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The Dolphins held their second padded practice today at the Doctors Hospital Training Facility in Davie. The team portions of the workout focused heavily on work inside the red zone. Head Coach Joe Philbin said after practice that approximately 95 competitive reps will give the players and staff plenty of information to evaluate heading into the players day off tomorrow.
Here are some of the key takeaways from today's practice:
1) Money Zone - Most of us call the area inside the plus-20 yard line the red zone. Some, like Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, called it the green zone because that's where you make your money. Either way the Dolphins need to find a way to improve in this area from last season on both sides of the football. Miami's offense has the tools at receiver and tight end to attack this area and by using multiple formations can usually get the match-ups their looking to exploit. These formations can also help the offensive line gain leverage in the running game. Defensively, today was encouraging to see how the majority of the passes were contested and how the pass rush closed the pocket on the quarterbacks, limiting their time to make a decision.
2) Players Pushing Each Other - Today, as well as yesterday, the wide receivers and defensive backs matched up against each other in one on one drills. It's a part of practice that both groups look forward to so that they can test their skills verses each other. Two players that really stood out to me were Jarvis Landry
and Brice McCain. Both players seem to enjoy the competition on every snap and usually take turns making plays on one another. Landry is a catching machine and plays the game well beyond this years, and McCain with his competitive skill set, never takes a play off.
3) Protection In Passing Game - The focus on the offensive line in this training camp is justified after watching the pressure and sacks over the last two season. This unit as a whole must figure out what five lineman can consistency get the job done and keep the heat off of Ryan Tannehill. With the pads on over the last two days, I've witnessed more pressure in the pocket then you would like to see. Head Coach Joe Philbin expressed that he would like to see a cleaner pocket for the quarterbacks overall so that they can step into throws with more consistency. All able bodies are getting reps so it's on each individual to play at a higher level during the week leading into next Friday's scrimmage.
- Starting safety Louis Delmas didn't participate in the practice today and it might have just been a planned, precautionary evaluation by the medical staff. Delmas is coming off of major surgery from last season and has looked healthy moving around in the secondary.
- The same goes for cornerback Will Davis, who missed yesterday's practice with soreness in his surgically repaired knee. Davis made it back onto the practice field today, and was in position to intercept an under thrown Matt Moore pass in one of the team drills.
- Coach Philbin has liked what he has seen out of the running game over the last two days in pads. It's been nice to see the entire group hit the line of scrimmage with acceleration, and it seems that the competition is raising the bar for players like LaMichael James and rookie Jay Ajayi.
- One of the highlights of today's practice was safety Reshad Jones stepping in front of a Ryan Tannehill pass on the two yard line and heading down the sidelines.
- Placekicker Caleb Sturgis was solid today during the competitive special teams drills, both inside the bubble and out on the grass fields. Sturgis hit all four kicks to open up practice in the bubble, two from 40 yards and the other good from 44, and 49. When the team made it's way outside, Sturgis was perfect from 46 and 51 yards out.
I really enjoy reading what this guy has to say.
Here are some of the key takeaways from today's practice:
1) Money Zone - Most of us call the area inside the plus-20 yard line the red zone. Some, like Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, called it the green zone because that's where you make your money. Either way the Dolphins need to find a way to improve in this area from last season on both sides of the football. Miami's offense has the tools at receiver and tight end to attack this area and by using multiple formations can usually get the match-ups their looking to exploit. These formations can also help the offensive line gain leverage in the running game. Defensively, today was encouraging to see how the majority of the passes were contested and how the pass rush closed the pocket on the quarterbacks, limiting their time to make a decision.
2) Players Pushing Each Other - Today, as well as yesterday, the wide receivers and defensive backs matched up against each other in one on one drills. It's a part of practice that both groups look forward to so that they can test their skills verses each other. Two players that really stood out to me were Jarvis Landry
and Brice McCain. Both players seem to enjoy the competition on every snap and usually take turns making plays on one another. Landry is a catching machine and plays the game well beyond this years, and McCain with his competitive skill set, never takes a play off. 3) Protection In Passing Game - The focus on the offensive line in this training camp is justified after watching the pressure and sacks over the last two season. This unit as a whole must figure out what five lineman can consistency get the job done and keep the heat off of Ryan Tannehill
. With the pads on over the last two days, I've witnessed more pressure in the pocket then you would like to see. Head Coach Joe Philbin expressed that he would like to see a cleaner pocket for the quarterbacks overall so that they can step into throws with more consistency. All able bodies are getting reps so it's on each individual to play at a higher level during the week leading into next Friday's scrimmage. - Starting safety Louis Delmas
didn't participate in the practice today and it might have just been a planned, precautionary evaluation by the medical staff. Delmas is coming off of major surgery from last season and has looked healthy moving around in the secondary. - The same goes for cornerback Will Davis
, who missed yesterday's practice with soreness in his surgically repaired knee. Davis made it back onto the practice field today, and was in position to intercept an under thrown Matt Moore pass in one of the team drills. - Coach Philbin has liked what he has seen out of the running game over the last two days in pads. It's been nice to see the entire group hit the line of scrimmage with acceleration, and it seems that the competition is raising the bar for players like LaMichael James
and rookie Jay Ajayi. - One of the highlights of today's practice was safety Reshad Jones
stepping in front of a Ryan Tannehill pass on the two yard line and heading down the sidelines. - Placekicker Caleb Sturgis
was solid today during the competitive special teams drills, both inside the bubble and out on the grass fields. Sturgis hit all four kicks to open up practice in the bubble, two from 40 yards and the other good from 44, and 49. When the team made it's way outside, Sturgis was perfect from 46 and 51 yards out.I really enjoy reading what this guy has to say.
