Barry Jackson Sports Buzz 8-2

[gafin]

### Even without completing any deep balls, Saturday might have been Ryan Tannehill’s most impressive day of training camp for this reason:

During Saturday’s scrimmage at Sun Life Stadium, Tannehill ran the offensive intelligently, didn’t throw a pick, made no glaring mistakes and did it without four players expected to be among Miami’s best players on offense (Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline, Mike Pouncey and Knowshon Moreno).

The caveat: A bit more than half the time, he was operating against the second-team defense.

But of his two touchdown passes, one came against the first-team defense (a well-throw seven yard throw to Dion Sims). And that drive should have ended successfully two plays earlier, when Matthews dropped a perfect throw from Tannehill in the back of the end.

Earlier, Tannehill and Lamar Miller perfectly executed a 9-yard wheel route for a touchdown. And Tannehill was on target to Dion Sims for a two-point conversion.

“Thought he had better ball location,” Philbin said.

### Tannehill raised his completion percentage from 58.3 as a rookie to 60.4 last season, and Philbin said Saturday that “we would like to see that get up into the mid 60s, ideally. We still want more.”

### More good news, besides Tannehill: The first-team offensive line didn’t give up a sack (though the backups allowed six).

“Good overall, looked OK” Philbin said of his o-line. “We gained some yardage on first down, which sometimes hasn’t been a strength of ours.”

Nate Garner took the first-team snaps at center, suggesting the Shelley Smith center experiment is over, barring a change of heart. Dallas Thomas and Billy Turner split time at right guard.

### Smith, who was signed with the expectation he would be the starting right guard, was the backup left guard Saturday. But Philbin suggested not to read much into that.

“Just rolling guys around,” he said when asked about Smith. “We’ll probably continue that for a little bit.”

During Saturday’s scrimmage, two of their lower-round picks --- linebacker Jordan Tripp and defensive end Terrence Fede --- made a case for roster spots.

Tripp, a fifth-round pick from Montana, stripped undrafted Oklahoma rookie running back Damien Williams and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown. Tripp has been playing mostly with the third team on defense, but one of the second-team linebackers (Jelani Jenkins) missed the scrimmage with a leg injury.

“Jordan Tripp is good at a lot of things,” linebackers coach Mark Duffner said a few days ago. “He’s a highly competitive guy. He’s got great desire to be a great player and the athletic skills to do it and pretty good awareness. I’m excited what I see so far.”

Fede, a seventh-round pick from Marist, had one sack (beating backup tackle Stephen Baker) and knocked down a Tannehill later in the scrimmage.

Fede has displayed impressive athleticism throughout training camp and his chances of making the 53-man roster are helped by Dion Jordan’s four-game suspension to start the season. Fede could begin the season as the Dolphins’ No. 4 defensive end until Jordan returns.

“He’s got a lot of natural talent,” Dolphins defensive lineman Jared Odrick said of Fede. “There are a lot of things he can do and the coaches know he can do without him even knowing he can do it. He’s got to realize what he has and put it to use. He’s doing it pretty well in this camp. It’s like night and day from what he did in the spring to what he’s doing now. He’s a quick learner.”

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

 

[nick1]

Fede is the guy nobody is talking about dude is gonna be a stud. Nice gem hickey

 

[hoops]

Says Jordan hasn't added any new pass rush moves...bummer...got the weight now he needs a redirect inside counter

dion sims locking down that 2nd tight end Job...makes sense most in line blocking upside and best frame for it in the building

 

[NoblePhin]

Cant wait for a preseason game! Fede is sounding like a great find, Tripp is making plays, really just overall attitude of the team sounds great. Everyones working hard and together, i like.