Written by;
Anthony Sanchez
The Miami Dolphins begin day three of training camp today, the pads come on the feel is almost like christmas for most of these guys the physicality and intensity seemed to be turned up compared to the first two days of camp. There was a good crowd on hand albeit under cloudy skies to witness the first day of training camp, you can feel the anxiousness, anticipation and excitement oozing from the fan base.
The offense had its ups and downs today, I will start with the bad because there is no way around it the offensive line looked really bad today as they just seemed overwhelmed on the first day of pads.
The offensive line spent the morning being pushed around and not just the guards, Jason Fox, Ja'wuan James, Billy Turner and Dallas Thomas all ended up on the ground at least once. The bright spots on the line were Mike Pouncey continuing his strong start of training camp along with rookie Jamil Douglas who was on the first team to start drills and showed some promise, definitely showed more in the brief time of being here than all of Dallas Thomas's tenure. A side note is left tackle Branden Albert was not in full pads as expected, but was lining up at left tackle for first time in warm ups.
Ryan Tannehill looking sharp, confident, decisive and to be quite honest very accurate, had a good day was anticipating throws and placing the ball where it needed to be allowing the skill players to make plays.
The surprise on offense today was the day had by running back Lamichael James who looked sharp was making people miss, had a nice stuffing block in pass drills and all morning showed off his quickness, shiftiness and decisiveness. The negative on the running back position today belongs to rookie Jay Ajayi who continually was getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage and will need to lower his pad level running to high.
The wide receivers were on display today, especially Jarvis Landry and Greg Jennings who just seemed to have a bond or connection if you will with their quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Jarvis Landry really showed out today by far the star of practice at least on the offensive side of the ball just continues to make star studded receptions and is reliable to make the catch. Veteran wide receiver Greg Jennings had a nice day receiving showing off his crisp and smooth route running and continued to make plays for Ryan Tannehill.
Now to the brightest unit on the field and that hands down belonged to the defense who showed its fan base a glimpse of what can be. The story of day three in camp is the complete domination by the defensive line over the offensive line in day one of pads. Ndamukong Suh and Cam Wake lined up side by side causing havoc up front exclamated by the blowing up of offensive lineman Billy Turner and Ja'wuan James in pass Rush drills.
Terrence Fede had a nice practice and showing in rush drills adding a sack on quarterback Matt Moore, also along the defensive line behemoth rookie Jordan Phillips impressed by making plays behind the line of scrimmage stopping running backs for minus yards and you can not leave out Olivier Vernon who provided constant pressure throughout practice, including two would be sacks.
The linebackers that stood out to me today were Jordan Tripp who showed he can play, had quite a few stops for short gain, flying all over the field and came up with a would be sack on quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The other player that caught my attention was Chris McCain who was back on the first team outside linebacker spot flying around applying pressure and showing he can play in this league.
The secondary had a solid day, cornerback Jamar Taylor was looking confident and for sure making a statement for that second cornerback spot behind Brent Grimes, Taylor looked much more aggressive and physical out there making plays. Safety Walt Aikens had a good day as well, showing growth from year one to year two, rookie safety Ced Thompson got the first interception of the day picking off quarterback Mcleod Bethel-Thompson, you can also add veteran safety and special teams specialist Michael Thomas to the list of players with a good showing today, also nabbing himself an
interception off of quarterback Matt Moore.
Day three is a wrap and what all Miami Dolphin fans can walk away with today is there is something special brewing with this defense skies the limit. All eyes were on the offensive and defensive lines on the first day of pads and there was no doubt that today's story is revolved around the defense completely dominating the offensive line making a statement in pads.
I will say that things must be kept in perspective today, it is only day three of training camp and it was the first day of pads going up against a stout and powerful defensive line, but there is no doubt the offensive line needs to get to work and clean many things up, the Miami Dolphins next scheduled practice is set for Sunday August 2nd, 2015 at 8am.
