Training Camp: July 31st

UPDATE NUMBER 4

Quincy Carter is trying out today and Terry Glenn could be on the field if the Miami Dolphins have indeed signed him.  You know the routine, look for the update and let’s see what is going on. 

3:48

No Quincy Carter or Terry Glenn, but there is a Wayne Huizenga sighting out here.

Couple quick highlights from the 11-on-11 drills:

• Bad drop by Anthony Fasano on a pass from Beck.
• Henne to Wilford on a nice 18-yard square-in route. Wilford and Hagan have looked real crisp during camp.
• Camarillo also drops one, from Henne. “Come on Camarillo!” Sparano shouts out.

Red zone drills, from the 20:

• John Beck goes first. He misses Mulligan on the first pass on a nice play by Jason Allen, then hits Lex Hilliard on a short route.
• Henne’s up. Incomplete to Jayson Foster on nice coverage by Andre Goodman. Then a sideline pass to Derek Hagan takes them down to the 5. Another great practice for Hagan.
• McCown. Goes short to Ricky and then a sideline pass to Anthony Armstrong. None of the QBs lead the team into the end zone.
• Beck’s up again, this time from the 14. Slant pass to Ginn, touchdown.
• Henne: Curl route to Camarillo, touchdown. Two in two plays.
• McCown gets one shot: Incomplete to Jayson Foster.

More 11-on-11 drills. They’re doing specific down-and-distance situations, but it’s hard to tell what they are from where we’re standing.

• Beck goes first. Again, it isn’t pretty. He isn’t throwing a tight spiral. Maybe it’s his mechanics. The coaching staff has been working on moving his arm slot from 3/4 to over-the-top. He just isn’t throwing the pretty spirals that he was throwing last year during camp.
• Of four throws, three of them come out of Beck’s hands after the “coverage sack” buzzer has gone off.
• He throws a wobbler to Camarillo that is dropped, throws one away, throws another wobbler incomplete to Jayson Foster and then bounces one to Wilford. 0 for 4.
• Note: Donald Thomas is the right guard, and Shawn Murphy is the left guard with the first team. Justin Smiley is with the second team, probably to give the coaching staff a better look at the two rookies.
• Henne’s up
• Completes a nice short one to Davone Bess, a short out to David Martin (nice catch), a square-in to Ginn and a dump-off to Sean Ryan. 4-for-4, with one coverage sack.
• McCown’s turn
• Overthrows John Dunlap near the sideline, leads Ted Ginn a foot too far on a deep bomb down the left side, throws a nice out pass to David Kircus and then dumps one off to Mulligan (also a coverage sack).

I missed the field goal drills during my last update, so sorry, I can’t tell you how that went. I caught the punt drills, and Brandon Fields was absolutely killing the ball.

Fields first started out of the back of his own end zone, and his first punt traveled about 75 yards in the air. After every few kicks the unit would move up about 10 yards. Every punt was traveling 45-65 yards in the air. Impressive.

11-on-11 passing drills.

Donald Thomas starts out as the right guard, buy Shawn Murphy gets some reps with the first team, too.

John Beck is the only quarterback to participate before the thunder rolls through, and it isn’t pretty.

I counted eight snaps, and five of them ended in a sack.

Vonnie got three of them, playing on both the right and left side. One time he blew right past Jake Long and Justin Smiley and reached Beck untouched. Another time Vonnie blew past Murphy, and then Vonnie gets a coverage sack when Beck holds on too long.

Channing Crowder blitzes up the middle and gets to Beck in the blink of an eye. Yeremiah does the same, coming around the left end. Looks like the team is having protection issues.

Finally, a short completion to Boomer Grigsby.

And another short completion, to Derek Hagan. This was actually a nice one. Looks like Beck made a hot read, sent Hagan over the middle to the empty spot, got him the ball quickly, and Hagan turned it up field for a nice gain.

Quentin Moses also gets a hand in Beck’s face, and the pass is short to Ricky Williams.

2:53

• Quarterbacks are hooking up with the tight ends and running backs. Safeties and linebackers are defending.
• All three quarterbacks do OK, nothing spectacular.
• Henne finishes about 6 for 10 by my count. Had a nice throw to Fasano on a seam route, but Sean Ryan also has his second drop of the day, and Matthew Mulligan drops one, too.
• McCown starts 3-for-4 and finishes 5-for-8, with a nice catch from Patrick Cobbs but an overthrow by McCown on a wheel route to Boomer Grigsby.
• Beck starts off 1-for-5 and finishes 4-for-10. He has some nice throws, but also throws an interception to Renaldo Hill. Not sure if that was a nice play by Hill, bad route running by Reagan Mauia, or a bad throw from Beck.
• Beck finishes with a really nice throw to Ryan on a flag route in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
• Nice effort by Ricky to lay out on a sideline pass. He didn’t make the grab, but you gotta like the hustle.
• Channing Crowder and Mulligan come crashing over the chain-link fence and onto the walkway in between the field and the stands.

2:28 p.m.

A few quick notes while the team does individual drills:

• Full pads and helmets today. First time in a few days.
• Another scorcher today. Heat index of 98 degrees.
• No Carter or Glenn.
• Michael Lehan is still not practicing. And the same three guys are back on the bike — Justin Peelle (knee), Aaron Halterman (back) and Daren Heerspink (knee). Peelle and Halterman also do some high knee drills. The three are all pretty much day-to-day, while Lehan’s return has not yet been determined.
• Donald Thomas is still playing right guard with the First Team. That’s at least four practices in a row, now. Trey Darilek got three with the First Team.
• Sparano is watching the running backs hit the blocking sleds. RB coach James Saxon seems pleased with the way Ronnie Brown is attacking the drill.