in the backfield and looks eager to hit him. He tries to strip the ball and clearly is frustrated he can’t tackle Chatman. Time out. Feely trots in and kicks a 33-yard field goal.
  Green in. 1-10: Green behind M. Booker a bit, S Tuff Harris give Booker a pretty good shot. 2-10: Green behind Chambers this time. Green has really lost his rhythm. J. Allen drops an INT.
  Time for Beck. 1-10: Inc 2-10: Screen to Chatman. No gain. 3-20: Swarmed by the pass rush, Beck throws it out of bounds … again. 3-20: Hit L. Booker in stride on a crossing pattern. Nice gain. 4-7: Beck flushed from pocket, tries to make something happen. Pass ends up in the dirts.
  The Dolphins have a lot of work to do in this drill. Green really struggled in the final third of practice.
  Team convenes for stretching. Practice finished.
  Gotta run and go write for the newspaper. Thanks for checking in. Good nite.
  OK, back for a minute ….
  A few things:
• First team OL: LT Vernon Carey, LT Drew Mormino, C Samson Satele, RG Rex Hadnot, RT Chris Liwienski.
  1. Yes, Jones signed an offer sheet prior to the draft. I have a feeling Randy Mueller had an eye on Fields for awhile.
  Maybe I’m giving Randy too much credit here, but he seemed to come up with at least three or four players he really wanted - Ginn, Beck, Satele and just maybe Fields. Who knows.
• I understand criticism comes with the job. Vulgarity does not. Please refrain from it in the future. Thanks.

[Paul Mad Scot]

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite...contentID=5300

Tuesday Night Lights Shine At The New Dolphin Stadium

August 7, 2007


By Andy Kent
Special for MiamiDolphins.com

Apparently quite a few South Floridians have been experiencing football withdrawal, and close to 10,000 (9,919) of them fed their hunger Tuesday night at Dolphin Stadium by watching a team practice under the lights.


Tuesday Night Lights Photo Gallery

Prior to the players taking the field, they made their way to the new "Grand Plaza" on the south side of Gate G to sign autographs for an hour. This new "tailgating" area is bound to be a popular destination during the season as it is completely covered, providing an escape from the heat and the rain.

A handful of players made their way up to the 100 level where a number of radio stations were lined up along a makeshift radio row. Cornerback Travis Daniels, safety Yeremiah Bell, fullback Cory Schlesinger and long snapper John Denny took their turns on the headsets, as did Head Coach Cam Cameron, Dolphins Enterprises CEO Joe Bailey and former Dolphins John Offerdahl, Nat Moore, Troy Drayton, Bob Brudzinski and Keith Sims.

During warm-ups, Jay Feely impressed by going 3-for-3 on field goals from 47 yards, then hit a 50-yarder and a 55-yarder kicking off the dirt. He switched ends and booted back-to-back 50-yarders, another 55-yarder and finished by connecting from 60 yards.

Once the special teams drills concluded, the crowd got excited for the one-on-one drills, specifically the receivers against the cornerbacks. Trent Green delivered Kerry Reed a perfect ball in the left corner of the end zone and Chris Chambers made a nice catch of a laser thrown by rookie John Beck.

Fullback Reagan Mauia showed off his speed lining up at tailback again, breaking a 90-yarder and another shorter one later on. The team actually left the field for a simulated half-time as this was a chance to review everything involved with a typical game day, considering the first preseason game with Jacksonville is Saturday night.

"It's good to get your sideline organization, your press box organization, your locker room organization, your halftime organization and get all that run through prior to Saturday night," Cameron said. "It's a little bit of a dress rehearsal."

Some of the concessions stands were open and fans got to see a glimpse of some of the other stadium renovations currently underway. They also to select-a-seat for the upcoming season and take a sneak peek at the new Club Level.

Another new feature at the stadium will be TD's Tailgating Area in the new Courtyard by Gate C and four new escalators have been added on the north and south side.

When the team came back out on the field it was straight into 7-on-7 drills inside the red zone, with Derek Hagan making a nice leaping grab in the back of the end zone. Chris Chambers followed that up with a TD catch.

Rookie wideout Ted Ginn, Jr. caught a pass from Cleo Lemon on a crossing route but was wrestled down by Renaldo Hill on the sideline. Kerry Reed made a nice diving catch in the end zone and held on for the score.

New tight end Courtney Anderson dropped a pass over the middle during third-down drills that was thrown a little behind him by Cleo Lemon and the crowd gasped. Then outside linebacker Donnie Spragan made a nice open field tackle on Lorenzo Booker after Booker caught a pass from Lemon.

Beck was picked off by safety Chris Vedder as he stepped in front of Anderson and timed it perfectly, returning it for a touchdown. But on the next play Vedder was burned deep down the middle by Reed and Beck hit him with the pass.

Gibran Hamdan connected with Ginn on a bomb down the right sideline and after a timeout they switched to 11-on-11 drills in the red zone. Hagan made a nice leaping catch over the middle.

Lemon overthrew Ginn out of the back of the end zone as Ginn caught up with it just as he ran out of real estate and ran into the padded area in front of the new row of seats closer to the field level.

Then it was on to the two-minute drill, where Lemon connected with Az-Zahir Hakim for a long gain down the left sideline. Hakim stepped out at the 13. Zach Thomas stuffed Jesse Chatman for a loss of two yards and the Lemon had to call timeout with three seconds left. Feely came on to kick a 33-yard field goal.

Going the other direction, Green took over and on second down Jason Allen played the ball well and made a diving interception in front of Chambers, turning the ball over to Beck, who started at the 30. A penalty pushed him back but he hit Lorenzo Booker out of the backfield on a crossing route on third and very long and he picked up a chunk of yardage, setting up a 4 th-and-5. Beck's pass fell incomplete and that ended the session.

The players went through their cool down period and post-practice stretching as the public address announcer thanked the crowd for coming.

Tomorrow there is only one practice in the afternoon at 3:15 p.m.