Final Practice Before 1st Game

UPDATE 3

(Pennington officially released from the Jets)

Today is the final practice for the Miami Dolphins before the Saturday game vs. the Buc’s. The Dolphins will go through walk throughs after today. Ronnie Brown will be a game time decision as well. Here is the latest.

4:37

Practice ended shortly after I got back.

• McCown threaded a nice sideline pass to Fasano between Roth and Bell.
• McCown throws a nice deep ball to Anthony Armstrong, who goes up and gets it over Travis Daniels.
• And then McCown sees Fasano wide open down the field, 5 yards past the defense, hits Fasano in the hands, and Fasano drops it.

So that’s it. Pretty thorough practice, the last one the Dolphins have before Saturday’s game.

None of the three quarterbacks would reveal anything about Saturday’s game: Who is starting, who will rotate in, how long will each play. Sparano has them trained well.

3:54Practice is going until about 4:15, so we got time for one more update before I have to talk to players.

Ireland is standing on the sidelines again. Parcells, though, keeps popping in and out of the bubble.

7-on-7 drills

• Hagan drops a crossing pattern from McCown, but comes back with a nice diving catch on a ball from Beck and a great leaping catch on a ball that was thrown behind him.
• They’re doing OL vs. DL on the far field, but it’s tough to see what’s going on, even with the binoculars.
• Nice post pass by Beck to Jayson Foster, putting it right out of Will Allen’s reach. Edgar has been watching the quarterbacks’ entire body of work today, and says he has been impressed with Beck today.
• Beck sails a throw that lands in Chris Crocker’s hands, with Kircus the intended receiver. Looks like another mix-up between the quarterback and receiver.
• Beck also hits Kircus on a beautiful deep pass for a touchdown, about 50 yards.
• Henne throws a slant to Ted Ginn, and Ginn makes a beautiful fingertip catch in traffic.
• Henne hits Hagan on a square-in. Nice separation by Hagan, who creates about 5 yards of space between him and Chris Roberson.
• Ginn uses those cornerback skills he developed in high school to prevent Andre Goodman from making an interception on McCown.
• Field goal drills. Dan Carpenter goes 4-for-4, all from 40-45 yards.

Then they break out into 11-on-11s. A couple highlights:

• Great pass by Beck on a square-in to Davone Bess. Led him perfectly.
• Lex Hilliard drops a swing pass. “C’mon, Hilliard, catch the ball!” Sparano shouts.
• Nice pass by McCown on a deep wheel route to Patrick Cobbs over Will Billingsley. Cobbs has looked fantastic during camp, on both offense and special teams. He did this last year in camp, too, coming out of nowhere to make the team.

Hey guys, one quick thing to note about Pennington: He’s also very familiar with current Dolphins OC Dan Henning, who was also the quarterbacks coach and OC with the Jets in Pennington’s rookie year.

A few more updates from practice:

11-on-11 drills for a good 10 minutes, focusing on running drills only.

Funny moment: Yeremiah Bell comes up to tackle Ricky Williams, but backs off at the last second. Williams ran over Bell like a Mack truck in yesterday’s practice.

11-on-11 passing drills.

Beck up first. The first play is a sweep left to Ronnie Brown. Great job by Reagan Mauia getting out in front and sealing off Chris Roberson to allow Ronnie to scoot up the sideline.

A quick hitch to Kircus, a run to Ronnie, a coverage sack and then a fumbled snap. “C’mon, run the play!’ a coach yells out.

Henne’s turn. First throw is an easy interception for Joey Thomas. Camarillo and David Martin were in the neighborhood, but it clearly was a miscommunication between Henne and his receivers.

After a sweep to Lex Hilliard, Henne does a great job selling a playaction fake, and feathers a pass to Derek Hagan just inches over Channing Crowder’s outstretched hands.

Jalen Parmele runs one up the middle, and apparently does something right. “That’s it, Jalen!” a coach shouts out.

McCown’s turn, and he only gets a couple snaps. Two running plays and a playaction pass to Fasano near the sideline, over Roberson and Courtney Bryan. Nice throw by McCown.

• 2:24
• A few quick hits to get us going:
• No Chad Pennington sighting. Or anyone else. Still at 78 players.
• Parcells and Ireland are standing on the sidelines, not working the phones.
• Vonnie Holliday isn’t practicing today. Tony Sparano said Holliday tweaked his right hamstring yesterday, and we saw Holliday come off the field and get an ice pack taped to his leg. Holliday is riding the bike and doing some agility drills.
• Jay Feely (groin) and Michael Lehan (ankle) also aren’t practicing. Everyone else is present and practicing.
• Shorts and shells today in the bubble.
• Donald Thomas and John Beck open up with the first team.
• The drops continue: Ernest Wilford drops a ball in individual drills, on a lob from a coach with no one defending.
• That’s it for now. Be back soon.
• 2:50
• Not too much going on in individual drills. A few quick updates:
• Parcells and Ireland have left practice.
• But Dan Marino makes his second appearance in a week. He also showed up Saturday. He hangs out with Dale Murphy for a little bit, two MVPs chillin in the practice bubble.
• Matt Roth, Joey Porter and Charlie Anderson are rotating between the two OLB positions with the first team. With Vonnie out, Roth may get extra work at linebacker.
• Deep end zone punt drills. Brandon Fields keeps hitting the roof of the bubble.
• Michael Lehan is working with a trainer and doing sprints, and he doesn’t look anywhere close to being ready to return. He’s definitely limping as he runs, and seems to wince when he plants his right foot and puts a lot of his weight on it.
• Nice footwork by Camarillo on a sideline pattern. Excellent use of the tippy-toes