D.Thomas dancing his way to the bench?

Great. It's early.

I thought he turned it up a bit towards the end of his runs

He did get a little better towards the end of the last game, but if his response to that performance was bad enough that LJ started over him this week then yikes.

IIRC, we passed up on a lot of talent that was still OTB to take this guy [cough, Mallett - cough, cough]. Sure hope he's worth it.

Gotta love the irony that Chad Henne now has more moves than DT.

"The G Man wrote:

IIRC, we passed up on a lot of talent that was still OTB to take this guy [cough, Mallett - cough, cough]. Sure hope he's worth it.

I'm sure I will have to root for Mallet to be a bust.

It's the only way my fragile psyche can handle the Fins and their draft choices.

Let's see how he does tomorrow. I heard some reports LJ was running with the first team during some 11 on 11's

"SICK wrote:

Let's see how he does tomorrow. I heard some reports LJ was running with the first team during some 11 on 11's

Word, where'd you read that?

DT dances too much behind the line?

Sure looks to me like he doesn't dance enough at times given the walls he's run into during games.

It wouldn't surprise me to see LJ getting some reps with the 1st team either. Not only would that be the best way to test what he has or what he can do, but there are also only so many practice reps to go around, and typically the 1st team gets the most reps (so they'd need to work him into the 1st team at least some to get adequate snaps for him, since he's coming in late).

"slickj101 wrote:

I thought Jason Taylor was our only resident ballerina.

-PBP

"another bad preseason game"??? What was wrong with last game?

"FinNasty wrote:

"another bad preseason game"??? What was wrong with last game?

4 runs inside the 5 and only 1 TD to show for it is my best guess.

"Stitches wrote:

DT dances too much behind the line?

Sure looks to me like he doesn't dance enough at times given the walls he's run into during games.

It wouldn't surprise me to see LJ getting some reps with the 1st team either. Not only would that be the best way to test what he has or what he can do, but there are also only so many practice reps to go around, and typically the 1st team gets the most reps (so they'd need to work him into the 1st team at least some to get adequate snaps for him, since he's coming in late).

He definitely dances. He looks hesitant to pick a cut and go with it. That and he has a lack of vision. That one nice run he had for 11 or so at the end of the last game could of been for way more if he would of just taken an angle after he made his first move.

"SICK wrote:

Let's see how he does tomorrow. I heard some reports LJ was running with the first team during some 11 on 11's

"slickj101 wrote:

Word, where'd you read that?

I'm not sure where he read it, but I'm pretty sure that since camp has officially closed, only the 1st 30 mins of practice are currently open to the media. So it's not like they see everything that's going on, or have a true sense of how a particular player is doing in a particular week of practice (IMO).

"Stitches wrote:

4 runs inside the 5 and only 1 TD to show for it is my best guess.

The ridiculous stretch and fumble he attempted for the goal line didn't help.

"Stitches wrote:

I'm not sure where he read it, but I'm pretty sure that since camp has officially closed, only the 1st 30 mins of practice are currently open to the media. So it's not like they see everything that's going on, or have a true sense of how a particular player is doing in a particular week of practice (IMO).

I was just kidding. My original post says it in the last sentence. :lol:

"slickj101 wrote:

I thought Jason Taylor was our only resident ballerina.

According to the Palm Beach Post, rookie Daniel Thomas continued to struggle in practice at Dolphins camp this week.
Thomas apparently didn't respond well to another bad preseason game, and the Post confirms he "hasn't had a great camp so far." The coaching staff called out Thomas for "not going full-speed in practice" and "tip-toeing" behind the line of scrimmage.

The team signed Larry Johnson as insurance, and L.J. reportedly took practice reps ahead of Thomas this week.

-PBP

This would be why you don't dump 2 veteran workhorse backs after drafting a rookie RB.
Christ!

"Coral Reefer wrote:

This would be why you don't dump 2 veteran workhorse backs after drafting a rookie RB.
Christ!

You can't really dump a UFA.

"Coral Reefer wrote:

This would be why you don't dump 2 veteran workhorse backs after drafting a rookie RB.
Christ!

Letting Ronnie go is fine with me.

But it's aggrevating that we let Ricky (who has great vision) go, and of course DT's biggest problem (imo) is his lack of vision. It would of def been nice to have a seasoned vet like Rick around to teach DT or whichever rookie RB we could of drafted but whatever.

"Stitches wrote:

You can't really dump a UFA.

Come on Stitch.. You're splitting hairs with me.
Both made it clear they wanted to come back and sign in Miami.
We told both to pound sand and pursued no one else except for Bush who's never played in the role we apparently expect him to.

I hope it all works out but bottom line is that it was an irresponsible decision by Ireland/Sparano or both.

"slickj101 wrote:

Letting Ronnie go is fine with me.

But it's aggrevating that we let Ricky (who has great vision) go, and of course DT's biggest problem (imo) is his lack of vision. It would of def been nice to have a seasoned vet like Rick around to teach DT or whichever rookie RB we could of drafted but whatever.

It's decisions like this that tell you a lot about the people running the team.
Some overlook it but to me it says a lot.
What you mentioned and more are very valid reasons to have kept either Williams or Brown.
I'd love to be wrong.

I wouldn't put too much into LJ running with the 1s. He's playing some serious catch-up right now. I'm not gonna read anything into that.

When it comes to the RBs, it doesn't really matter who 'starts' anyway.

As far as Daniel Thomas goes... well, first of all, I wasn't a fan of us trading up to get him. I have my doubts about him. Now... understanding that... the guy has played exactly 2 preseason games. A little perspective is needed here. He was raw as a RB coming out of college, but he has some real ability. Even I can understand that it is WAAAAAAAYYYY too early to judge the guy. Give me 6 regular season games, then ask me again if I'm nervous about Daniel Thomas.

I'll just leave it at that.

I'm not too worried about his career based on two preseason games and a training camp.

But I've always said people are underestimating a rookie's learning curve, pretending that it doesn't exist for tailbacks when it clearly does, and this particular rookie was always set to be more raw than most since this is only his 3rd year as a true tailback.

We'd better hope that Reggie Bush stays healthy and continues to look as impressive as he did against the Panthers. There were times Reggie floored me with how different he looked in that game from how he did as a Saint, and I wasn't afraid to admit it (contrary to what some would have you believe). But it's becoming increasingly apparent that we're in the unenviable position of hoping that performance against the Panthers wasn't just the mirage of a bad defensive front being bad.

The biggest concern isn't Daniel Thomas and it's not Reggie Bush though. It's the offensive line. That right side of the line looked like a wasteland to me in that Panthers game even going against a bad defensive front. We opened up holes because of lack of defensive discipline and some at-times strong back side blocking from the likes of Nate Garner, Lydon Murtha, Anthony Fasano and Richie Incognito.

One thing I haven't understood is the general feeling that letting Ronnie go is fine but letting Ricky go was the big mistake.

Last year I thought Ronnie had way more physical talent left in the tank than Ricky Williams. Ricky did outperform Ronnie on a yards per carry basis, but Ronnie was still the only one of the two that could break a tackle and actually earn something himself, IMO. And then when the season ended, Ricky put Tony Sparano, Chad Henne, everyone on blast and just totally burned his bridges. I'm done with him. Forget him. He's old and he can't earn what he runs for anymore. Ronnie Brown still can and to me he looked tentative at times like maybe he was worried about getting hurt when he's finally about to become a UFA. He only signed for $1 million on a 1 year deal and I'd have TOTALLY done that just to have the man as an insurance policy for Reggie Bush & Daniel Thomas.

Of course, that doesn't mean Ronnie would have accepted our offer...but most seem to agree that while the Dolphins were playing the "if the phone doesn't ring, it's me" game with him, he was actually pining after us and waiting for that phone call, didn't want to leave Miami.

Ronnie looked pretty good on that 13 yard TD last night. Ricky hasn't looked so hot so far. Just preseason, but still.

"Coral Reefer wrote:

This would be why you don't dump 2 veteran workhorse backs after drafting a rookie RB.
Christ!

This is one of the reasons some of us have been concerned about this season. Now it looks like one of those rookies the rah-rah crowd were so SURE was gonna be great.....well.....now we have to rely on a RB that is not as good as either of the backs we lost.

I am losing even more confidence day by day in the decisions this regime makes.

"The G Man wrote:

IIRC, we passed up on a lot of talent that was still OTB to take this guy [cough, Mallett - cough, cough]. Sure hope he's worth it.

Thats not even mentioning the FA we passed up........

But it's early and you got to give him a fair opportunity ( a few real gms.) But I was concerned that we were taking on a major gamble relying so much on an unproven rookie. (one of the reasons for questioning Irelands abilities)

Took a lot of grief from many in here who just anointed him a quality starter without even him playing a down in the NFL ....

Hey he deserves a fair shot but still feel it was a stupid move by Ireland to not grab one of the quality FA's that were available as insurance.