Rookie Neville Hewitt
admitted he was surprised by the amount of playing time he got in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles last weekend, but he’s prepared now if he’s called on to play a bigger role against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
With starting linebacker Jelani Jenkins missing practice Wednesday and Thursday because of an ankle injury, Neville conceivably could find himself in the starting lineup. That would be quite a development for Hewitt, who was one of four rookie free agent linebackers in training camp and now one of three on the active roster — along with Zach Vigil andMike Hull.
“Good athlete, plays hard. he’s versatile,” Interim Head Coach Dan Campbell said. “Really, he could play all the positions if you needed him to. He’s done a good job for us on special teams. He’s one of those guys as a free agent we feel pretty fortunate that we found. That’s one of Duff’s (linebackers coach Mark Duffner) hidden gems that he was able to find. “Hey, if it doesn’t work out and Jelani is not able to come back, we feel pretty good about Hewitt filling in.”
Hewitt filled in against Philadelphia, playing 65 snaps on defense to go along with the 20 he got on special teams. He was credited with six tackles. Hewitt had gotten snaps on defense in two previous games along with contributing on special teams since the start of the season, but this was by far his most extensive action.
“I didn’t do bad,” Hewitt said. “I think I have some things I need to work on. Just with experience will get better and better. “Everybody is just learning. You never know when your number is going to be called. Right now everybody is just pretty much preparing for the what-if situations and stuff like that. “Any of our guys on this team, you give them a shot on defense they’re going to take advantage of the opportunity.”
BLACK JERSEYS ON THE SIDELINES
Dolphins players have gone back to wearing white and aqua jerseys at practice after Campbell decided to stop giving out black jerseys to either the offense or defense as a reward.
But that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the end of the black jerseys. “I like to change things up quite a bit,” Campbell said. ‘About the time we get in a rhythm with something, that’s when I like to change it up. I’ve just kind of always been that way. I felt like it was time to go away from them. They’ll pop back up again at some point.”
HOME SWEET HOME
The game against Dallas begins a season-ending stretch of five of seven games at home, which happens the fifth time in franchise history that’s happened. The Dolphins also finished with five of seven at home in 1970, 1971, 1975 and 1991. The Dolphins posted records of 5-2 in the final seven games in 1970 and 1971, and went 4-3 in 1975 and 1991. The 1970 schedule actually ended with the Dolphins playing at the Orange Bowl for five of their last six games.
“Obviously it’s a lot easier to play home games,” center Mike Pouncey said. “If you would have asked me about this schedule at the beginning of the year, I would have told you I hated it. But the way the season works out, now that we have five of the last seven at home, it really is going to help our football team and kind of gives us an upper hand.” Said quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “I mean, it’s a luxury playing at home, especially late in the year. As much as we want to be home we want to be in front of our home crowd. Hopefully it’s a wild crowd, loud and makes it tough on those guys.”
http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/article-1/NOTEBOOK-Hewitt-Showing-Versatility-Other-Notes/192b4809-6730-4ffd-b533-a422c441c806
admitted he was surprised by the amount of playing time he got in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles last weekend, but he’s prepared now if he’s called on to play a bigger role against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. With starting linebacker Jelani Jenkins
missing practice Wednesday and Thursday because of an ankle injury, Neville conceivably could find himself in the starting lineup. That would be quite a development for Hewitt, who was one of four rookie free agent linebackers in training camp and now one of three on the active roster — along with Zach Vigil andMike Hull. “Good athlete, plays hard. he’s versatile,” Interim Head Coach Dan Campbell said. “Really, he could play all the positions if you needed him to. He’s done a good job for us on special teams. He’s one of those guys as a free agent we feel pretty fortunate that we found. That’s one of Duff’s (linebackers coach Mark Duffner) hidden gems that he was able to find. “Hey, if it doesn’t work out and Jelani is not able to come back, we feel pretty good about Hewitt filling in.”
Hewitt filled in against Philadelphia, playing 65 snaps on defense to go along with the 20 he got on special teams. He was credited with six tackles. Hewitt had gotten snaps on defense in two previous games along with contributing on special teams since the start of the season, but this was by far his most extensive action.
“I didn’t do bad,” Hewitt said. “I think I have some things I need to work on. Just with experience will get better and better. “Everybody is just learning. You never know when your number is going to be called. Right now everybody is just pretty much preparing for the what-if situations and stuff like that. “Any of our guys on this team, you give them a shot on defense they’re going to take advantage of the opportunity.”
BLACK JERSEYS ON THE SIDELINES
Dolphins players have gone back to wearing white and aqua jerseys at practice after Campbell decided to stop giving out black jerseys to either the offense or defense as a reward.
But that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the end of the black jerseys. “I like to change things up quite a bit,” Campbell said. ‘About the time we get in a rhythm with something, that’s when I like to change it up. I’ve just kind of always been that way. I felt like it was time to go away from them. They’ll pop back up again at some point.”
HOME SWEET HOME
The game against Dallas begins a season-ending stretch of five of seven games at home, which happens the fifth time in franchise history that’s happened. The Dolphins also finished with five of seven at home in 1970, 1971, 1975 and 1991. The Dolphins posted records of 5-2 in the final seven games in 1970 and 1971, and went 4-3 in 1975 and 1991. The 1970 schedule actually ended with the Dolphins playing at the Orange Bowl for five of their last six games.
“Obviously it’s a lot easier to play home games,” center Mike Pouncey
said. “If you would have asked me about this schedule at the beginning of the year, I would have told you I hated it. But the way the season works out, now that we have five of the last seven at home, it really is going to help our football team and kind of gives us an upper hand.” Said quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “I mean, it’s a luxury playing at home, especially late in the year. As much as we want to be home we want to be in front of our home crowd. Hopefully it’s a wild crowd, loud and makes it tough on those guys.” http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/article-1/NOTEBOOK-Hewitt-Showing-Versatility-Other-Notes/192b4809-6730-4ffd-b533-a422c441c806
