Sports Buzz Thursday 8-21

[gafin]

A six-pack of notes on a Thursday afternoon:




### You would like to see two of Jeff Ireland’s pet projects, Daniel Thomas and Michael Egnew, give a convincing reason for Miami to keep them in the next week.



They could still survive initially even if they don’t because nobody on the roster has necessarily outplayed them for the No. 3 running back and tight end jobs, respectively.



Thomas, who has been limited recently by a hamstring injury, “was having a good camp,” Joe Philbin said today. “Hopefully, we can get him some game action here soon. He’s a good fit [for the zone-blocking scheme].”

But Mike Gillislee remains out with a hamstring and Damien Williams (17 carries, 22 yards) hasn't made a convincing enough case for the No. 3 running back job. Nor has Orleans Dawkwa, obviously. So Thomas might survive my default.



As for Egnew, “he missed a little bit of time [with a concussion], but he’s come back,” Philbin said. “He got a limited amount of playing time the other night. He’s had a good week of practice. So we’ll take a look at him again in the game on Saturday and see how well he performs.”

Charles Clay and Dion Sims will be on the team, and I presume rookie Arthur Lynch will be too unless he’s surprisingly placed on injured reserve. That leaves Egnew competing with Kyle Miller, Brett Brackett, Harold Hoskins and every tight end who will be released over the next two weeks.

### Philbin is encouraged by how well Brandon Gibson has returned from last October’s major knee injury.

“When he got hurt in New England, third down, he was one of the leaders in the league in terms of percentage of conversions,” Philbin said. “I think he’s a quarterback-friendly guy. He’s got very good hands and he’s smart. He can read coverages, understands the leverage, when I turn out and turn in, when I should stay on the move, when I should sit down. So I think the quarterbacks, most of them, get comfortable with him pretty quick.”



### Remember those five UM players who left early after the 2011 season? Give Ireland credit for drafting the only two who have had successful careers to this point: Lamar Miller and Olivier Vernon.

We were reminded of this today when the Patriots released Marcus Forston, who played in three games for them last year. Of the other two, Tommy Streeter (TampaBay) and Brandon Washington (St. Louis) are trying to win roster spots.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/

 

[BennySwella]

I'm starting to hate philbin's love for crappy players like Daniel Thomas and his hate for ballers like Rishard Matthews.

 

[psfign]

I'm starting to hate philbin's love for crappy players like Daniel Thomas and his hate for ballers like Rishard Matthews.

Didn't realize Matthews was cut.

 

[hoops]

i like finnegans situational awareness...case in point we call a double blitz up the middle with two backers vs tampa finny knows that tampa can't account for one of them and should be clean to the qb he knows the ball must come out fast he jumps the in cut by the wr and almost gets the pick...a ball he should have caught and he knows it

then you have philip wheeler we got a drop zone play call with the de wheeler knows this as he's on the edge on an overload blitz tampa has no wr or pass option to that side if he flushes the qb out to that side the pursuit is coming and the zone drop de wake in this case is there to press the qb and force him out of bounds worst case if he stays on the ground he's got a damn qb hit and ball forced out or sack what does wheeler do he jumps in the air like a dumb ass like the qb is gonna throw the ball to the side where he has no pass receiving option period and tries to flail at the qb as he goes by in the air almost picking up a drive extending 15 yard face mask penalty

i can't count how many times last year wheeler did not play the situation the way he should like a smart player would...one that understood where his help was coming from or the responsibilities of others and had awareness of the situation

 

[phintim]

Coming into the season my concerns on the linebackers were as follows. Moving MSI inside based on the vets we had returning this year was the best move that the coaching staff could have made along with moving Ellerbee back to the outside a position he excelled a bit more and played at Baltimore for the majority of his time there IMO. Though Msi and Ellerbee are both a bit injury prone and subject to missing games during the season. While Ellerbee and Wheeler were not the upgrades over Burnette and Dansby that many hoped last year at this time last year Ellerbee was difinitly the better player of the two. Anyway the entire linebacker senario was almost as much a worry as the OL. The only thing to hold you hat on was last years 4th round pick from Florida Freely who you hoped might play a bit more stout and be able to sub and replace Wheeler.
Now the way I see this situation playing out is that Tripp has a decent chance of playing if and when Msi gets nicked up this year, McCain sub in for Ellerbee and possible all 3 Tripp, McCain and Freely sub planting Wheeler at some point during the season.
While not a great solution it might offer average play at this position much like we can hope at the guards and running back areas.