At the Dolphins' training complex in Davie, Fla., on a perfectly normal dog-day-of-training-camp day: 93 degrees, oppressively humid and no breeze. I watched the Dolphins work for 2½ hours, their fifth practice of camp. The first 35 minutes or so was loosening up and walking through some plays in the club's practice bubble, the rest on the Dolphins' well-manicured fields.
Three Observations
1. Holy cow: This team practices fast. I like coaches who think and then do things that make sense, even if they sound nutty. Joe Philbin did some thinking and came up with a plan. He knew there would be two major issues he'd face in training camp: how not to fry his team to death in the south Florida heat and humidity, and how to get all three quarterbacks enough work, so he'd be able to have enough evidence when it came time to pick a starter. Though the CBA allows him to practice once a day in pads for three hours, he decided (in most cases) to not exceed 2½ hours. And to get his quarterbacks enough work, he decided to have stereo 11-on-11 scrimmage sessions in the padded practices, one quarterback taking a snap and running a play, followed in seconds by the other quarterback taking a snap and running a play in the opposite direction. Brilliant. And it makes for a practice that seems to set land-speed records. I've never seen anything quite like it.
