August 6 - Monday

[Paul Mad Scot]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/dolphin...miamidolphins/

8/6 morning session

By Ben Volin | Monday, August 6, 2007, 08:22 AM

Gooooooooood morning Dolfans, and welcome back to the live blog! Hope you survived Sunday’s off day, but now we’re back for an exciting week of two-a-days before Saturday’s preseason opener against Jacksonville.

In case you missed it, the Steelers beat the Saints 20-7 Sunday night in the Hall of Fame Game. And it marked the beginning of 25 consecutive weeks of football — there will now be at least one college or pro game every week through the conference championship games on Jan. 20. Say goodbye to the wife and kids for the next six months.

FYI, practice is starting an hour late today, at 9:15 a.m. And the skies look threatening, so we might end up in the bubble.

We’ll also hopefully get an update on OLB Joey Porter, who missed the last two practices to rest his balky right knee.

See you at 9:15, and remember to keep hitting refresh!

9:24

… And we’re back. Just got out to the field, and the Dolphins are starting their position drills. Yeremiah Bell is back at practice after sitting out Saturday with a hip pointer. Goodman, Toledo and Mike Rosenthal are on the bikes.

Don’t see Porter out here, and Ronnie Brown is absent today to attend his uncle’s funeral.

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Nothing special about today’s practice schedule — more 9-on-7s, third-down drills, 11-on-11s and so on.
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A Dolphins representative said an internet report about Joey Porter’s right knee was “premature.” The site profootballtalk reported yesterday that Porter already had his knee scoped, but the Dolphins are saying they are still evaluating the knee. PFT just posted an updated report with the same information.
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Position drills. QBs are working with the RBs in the short passing game, while the big guys are hitting blocking sleds. Hard to evaluate much during these drills, but Ray Perkins just had a bad drop.
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Don’t see Porter, not even on the sidelines. At least Friday and Saturday he stood on the sideline in his jersey and mesh shorts.

9:56

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Time for punt return drills. T. Ginn, T. Daniels, A. Hakim and L. Booker are back deep. Brandon Fields punted first, and Ginn called for a fair catch. Feel the excitement.
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Punters are kicking from the back of the end zone. Ryan Flinn just scooped up a bounced snap from John Denney and punted to the 50.
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Fields just boomed one about 70 yards, well over Booker’s head. The guy has plenty of leg.
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John Denney’s snaps are not as accurate as you would want.

10:07

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9-on-9 drills.
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Samson Satale just jumped offsides. Wonder what Vonnie Holliday said to him.
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With Brown gone for the day, a host of other backs are taking the handoffs. Rookie FB Reagan Mauia lowers his shoulder on a run up the middle and loses his helmet, but barrels through the line with the ball firmly tucked in.
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Nice speed around the edge by L. Booker, though a CB would’ve stepped up on the play. Chatman takes the next play around the other edge, also a nice game. Both RBs are having a good camp.
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Trent Green and Gibran Hamdan are working with receivers and cornerbacks one-on-one on the opposite field. Ted Ginn ran a deep post but CB Geoff Pope came away with the ball.
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Deep fade from Green to Sutton down the right sideline, and the 6-6 Sutton makes a great fingertip grab over 5-11 Derrick Johnson and drags both feet in-bounds. Sutton’s height definitely works in his favor.
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Ginn had three steps on Derrick Johnson on a fly pattern, but Green’s throw landed just out of his reach.

10:17

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Water break. PA reminds the fans that tomorrow is Tuesday Night Lights at Dolphin Stadium. Free admission and parking. Autographs starting around 5:30, and you can tour the new club level and meet the cheerleaders in addition to watching the team practice.
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11-on-11. Donnie Spragan is playing in Porter’s left OLB spot.
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First play, Renaldo Hill blitzes around the right corner, past Vernon Carey. Green gets the throw off just in time, but Travis Daniels makes a nice play in single coverage over Chris Chambers.
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Next play, Spragan would’ve sacked Green in a game situation. Instead Green’s pass is batted down by Keith Traylor.
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Second team offense and defense in now. First play, Lemon avoids the rush, rolls right, and hits Ginn streaking across the middle five yards in front of the line. Ginn catches it in stride and takes it up-field for about 15 yards.
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Looks like the defense is blitzing on every play to see how the offense reacts. FB Mauia whiffs while trying to block Derrick Johnson.
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Interesting blitzes, with the pressure mostly coming from the corners. These DB blitzes can produce big plays — for either team.
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Beck in now, he swings one over to Cobbs, who fakes CB Geoff Pope out of his cleats and continues for another 10 yards.
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Good read by Beck, finding TE Courtney Anderson on a quick out under pressure.
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Derrick Pope is playing ROLB with the first team and not Channing Crowder. Trying to find him on the sideline …
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Interesting defensive formation, with three safeties in the lineup: Daniels, Hill and Bell. Bell positioned himself near the linebackers before the snap.
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Second team is having a tougher time picking up the blitz. LB Jim Maxwell could’ve destroyed Cleo Lemon if he wanted.
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Credit Jason Allen for making a nice play, tipping a Lemon pass right to Geoff Pope for the interception. 10:32
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7-on-7 drills. Still haven’t found Crowder on the sidelines.
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Jonathan,

The Dolphins staffer first said the report was “premature.” When pressed, he later said it was “inaccurate.” We’ll get word from Cameron at his post-practice presser in a little bit.

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Punters working on their Coffin Corner. Fields had a nice one go out of bounds around the 5, but then followed that up with a 25-yard punt that went straight up in the air.
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K Jay Feely LOVES catching punts. Saw him pull a behind-the-back trick on Friday.
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Beck just overthrew Chatman on a swing pass. Chatman had plenty of daylight in front of him.

10:40

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More 11-on-11 drills, working on specific situations: First-and-10, second-and-five, etc.
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Spragan and Pope playing first team linebacker, still no sight of Crowder.
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First-team offense is going two wide with Schlesinger and Chatman in the backfield. Chatman stuffed by Spragan on a run off left tackle.
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Michael Lehan getting reps as the nickel back. Actually, the first-team defense is going with three CBs and three safeties right now.
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They’re mixing up the personnel for first-team and second-team offense. Green just handed off an end-around to Ginn, and he picks up about 8 yards.
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Beautiful cutback by Patrick Cobbs on a counter left. He scoots about 10 yards upfield before being taken down.
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Beck and the third team offense in against the first-team defense. Not getting much.
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DE Matt Roth almost ate Beck for breakfast. G Tala Esera forgot to block him.
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First-team offense, second-team defense. Green throws one in heavy traffic to David Martin, and is lucky the ball falls safely to the ground.
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Green rolls out right and fires a nice pass to Marty Booker on the sideline for a 10-yard gain.
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JP,

Thanks for asking. The line combo to end the practice had Chris Liwienski at RT, Mormino at RG, Satale at C, Hadnot at LG and Carey at LT. This is the first time Ive seen Liwienski and Hadnot line up at those positions during camp.

11:00

And that’s it. Cool-down time. Interesting news day so far. We’ll be talking to Cameron shortly, and we’ll try to get updates on Porter, Crowder, et al.

Join us later this afternoon for the second practice. Edgar Thompson will be driving you home.

Smell ya later,

BV