Miami Dolphins Training Camp Week in Review (Week 3)

A light practice begins with Quinton Bell in orange.  Bell has had a very good camp so far, and is well positioned to get a snap count going forward on the edge.  Jaylen Waddle and Jalen Ramsey are here, but are not participants today.  Jordyn Brooks, and Anthony Walker Jr. are also dealing with “something”, and are not practicing as well.  Tua Tagovailoa misfires on a deep ball to Tyreek Hill with Ethan Bonner in coverage.  Tua then hits Tyreek with a dime over Storm Duck and Jevon Holland.  That was pretty much it for the 11v11 highlights.

Later on in practice, a fascinating situation came up, where Quinton Bell was isolated in the flat with Alec Ingold, and Ingold turned his flat route up, created separation and caught a pass from Tua for a big gainer.  The situation (I can’t reveal the coverage) showed some of the rules the defense will operate under based on the coverage /which hash the play was run from, and I can tell you, that the execution was good, but the result was not.  Bell was clearly fooled by the Ingold improvisation, or the play design.  David Long Jr. had a PBU on the goal line on a Tua to Malik Washington zone beater.  His activity against the run was noticeable, and his play in the short zone area was very good.  He gets the nod on this day.  The Atlanta Falcons come into town for Tuesday and Wednesday joint practices.

3YPC Player of the Practice:  David Long Jr.

Duke Riley shows up in the orange, and it is well deserved.  I had given the practice MVP to David Long Jr., but it makes perfect sense that a team that excelled in short zone coverage, would have one of it’s LB’s get the nod.  Jaylen Waddle, Jordyn Brooks, and Anthony Walker among those not practicing.  The joint practice moves on to 1v1’s and the turkey shoot begins, and I zone out a bit, as I find them to be pretty useless.  So I move on to 1v1’s that are a bit more interesting.  OL v. DL.  I saw three reps from Patrick Paul that were very good, including one rep where he rode Lorenzo Carter completely out of the play.  The rookie is beginning to stack good practices.

That Paul is coming on a bit, is a good development since this day saw poor play from Kendall Lamm, Kion Smith, and Ryan Hayes.  All on the left side.  As 11v11 begins, a brawl starts after Ethan Bonner and Drake London get entangled.  Several players move toward the scrum, look like they are going to do something, but nothing happens.  We move on.  The Dolphins defense dominates to start and at one point, the Falcons offense led by Kirk Cousins gains 8 yards on 8 snaps (Michael Penix was not very good early on, but finished up strong in the redzone).  Tua Tagovailoa’s offense gained 68 on their 8 snaps.  The play of the day came when Tua on play action, finds Tyreek Hill on a 49 yard deep ball TD, that beat Falcons corner Mike Hughes.  Hughes later picked off Tua with a fiving interception, as Tua tried to hit Cracraft on a glance route when the Falcons sent a blitz.  Great idea, poor execution.  Intercepted.  The Dolphins OL had problems picking up blitzes, but you can chalk up the win on this day for the Miami Dolphins overall.  River Cracraft converted three third downs, scored a TD, and was open on the glance route that got intercepted (poor pass) so he could have had a monster day.  The defense was very good, but the wealth was spread out.  Tyreek Hill cannot be covered, but we expect that.  Cracraft continued his good camp, and earns my “player of the practice.”  Both offenses drove for FG’s on their situational to end practice.  Both started at their own 35 yard line, and the Dolphins kicked a 50 yarder, as the Falcons kicked a 47 yarder.

3YPC Player of the Practice: River Cracraft

This was as uneventful a joint practice as you can have since it was stopped several times for skirmishes/pushing matches that stopped play for several minutes at a time. Then, a serious injury for Atlanta Falcons WR Rondale Moore cut practice short.  The Miami Dolphins in the end did not get any benefit of a simulated portion of practice, which is what they run in the last half hour.  The Falcons however did get one simulated drive that started at their own 40, and ended at the Dolphins 19 yard line with a fumbled shotgun snap by Kirk Cousins that Edge rusher Chop Robinson recovered.

As for he play otherwise, TE Kyle Pitts made some plays against Dolphin safeties Marcus Maye and Elijah Campbell.  Skylar Thompson had some success running the goal line portion of practice, and Mike White found success throwing it deep, along with one absolute dime to Malik Washington.  Tua Tagovailoa and his 1^st team offense did not find too much success, and neither did Kirk Cousins or Michael Penix for that matter.  Miami’s offense with Tua in, had a nearly 5 to 1 Run/Pass ratio, and the emphasis seemed to be on squaring away the run game install for this practice.  The issues with the pass protection continued, but were mitigated by crafty pocket work by Tua Tagovailoa as he found open receivers by maneuvering in the pocket.  Aaron Brewer left the field with an apparent right hand injury.  Not ideal.  Also not ideal is that Liam Eichenberg is now pressed into duty at two positions, center and guard.  Later on, we learned through Jordan Poyer’s wife Rachel Bush that Poyer’s absence as of late is due to a thumb injury and it is not believed to be serious.  Odell Beckham seems closer to a return as he has ramped up work as of late.  Malik Washington gets the nod today due to his execution of the playbook, and the splash plays that seem to be a regular occurrence lately.

Friday’s game will be one of the most interesting 1^st preseason games to watch in recent memory.  Rookie’s Malik Washington, Patrick Paul, Chop Robinson, Mo Kamara, and Jaylen Wright all figure to play prominent roles, and get plenty of playing time.

3YPC Player of the Practice: Malik Washington

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