Scrimmage Time…Hammer Down

 UPDATE NUMBER 3 (last one until Monday…no practice tomorrow)

I will be updating the first week of practice tomorrow so please check back.

The MC Hammer song “Hammer Time” keeps ringing through my mind when I say “scrimmage time“.  Yes, MC Hammer shows my age, yes I am old.  If you don’t know who he is…call your mom and dad and ask them.  Hold I need to take my arthritis meds.  Seriously, it looks like we will be getting live updates, so as soon as I get them…you get them.  Watch the “update” notification at the top of the screen.  I will try and do this the entire scrimmage so you know whats going on.

NOTE:

Apparently “live” is not really “LIVE” so the updates come like they have the last week.  Short bursts of a few bits of info…but it’s better than nothing…much like what they are saying about he QB play.

4:25

BV back with you for a few last updates. Sorry for the delay. We had to interview the players and Sparano after the scrimmage ended.

There were a couple more series after Edgar’s post.

• Chad Henne’s turn. He completes 4 of 7 passes, but it isn’t his best showing. After missing Ricky Williams on a screen pass, an unidentified coach shouts out, “C’mon Henne, lets go!”
• Henne takes one coverage sack, and Samson Satele snaps the ball over his head out of the shotgun formation on another play.
• Vonnie Holliday is moving all over the place. On one play he is not only playing OLB, but he is WAY outside the hashmarks, lining up almost as a DB. Then on the next play, he’s got his hand in the dirt, lining up as a nose tackle.
• Henne finishes with a nice 20-yard out to Hagan on the left side.
• Beck is up next. He completes 6 of 8 throws in this series, mostly check-downs to Parmele and Hilliard and quick hitches to David Kircus.
• Junior Glymph jumps the snap and is in the backfield before Beck can handoff to Parmele. Daren Heerspink was the left tackle.
• Beck also throws a pass intended for Kircus that instead goes right to Charlie Anderson, who drops an easy interception.
• Carpenter nails a 40-yard field goal.
• Now McCown is up with a mixture of first, second and third teamers.
• He completes 2 of 6 passes, with mixed results.
• McCown throws a beautiful bomb to Anthony Armstrong down the left sideline, but it goes right through the bread basket.
• And then McCown rolls out right and tries to hit Jayson Foster, but instead throws it right to Quentin Moses, who drops an easy interception.
• The drive ends with McCown throwing a nice fade pass to the right corner of the end zone, and Selwyn Lymon out-jumps Chris Roberson to haul in the pass for a touchdown.

The scrimmage ended at about 3:30, meaning they played for about 70 minutes or so.

Sparano wouldn’t reveal much about the quarterback race, except to say that the passing game “is not where I want it to be, not a week in.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

That’s about all we got. Check out Edgar’s story later this evening on the quarterback race.

Oh, and John Dunlap was excused for personal reasons.

The team is completely off on Sunday. No practice, no press conference for Sparano. I’m sure Sparano and his staff won’t be enjoying a day at the beach, though.

Next practice is Monday at 9 a.m.

Edgar here, filling in while Ben is back in the bubble.

While he was gone, it was a tough few series for the Dolphins passing game, filled with sacks, bad passes and drops.

McCown started things off, working with the first-team offense. vs. the second-team defense.On the first play, he threw an interception to DB Travis Daniels … a case of miscommunication between the QB and receiver.It didn’t get much better.Two plays later, Ted Ginn Jr. dropped a first down catch.

When McCown’s series ended seven incompletions later. He was 0-of-9.

At one point, Tony Sparano yelled, “Gotta play faster quarterbacks. Everything has to speed up … everything.”

It didn’t help.

Henne was up next with the second-team offense against the second-team defense.Finally, a completion, even if it was a screen to RB Jalen Parmele.Henne was under pressure quite a bit, leading Sparano to bellow, “C’mon guys, compete.”The series ended with FB Reagan Mauia dropping a screen pass, making Henne 1-of-5.

Beck opened his series with back-to-back incompletions, followed by a coverage sack.A WR screen to Anthony Armstrong was followed by an incompletion and a sack. Following a few running plays, Parmele dropped to screen to end the series.

2:42

Hey guys, sorry for the delay. I wanted to watch each quarterback do one series before posting.

All the stars are out here today for the scrimmage. Dan Marino is watching from Media Row along with Jimmy Cefalo. And standing next to Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland is super agent Drew Rosenhaus.

Still no John Dunlap, who was missing from this morning’s walk-through. Justin Peelle and Michael Lehan continue to not participate, and Reuben Riley (blisters) isn’t out here, either.

Before the scrimmage, they did some special teams drills. Kickoff returns, gunner drills, field goals, etc.

• Feely’s kickoffs go deeper than Dan Carpenter’s, but Feely misses wide right on a 43-yard field goal and Carpenter nails his kick.
• Patrick Cobbs does a great job fighting through two blockers in the gunner drills. Chris Roberson also stands out.

OK, scrimmage time. This isn’t a true scrimmage, because Tony Sparano decides what the down and distance is going to be regardless of the result of the previous play. So I’ll provide you with the highlights.

• John Beck goes first, with the First Team offense against First Team defense.
• Beck completes 2-of-6 passes, a quick hitch to Ronnie Brown over the middle for a third-down conversion, and another quick pass to Brown for a nice gain against the blitz.
• He takes two coverage sacks. Will Allen is doing a nice job covering Ernest Wilford, despite being 6 inches shorter.
• Drive ends with an incomplete pass. Beck looks for Ricky Williams on a wheel route in the end zone, but Channing Crowder does a nice job batting it away.
• Josh McCown is up. Second Team offense against Second Team defense.
• He does a nice job moving the offense down the field, albeit slowly. He connects on 5-of-6 passes, including a hitch to Camarillo, a really nice 15-yard out to Camarillo for a third-down conversion, a quick hitch to David Kircus for a mock TD, and a screen to Patrick Cobbs.
• McCown takes one coverage sack. His one incompletion is an overthrow of Davone Bess in the end zone. “Good decision!” Sparano shouts out.
• Sparano has Feely kick a 43-yard field goal to end the drive. He doesn’t hit it cleanly, and it hits the bottom of the right goal post. Feely is disgusted with himself.
• Henne is up. A mixture of first, second and third teamers.
• He completes 5-of-7 passes and also does a nice job moving the team down the field, though he isn’t facing much of the First Team defense.
• Henne executes a beautiful playaction pass to Sean Ryan for a gain of 25 yards down the left sideline. Henne looks good selling the playaction.
• His two incompletions are because of the pass rush. Lionel Dotson hits Henne’s arm as he throws one time, and Randy Starks does the same thing on the next play. This offensive line includes Smiley, Long and Carey, yet the rushers are still getting to the quarterback.
• Lex Hilliard has a couple nice runs, of the 8 and 10 yard variety.
• Throws a touchdown to Matthew Mulligan, who holds on despite getting crunched by Renaldo Hill and Courtney Bryan.
• The defense is figuring out this earpiece thing. Paul Pasqualoni keeps saying into his walkie-talkie to Kelly Poppinga, “Can you hear me?!?!”
• Dan Carpenter finishes the drive by nailing a 42-yard field goal.

So that’s how they stacked up after one series apiece. Edgar has been keeping tabs of the action while I’ve been doing this update, so we won’t miss a beat.