All I look for is for Miami's bench players, new players and Rookies to show something. #s 40 and 41, for example, looked HORRIBLE. So did GARDENER. And also, nothing much from FOLSOM, WALDEN, #71 (whoever he is). And #28 better excel at returning punts and/or kicks, because he was terrible in the "slot" again--NESS looked a whole lot better. GROVE is noticeably more powerful, and better, than BERGER, although BERGER (honestly) is good as well. WALLACE looked good and appears to be a very promising young big and fast WR. TURNER used his body (size) a little more like O GADSEN, but MOORE fell back down to Earth. COBBS looked erratic, and mediocre or worse most of the time. PENNINGTON looks to be about 100% already. WHITE didn't impress overly.
I attach little importance to the final score, or even the performance of the various "units". For some teams, Game 3 is a "dress rehearsal" for the regular season. SIP, however, sprinkled 2nd, 3rd and 4th String players into the lineup long before Halftime! I think that SIP prefers ANSWERS to the questions they have. And i/m/o, they got quite a few! For example:
1) DANSBY--can cover a TE, and force a QB to make a perfect throw even for a simple short "out". Besides everything else, DANSBY "takes away the angle" as well as anyone I've seen for a long time. If you can do well against freakin' TONY GONALEZ, you can do well against anyone.
2) THE SLOT/NICKEL CB--Sapp supposedly was good on S/Ts, pretty good in coverage, and a good tackler. It looked to me like he's "as advertised". CARROLL isn't.
3) THE FS POSITION--CLEMONS looks pretty solid. I'm a lot less worried, now, than I was 3 weeks ago.
4) PENNINGTON--looks better and better, as far as being healed is concerned. And as it was when he first got here, it doesn't take him long to round into mid season form. WHITE played better, but what does THAT mean!?? He still hasn't impressed me, and time is running out.
5) OLMEN--I like what I'm seeing from "the usual suspects". Beyond those 7 or so, A HARTLINE flat-out sucks, as does GARDENER. As to MURTHA, he confuses the hell out of me by his inconsistency. Against TB, he looked pretty solid at LT. But against J'VILLE, he was...lousy. Against ATLANTA, just to confuse us all, he ALTERNATED between pretty good and mediocre-at-best. I hope that they can "coach him up" a bit, so that at least he's consistently decent, because he seems to have the physical skills, and he's needed.
6) DLMEN--A "strength". MIAMI could end up being 3 deep at NT, w/3 different kinds of NTs. We know about STARKS. But SOLIAI continues to be unmovable even when double-teamed, and that kid who plays DE and NT--he wears #90, and his name always escapes me--looks better and better too. In fact, he's reminding me more and more of JIM BURT, out of the U, who anchored PARCELLS' 3-4 w/the GIANTS. As to our DEs, I liked all of them, except #71 and 73.