My Report for Tuesday's Night Practice Session | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

My Report for Tuesday's Night Practice Session

Ozzy

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Wassup Folks,

I only went to the night session and was glad I did. The biggest crowd I've seen in all my years attending camp! Probably close to about 2000 people, maybe 2200! It would not have surprised me one bit if it was 2500 because lots of people were standing!

I sat down at the thirty yard line because I noticed the lighting was only set up for a little over half the field. That's where I went. About ten minutes after I sat down here comes Drew Rosenhaus and he sits directly behind me, along with his brother! Lots of people might think man this guys an idiot, but I'll say this, he is extremely nice to anyone who approaches him. I was just looking at him and gave him a nod, he was very receptive saying hello to everyone who noticed him.

OK lets do some offense:

Ray Lucas had an average day today, IMO anyway. I think a lot of this was due to the fact that the defense stepped it up a bit on them. First pass out of the blocks is a pass to McKnight, who CAUGHT IT, for about 10 yards! But then he throws a long ball to the other side of the field and Surtain stepped right in the way for an INT. He did throw a couple of nice passes to Dedric Ward that were dropped and hit McKight on another that was thrown behind, and Intercepted again this time for a Td. It was either Madison or Surtain on that one, I think the latter. Overall I'd like to think that our defense is the main reason for this because not only were there a few INT's thrown tonight but I counted 6-7 sacks!! DL playing that good? Sure looked like it! Or was it the O-line being that bad? Hmmm

Zac Kustok may be working with the second units, but he is not impressing me with his throws! He may be ahead in the classroom, but not the field IMO. He did launch a high arching bomb to Jeff Ogden! But he was way way off to many times, and actually put a couple of Wr's in harms way! Don't get me wrong here because he did complete a couple of decent passes, just nothing gave me goosebumps!

Tim Levcik had a real good for his second and third set of series. Completing a real nice bomb to Robert Baker, and another one dropped by that same guy! He looked much more fluid tonight! Nothing to get too excited about though!!

These two guys are plain and simple very raw, and nothing reported in Training Camps should be taken without a grain of salt. Lets see how they look against another team, especially in a GAME! That will be the tall tell tail with them.

Wr's did not have a great night:

Orande had one nice Rec. but I'm not sure of his totals

Chris Chambers was wide open in the middle of the field, but the ball was deflected at the line and fell short. On another play, he was the drop-off guy, and Surtain busted the play up perfectly. Other than that I don't believe Chris had any catches.

Dedric Ward dropped a sure Td pass, and dropped another one as well, he did rebound from both bad plays with a couple of decent catches.

McKnight did it again, he dropped two balls, but both were bad passes, thrown behind him, one being a bullet that he barely had time to see, getting his arm on it, and it went right in the Db's hands (I think it was Surtain) for a returned Td. But he did however, hold on to a couple. Had Dedric Ward not dropped those two balls I would again be calling for Ward to be the new number three Wr. Hey I know it's early but what's a TC without some sort of controversy! :)

Ogden had the play of the night, making a totally horizontal, Chris Chambers type catch, on a long ball thrown by Kustok. The ball was thrown high and well over his head, but he stayed with it looking straight over his head. He just dove at the last second and make a spectacular catch! The crowd went bonkers! I know this may be bad, but there seems to be a bad side to most of these good to great plays, but I have to report what I see. Ogdens next catch resulted in a fumble that could have been returned for a Td, had the whistle not been blown. :(

Robert Baker dropped one tonight too, but was in on quite a lot of plays. I think the coaches are giving this guy a real chance too see how bad he wants it.

I believe that FB Deon Dyer made the only catch of all the Fb's tonight, an over the head, one handed catch I might add, out in the flat. Had he not bobbled it just a little bit, he may have rumbled for quite a long gainer, still he got 10 yards out of it.

Albert Johnson got in some pretty good work tonight, making a couple of catches, on some short routes.

Sam Simmons had one catch that I saw

Nothing from the TE's tonight, sorry!

Well, lets move to running the ball:

Ricky Williams got in a few more reps than yesterday afternoon, and I think we got one heck of a worker here. Every time he touches the ball he fights kicks, scratches for an extra inch, he made three decent runs for gains over 4-5 yards, hard earned yards I might add. He is still not the focus of this TC yet. The coaches seem to want the other three to show there stuff....

Which brings me too Robert Edward's, man this guy is impressing the heck out of me! You would have thought that after more than a two year layoff, this guy would be really hurting from his first or hardest hitting in those long two years. Well, he did not show any signs of it tonight! He made three real real nice runs, cutting sharply on his newly healed leg! He also had one nice catch that he turned into about a 15 yard gain.

Travis Minor did not fair as well as yesterday, but made some tough runs to the outside. And one play he even dipped into the trenches for some love, squeezing out the backside of it for a five yarder! Could he be hinting at us for some reason! He is the number two guy on the depth chart, but if Edward's keeps it up.......

Leonard Henry got in lots of work on ST's stuff, so did almost every one, but they had him working with some of the same guys that were our ST'ers last year! He also had one real nice run to the outside, taking two good hits, and again, he did not go down! He is tough that's for sure!

Now lets do some OL dissecting:

Yesterday I told you guys that Todd Perry was probably the best of all lineman, today I'd have to say that the whole line took steps backwards! He did OK but that's what we saw from him last year right? OK is not what we need!

Today my favorite lineman would be none other than Troy Andrew, mostly because of his hustle on two plays.

Leon Searcy did not impress me again tonight, and I know it's the groin! I saw him get knocked right on his Butt by Ogun, right off the jump. Wally just hit him hard on his right side and Searcy twisted and fell, he got up and held his groin in some pain. I'm definitely giving him a pass, but man he has got to get better, fast!

Seth McKinney is making friends in a hurry! Getting into two shoving matches with two different players, in a span of about 6-8 plays. The first being with DT Henry Taylor, and the second with newly acquired Jay Williams, with both matches ending with a smack to Mac's face by the defenders. Seth went at Taylor, but was restrained and when Williams hit him he just turned around and huddled up! I think he was holding but I'm sure he'll deny it. :)

Brent Smith was back in action. But Marcus Spriggs stood out to me, against second team players but he made two nice pancakes out of two different DE's Kelly, and Wally I believe...

I'll say that the Offensive Lines play tonight was well below the average they would like. Not too much more to report there!

Tonight's Practice was more of a defensive show, with Patrick Surtain making, I THINK, three INT's, and Fletcher making one, it may have hit the ground though, and also was close to interference! If I would have had time to write up Tuesdays defensive report (my apologies) you would have seen me write that I thought Jamar Fletcher got burned (not badly burned but a game of inches) too many times, well tonight he was covering Chris Chambers quite a lot, and remember I think Chris had a goose egg in his stats book tonight? A much, much better job by Fletcher tonight. I'm all for giving this guy a chance to showcase himself, but I'm watching him, and will surely keep people informed!

Autoro Freeman had a nice night, batting down two balls perfectly, and once getting to the QB (He could have decapitated him) on a double blitz, by him and Rodgers, with Freeman going right up the MIDDLE, untouched! Lots of blitz packages are being used this year! Some Zone blitzing too!! Not only is this good for the D, but great for practice against it for the Offense.

I liked watching Omare Lowe he seems very poised out there for a rookie, he may be able to contribute plenty this year.

Ray Green has slipped just a little bit, but still getting lots of work with Mel Phillips.

Brock Marion jammed his finger in individual drill, but kept right at it, making some nice hits on Rb's while supporting the right side on a Lb blitz. I don't think the finger slowed him down a bit.

Morlon Greenwood make some nice hard hits on two consecutive running plays to his side. First time I noticed him, or should I say he made me notice him!

Zach, well he's number 54, what else is needed to be said?

Lets do some of the interesting stuff now, the DL:

I don't think this teams offensive line is that bad, they may actually end up being good, but this D-line was all over the place tonight, with David Bowens playing like an animal, protecting the run pretty darn good, and being a nuisance pass rushing! The guy made some hard hits tonight and drew lots of praise from his teamates!

Larry Chester for the second straight day had to be told he played defense because he was spending most of his time in the offensive backfield. He is getting plenty of push even being double teamed. Nothing working up the middle tonight while he and Timbo were in there.

Hailey saw some first team action as well, spelling Tim Bowens a few times, he also worked good with Chester, and teamed with Grant too.

Rob Burnett had two sacks in a row, one with him rolling RT Cornell Green up on Ray Lucas' foot, making him limp for a few! I was impressed with Burnett tonight, I know he wants to play more than just third downs but if they used him exclusively for this role, his old butt could stay fresh, and could give the Dolphins that right side pass rush that left when Trace left.

Henry Taylor made some pretty good plays again tonight, he is a good project for this team, with the right work he may get in the rotation some time, maybe after a year in Europe! He's caught my eye though........so far!

Jason Taylor was all over the place early on, giving Lucas FITS, and Brent Smith too! He definitely had one sack that I saw, and I thought he may have been in on one more!

Well, there you have it! Some good, and some bad from the view thru my eyes on tonight's practice!

It's now 2:25 am and I'm beat. If you guys have any questions feel free!

Again, I hope everyone enjoys the reading! As much as I enjoyed tonight practice, in person :D

Peace,

Oz
 
Oz, you are really feeding my fix...thanks. Keep up the good work and, once again, thanks for being one set of eyes and ears for us left coasters who can't make it out there to see out beloved 'Fins. ;)
 
Drew. The only agent I almost (after all he is still an agent :lol: ) like :D

He's ****y but at the same time he isn't stupid and is always on top of the market trends and isn't PC. He will tell you like it is.
 
Thanks Oz...

...you know there's a pretty good level of consistency between the observations of the guys reporting camp which helps a distant fan like myself get the feeling this is really what's going down.

Thanks a million!! :cool:
 
Drew Rosenhaus is a sleezebag. That doesn't mean I don't like him, but if you've ever even read excerpts from his book, you'd know what a sleezebag he is.

"People ask me what the most valuable piece of real estate is. They say is it some mansion out over the pacific ocean in california, is it a penthouse in the middle of manhattan, whats the most valuable piece of real estate. The most valuable piece of real estate in this world is that 4 inch patch of grass between a woman's legs and thats the truth"

-Drew Rosenhaus
 
Subject: Marvez Q&A


Good morning Dolphins fan,
Today’s ‘Fins Insider Report consists of Alex Marvez’s weekly mailbag. Many of his responses will be seen ONLY by subscribers. Remember, he receives lots of questions each week and can’t get to all of them. You can submit questions any time by e-mailing askalex@sun-sentinel.com. Enjoy!
Q: How much cap room did the Dolphins save this season and next by
releasing Daryl Gardener? Gerry Grazano, Valley Park, MO
A: Gardener will count a significant amount in “dead money†against the Dolphins’ 2003 salary cap. Gardener’s cap number for next season is $6.1 million, which is the total amount of prorated signing bonus that will remain from the eight-year, $49.5 million contract he signed in July 2000. The salary cap for teams in 2003 won’t be determined until February, but the figure is expected to rise several million from the 2002 cap number of $71.1 million. If there’s any solace, the Dolphins did save $2.6 million against the 2002 cap by releasing Gardener. He also was slated to count $7.29 million against the 2003 cap before being cut, which translates into a savings of roughly $1.1 million in cap room. The $7.29 million cap figure is a combination of his base salary ($5.72 million), signing bonus proration ($1.54 million) and reporting bonus ($30,000) for 2003.
Q: How could the Dolphins just release Daryl Gardener without
getting anything in return? Why couldn’t the Dolphins at least have
received a low-round draft pick, instead of releasing him and
getting nothing in return? With the money freed up by releasing
him, do you see Miami spending that money, and on whom? Doug Thews
Colleyville, TX
A: Gardener wouldn’t have proven appealing trade bait because of his contract. Any team interested in acquiring Gardener via trade would have to have cap room for his 2002 base salary of $2.7 million. My feeling is the Dolphins will work on extending the contracts of some of their younger players with the money freed by Gardener’s release.
Q: If Andy Vincent hadn’t been forced to retire, would he have been
the starting left tackle? Adam Cerny Ft. Lauderdale, FL
A: No, Vincent was vying for playing time at guard.
Q: What’s the story with Jay Williams? Do you think he’ll be better
than Daryl Gardener would have been at defensive end? I don’t think
Gardener would have been that productive at end? Keith Rayna, Short
Hills, NJ
A: Williams has plenty to prove after coming off a mediocre season in Carolina. It’s hard to say how well Gardener would have played at end, as he only played the position in offseason non-contact practices.
Q: Has Heath Irwin retired? Kevin Syken, Norco, CA
A: No. Irwin signed this offseason with St. Louis.
Q: Why do you think Dave Wannstedt named Oronde Gadsden the starter
so early in camp? Wouldn’t a speedster like James McKnight be
better off in Norv Turner’s offense? I just can’t see a possession
receiver like Oronde being an ideal fit. Jeff Alessandri, Clifton,
NJ
A: Dave Wannstedt said McKnight is the Dolphins’ fastest receiver, but he struggled with consistency in 2001. That being said, McKnight still has a chance to land the position if he enjoys a huge preseason and Gadsden should struggle.
Q: Is there any chance of Shawn Draper being switched back to
tackle because of lack of depth on the offensive line? Jamie Nurin,
Tallahassee, FL
A: No. Draper now weighs in the 265-pound range because he is playing at tight end, plus it would take a while to convert him back.
Q: Did the Dolphins consider signing DL Sam Adams? If no, why not?
David Ems, Savannah, GA
A: The Dolphins already addressed defensive tackle in the offseason by signing Larry Chester. Adams wouldn’t sign here as a backup and could land a more lucrative deal elsewhere where he could start.
Q: I heard that Jamie Nails could be a possible starter at guard.
Is that true? If so, is it because he is playing that great or is
the offensive line so weak that a player who is normally a backup
has a chance to start? Steven Fernandez
A: Nails started all 16 games for Buffalo in 2000 but he got way too heavy (390 pounds) in the 2001 offseason and was cut in last year’s training camp with the Dolphins. Nails has since gotten his act together and now weighs 335 pounds. He is a run-blocking force who is a legitimate contender to start because of his ability.
Q: The Carolina Panthers had the worst rushing defense overall last
year, yet the Dolphins have signed two of their former linemen in
Larry Chester and Jay Williams. If these guys were so good, how
come Carolina’s rush defense was so bad last year? Scott
Kraszewski, Mechanicville, NY
A: The Panthers were wracked by injuries from the get-go, especially at linebacker. Chester was lost midway through the season to a leg injury, while Williams was forced to play with a damaged finger. Still, both players have something to prove with the Dolphins.
Q: Is it true that Randy McMichael has looked terrific thus far in
camp? Are the Dolphins concerned about his blocking skills? Also,
will we see more two tight end sets in Norv Turner’s system? Andrew
Reich, Hollywood, FL
A: McMichael has looked great and will continue to improve as a run blocker as he gains NFL experience. I’m not too sure how many two tight-end sets the Dolphins will use. That may largely depend on the opponent, how quickly McMichael develops and whether fellow tight ends Jed Weaver and Alonzo Mayes show they can make an impact in Turner’s passing attack.
Q: Is Dave Wannstedt serious about possibly carrying three
fullbacks? Is he serious or is he just trying to create better
competition in camp? I’ve never seen an NFL team have three
legitimate fullbacks on the roster. Marcus Robinson, Dix Hills, NY
A: I seriously doubt the Dolphins will carry three fullbacks unless Femi Ayanbadejo proves he can contribute on special teams.
Q: There are rumors swirling that Dave Wannstadt “leaked†information about team discontent to the media in the month prior to Daryl Gardener’s release in order to gain support for the move.
Do you think that the Dolphins meant to release Gardener all along,
or just in the days prior to the release? Rick Wilson, Elk Grove,
CA
A: I don’t think this was planned all that far in advance. Basically, the Dolphins grew tired of Gardener and decided to make a change before the start of training camp.
Q: How has Robert Edwards looked in camp thus far? Linda Bernstein,
Weston, FL
A: Excellent. Just as encouraging, Edwards hasn’t been plagued by leg problems the same way he was in last year’s training camp with New England.
Q: Are you shocked the offensive line is such a mess? Why didn’t the Dolphins address the line during the offseason? Also, can Seth McKinney play guard if needed? Terry Larmer, Vancouver, B.C.
A: I wouldn’t say the line is a mess quite yet. That being said, Wannstedt did role the dice by not making any big-name free-agent signings in the offseason. Wannstedt said the players on the market were either way too pricey for their talent or not as good as the talent the team currently has. That being said, I’d say every starter except Todd Wade had better have a good year or they’ll probably be playing elsewhere in 2002. McKinney is receiving some snaps at guard, but my feeling is that his long-term future is at center.
Q: Will Chris Chambers or Brock Marion return kicks when the season
starts? Stephen O., Miami, FL
A: Not if Travis Minor proves he can handle the role during training camp. I doubt we’ll be seeing Chambers on kickoffs again because of his importance in the offense and injury risk on special teams.


**The Dolphins did not practice this morning. You will receive a practice report on Thursday.
**The team departs for Nashville, Tenn., Thursday afternoon for practice/scrimmage sessions with the Titans on Friday and Saturday. The players are off on Sunday.
**Members-only Web site launches Sept. 4
 
Thanks DNY. So the Sun Sentinel has had these reports going throughout training camp so far? Have they said anything about Monday or Tuesday that wasn't said in either Ozzy's or JBrown's reports?
 
The Herald said that RW fumbled twice. This wasn't mentioned in any of the reports. He was hit By Hailey during a catch in the flats and creamed and fumbled. I'd think that's an important point not to leave out. 2 fumbles
 
Originally posted by Sherif
The Herald said that RW fumbled twice. This wasn't mentioned in any of the reports. He was hit By Hailey during a catch in the flats and creamed and fumbled. I'd think that's an important point not to leave out. 2 fumbles


Yeah he did have the ball SNATCHED out of his hands by Autoro Freeman (pretty sure) but it was really after the play, the whistle was blowing, and blowing. That's what they do when the play should have been over and the players just keep going!

He still lost it though......
 
Originally posted by ckparrothead
Drew Rosenhaus is a sleezebag. That doesn't mean I don't like him, but if you've ever even read excerpts from his book, you'd know what a sleezebag he is.

"People ask me what the most valuable piece of real estate is. They say is it some mansion out over the pacific ocean in california, is it a penthouse in the middle of manhattan, whats the most valuable piece of real estate. The most valuable piece of real estate in this world is that 4 inch patch of grass between a woman's legs and thats the truth"

-Drew Rosenhaus

Well, maybe the only women he has ever had, were only there for the money, pretty much saying he had to buy a piece of that real estate, no samples! :D
 
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