The Dolphins are coming off of an ugly 10-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their first pre-season game this week. It was obvious in the game that the team has a lot more work to do that was once thought. While the weather was a major fatcor in the disorganization of the first team offense, work still needs to be done to correct the flaws.
While the team got back at practice yesterday with two practices, there has been more headlines that just the headlines from each practice:
Alama-Francis, Others Signed To Extension:
The Miami Dolphins front office is serious about trying to get the newly transitioned outside linebacker as many reps against the top competition as possible during the pre-season. Only days after splitting first team reps with rookie Koa Misi as the strongside outside linebacker, the Dolphins regime decided to give Ikaika Alama-Francis a one year contract extension worth $640,000. "Ike" is now set to be under contract with the Fins until the 2011 season.
The Dolphins also signed injured cornerback Evan Oglesby to a contract extension after recently placing him on the Injured Reserve list. Like Alama-Francis, Oglesby will also be paid $640,000 in 2011.
Because of Oglesby's injury, the Dolphins were forced to go out and bring in someone else to compete for the suddenly vacant roster spot left by Oglesby. The Dolphins signed Kevin Hobbs to a 2 year contract, that is worth around $1 million. While Hobbs has been getting a good number of pratcice reps in camp, head coach Tony Sparano says he needs to see more of Hobbs to get a better assessment of him.
Polite, Garner, Jerry All Suffer Injuries:
Throughout the past week, various players have suffered various injuries, to already add to the list of Patrick Cobbs, Tim Dobbins, and Greg Camarillo who are not practicing with the team as of late.
- Fullback Lousaka Polite suffered an injury during the pre-season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He went in for x-rays after the game, and is practicing now, so the extent of the injury is unknown, but must not be too serious.
- Versatile offensive lineman Nate Garner suffered a foot injury this week in practice, and will reportedly be out 6-8 weeks. Most likely he will be back after the BYE week. Garner has had foot problems all off-season, as he re-aggravated an injury to the same foot last week, before breaking it.
- While Tony Sparano is trying to get his offensive line ready for battle for the regular season, and nail out his starting lineup for Week 1, his soldiers keep making things harder and harder for him to accomplish the task. Rookie John Jerry was affected by a knee injury that he suffered during training camp this week, that "concerns" Sparano. Jerry was fine to start practice today, but could not finish it, because of the injury. Hopefully he will be fine for the pre-season game this weekend against Jacksonville.
The Sparano Kiss Of Death?:
Today coach Tony Sparano told the media not only that quarterback Pat White would not be switching positions, but that he has been throwing the ball better this week, than during the past camp practices. Despite the praise from his coach, White's days as a Dolphin could be numbered. In the past, when Sparano has spouted praise about a player on the bubble, or a veteran who many speculate as close to being cut (Gibril Wilson, Samson Satele, and Justin Smiley), it ends up being the last words those players hear from Sparano.
White has underperformed all training camp, and did not even sniff the field during the game against the Bucs this weekend. Despite White gaining 18 pounds of muscle, and White throwing with accuracy during the OTA's, White has yet to show in camp that he can be an NFL quarterback, or a difference maker out of the Wildcat formation for that matter.
Last Word:
The Dolphins have a long ways to go yet, and three more pre-season games before the season starts. They now know the parts of the game where they need to improve on, and spend extra time in practice working on. While the game against the Bucs was a major disappointment based on the first team offenses performance, it also was a huge help in that it gives the coaches something to study, and gives the players extra motivation to work even hard. So maybe the ugly showing was a blessing in disguise after all?
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