The quarterbacks were solid today at Dolphins camp.
Matt Moore, working with the starters most of the day, did nice work in Inside-the-30 team drills today, finding Davone Bess for a TD against the starting defense. It took Moore seven plays to get in the end zone from 28 yards out.
Ryan Tannehill, who took mostly second-team snaps, also threw a 13-yard TD pass to Marlon Moore over Nolan Carroll. It took Tannehill three plays to get in the end zone.
Working with the third-team offense, David Garard got his unit in the end zone in one play. He threw a 28-yard strike to Chris Hogan. Done. It was as if Garrard, the best QB in camp so far, was making a point.
(Meanwhile, let me say that Hogan has impressed the heck out of me. All he does is make plays. He doesn't drop passes. He's simply productive. Having said that, it hasn't translated to him getting more than third-team reps so far so he's not quite a factor yet. But did I mention that I love the guy? Keep an eye out.)
Here is the play-by-play of the Inside-the-30 work today:
First team
1-10-28: Reggie Bush 4-rush.
2-4-24: Bush 1-yard on sweep.
3-3-23: Matt Moore scramble for 5.
1-10-18: Moore pass to Charles Clay on misdirection play gains 4 yards.
2-6-14: Moore incomplete.
3-6-14: Moore incomplete.
4-6-14: Moore TD to Bess.
Second team
1-10-28: Lamar Miller gains 10 yards on a pitch left.
1-10-18: Ryan Tannehill scrambles for 5 yards (tight end was supposed to be in flat but wasn't).
2-5-13: Tannehill to Marlon Moore for TD.
Third team
1-10-28: David Garrard to Chris Hogan for TD.
Fourth team
1-10-28: Miller no gain.
2-10-28: Pat Devlin incomplete.
3-10-28: Delay of game.
3-15-33: Andrew Mcdonald false start.
3-20-38: Devlin to Marcus Thigpen for 14 yards.
The first-team offensive line has been stable since the start of training camp with LT Jake Long, LG Richie Incognito, C Mike Pouncey, RG Artis Hicks, and RT Jonathan Martin.
As I said on
twitter during practice, coach Joe Philbin obviously believes more in cohesiveness and cohesion along the line than the previous regime which often experimented with varying combinations of linemen in the name of finding position flexibility.
I suppose it could be argued that the previous regime was always making changes because the players ultimately never locked down spots. That is true.
But do you believe Artis Hicks has locked down the right guard spot? No way.
And yet he has been locked at the starting RG position since camp began. There has been no experimentation.
One thing that did change on second team today was that Lydon Murtha did not take his usual reps as the second-team RT. Those went to Andrew McDonald, a rookie from Indiana. For Murtha, who was supposed to be the starter last year before getting hurt and was supposed to challenge for the job this year before Martin basically took the job, this is not good news. If today is an indication, he's heading in the wrong direction.
It was interesting to see rookie Lamar Miller get first-team snaps today. If you're a loyal reader of this blog or my columns, you know I really liked the Miller draft selection by Miami. Well, today he got the repetitions with the first team in team drills at the end of practice.
He didn't do antyhing in those eight plays but did a nice job with the second-team on Inside-the-30 work earlier in practice when he took a pitch and went around right end for 10 yards. A defender had the angle on him and he simply outran him to the edge. A safety was the only player between Miller and a TD.
Miller's speed has made him a candidate for kick and punt return duties since camp began. He's running second- or third-team on kick returns today (depending on the day) behind Steve Slaton with Marcus Thigpen also getting second-team work.
