• Even in his first preseason game, Ricky Williams clearly stands out. Say what you want about his off-the-field history, the guy can just flat-out run. You can't teach someone to change directions the way Williams did in a tackle-breaking 9-yard run against the Jets. You can’t teach those instincts. Assuming he stays healthy, Ricky will have a major role on this year's team. • Only close up can you really see how massive these rookie bookend defensive ends really are. Kendall Langford and Phillip Merling are both towering figures, the type of long, powerful players Parcells has a history of building behind. • It is obvious, even in brief action, that Chad Henne has a much stronger arm than anyone on this team. In fact, after watching him in practice for several weeks, it is clear to me that Henne probably has this team's strongest arm since Dan Marino. It's great to see a ball with that much velocity on it. No, we shouldn’t expect too much too soon. But the early reviews are certainly encouraging. • Randy Starks is a nice free agent addition on the defensive line. He's got an excellent burst. • One of the great stories of training camp continues to be right guard Donald Thomas, who earned a spot with the first team about 10 days ago and hasn't leg go of that status. • When healthy, I believe Yeremiah Bell is the team's best defensive back. http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/andycohen.asp?contentID=5952
Starks played against the second and third string defenders or that's when I saw him in and he got some nice push on the linemen. I think he had a sack. Ricky impressed me very much. Breaking tackles and good vision was displayed last night. Henne was impressive against the second/third string defense. I thought he looked good out there, taking the beating from the defensive linemen and still delivering the ball between the numbers. It just didn't help him when he takes a hit and still delivers it on the money twenty yards downfield, only to have it dropped by Wilford. I thought the Defensive Backs looked pretty good last night, nothing deep other than a couple of plays where they got beat (i.e. Allen by Clayton across the middle resulting in a drop by Clayton and Daniels got beat in the endzone but it was an overthrow). All of the passes were underneath for 4-6 yard gains to crossing receiver's and backs. I don't know if Bell is the best defensive back when healthy as I still think Allen is vastly underrated. I was impressed with Bell though, he had an INT but dropped it which may have been because of rust. Jason Allen made a nice play on the sideline where he dove and batted the ball down, I liked what I saw from him. On the offensive line, I only payed attention Jake Long as I forgot about Donald Thomas somehow. Long played well as some of you may have read FinNasty's great report. I think its safe to say that for those who were fortunate enough to watch the game, agree with the assessments made on Long. I believe Donald Thomas had one play his way and it was the 5-6 yard gain by Ronnie.
No bias reflected in that report .Thats what journalism was like before the PFT mentality took hold .
All great points. I was definately impressed with Henne and Long. Langford and Merling both impressed me last night too. They seemed to be in on alot of plays, always around the ball, and got some pressure on the QB sometimes as well. Ricky... is well Ricky. Enough said. Very impressive. I think we really need to be concerned with Wilford right now. He had two big drops last night on throws that should have easily been caught. One of which Henne took a real beating on too... Such a shame this guy is underachieving.
I agree with Andy as well... Langford seems to be a little ahead of Merling, IMO but both looked very good and are, as Andy said, massive guys. Long did very well, I thought. The pressure was coming from other areas mostly than the left side...I thought that while Thomas has looked pretty good, he did get schooled a couple of times...good work for the rook since he doesn't seem inclined to let loose of the RG spot. I'd still rather see Smiley in his better position of RG, but understand that putting Thomas and Long together just yet isn't a sound move.. The DBs played pretty well early in the game. I like what we are seeing from Jason Allen. He actually looks like he belongs out there this year. I am concerned about a few holdover issues from last year...#1 was the inability of the D stop anything on third down and allow Tampa long drives. This coming from an offense that didn't have it's best RB... #2 was that it seems Wilford has taken up where Hagan dropped (and that is an intended pun) off from last year, but he's not the only one with that issue. #3 was shoddy tackling in general. I realize this is the first preseason game and there was no game planning or film study of Tampa during the week, but tackling is a basic skill that was, in general, poor Saturday night... #4 was the weak coverage teams...especially later in the game...let Tampa off with some good runbacks... #5 and I left this one for last since things may change with the addition of Pennington, the QB play was just ok. Nothing to write home about. Beck seemed comfortable, but he didn't/couldn't get downfield (it's possible that was by plan, but none of the coaches indicated that after the game). Henne seemed more poised than I expected and certainly has an arm, but miscues by either him and/or others kept him from being all that impressive. McCown was not very impressive, but something has to be said for the surrounding personnel. I think this is an indication that he may be the odd man out in the QB race. Keeping 4 QBs, while not unheard of, is just a ruse being used by Tunaland and Sparano to deflect the press. There were still some positives that have been pointed out. I like the overall direction the staff has this team pointed. But I'd sure like to see some things not remain the same...We have a few more preseason games to see...
I agree with his assessment. The only real player I would of cut right after the game was LB Tobor #53. He was afraid to tackle. He always showed up to the play afterwards. Not to mention the obvious one where he ran right by the RB with the ball to look in the pile. I think Tampa's RB was looking to get hit and was surprised when he Torbor just ran past him.
i had a mild concern with our defense as well. while overall they looked like they were doing well and making the plays, they just couldn't get off the field. Wilford has just been proving my points of how he shouldn't even be here. Henne looked the best of all the QBs in my opinion. he was quite accurate, had superior strength, and performed better than his stats would indicate b/c of the drops & busted protection at the line. (i think Long did well, but i saw him confused when the Bucs brought the blitz sometimes - this is completely FINE though, part of the learning process ) Ricky is a beast. i am not going to associate the "C" work with Beck, but come on.... all of his passes were pretty much swing-outs and shorts.... whereas Henne was taking shots downfield with the SAME personnel on offense. that just goes to show.... i don't think Beck is worse than Henne - he just seems less confident in the pocket. i can easily attribute this to the absolute beating he was taking last year though.... the question is, will Beck regain his confidence? I don't doubt he's a great QB if given proper time & exhibits confidence...
