Dolphins Dan Campbell’s first practice was intense

On Monday, the Dolphins fired Joe Philbin, a coach with little-to-no emotion and lack of control over his players. On the same day, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, along with rest of the Fins front office, decided to promote the ultra-competitive Dan Campbell as their new head coach. Can I get an AMEN?! Furthermore, reporters and fans were impressed (and probably felt refreshed) to see Campbell’s fiery attitude in his first press conference as the Dolphins HC. Now, with day one of practice in the books, lets take a look at some of the things Campbell did differently to change the culture of this “soft” Dolphins team.

With head coach keys in hand, Dan Campbell marched his Dolphins out onto the practice field for their first day of aggressive, high-intensity practice. All I can say is, it’s about time! Campbell’s first practice was full of drills and exercises coach Philbin never would have considered. For instance, Campbell decided to ramp up the competitiveness by introducing one of my favorite old drills from high school–Oklahoma’s. This one-on-one battle teaches players how to hit hard, tackle/block with aggression, and ultimately leads to a competitive culture–something the Dolphins have lacked for a long, long time.

Miami Herald reporter Adam Beasley, who was in attendence for today’s practice, saw the one-on-one Oklahoma drills go down.

As most fans have come to expect, one of the most notable Dolphins units that needs to improve is the offensive line. So, what did coach Campbell do? He decided to sit down the entire o-line and go through every bad play they made over the last four weeks. This is a unit the Dolphins desperately need to improve. As I’ve stated in previous articles, this Dolphins squad will be a bottom-of-the-barrel type of team if the line can’t open up holes in the run game and keep Tannehill upright. We must protect the hill!

After practice, coach Campbell let the media know that he was pleased with how practice went. If the Dolphins can consistently practice with this type of intensity, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a completely new team by the time week 6 rolls around. Oh, and that podium ex-HC Joe Philbin used to talk to the media…well it wasn’t exactly big enough for the spartan-esque Dan Campbell.

As always, let me know your first impressions on the new Dolphins HC, Dan Campbell by commenting below. Fins up!