Dolphins Mini-Camp Report

Monday, June 13, 2005
Robert Henderson
MDBW Staff Writer

Listen to Nick Saban's post-practice Press Conference on Sunday:
Click here (recorded by MDBW).

The Miami Dolphins revealed their new team to fans this past weekend. Unfortunately, not many fans seemed to show up. Sunday morning’s practice yielded the biggest turnout, yet that was only about 500-700 fans (in my estimation). One big factor contributing to this was that Tropical Storm Arlene (now just a some rain over the mid-United States) caused a lot of rain and wind on Friday and some on Saturday morning. However, we mustn’t forget the factors that Miami fans are lazy, and the Dolphins suffered through a 4-12 season last year.

However, besides the fan turnout, the practices (I got to the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning ones) were very good. Nick Saban is running a crisp, clean-cut, professional practice. He has timers on each end of the field timing each segment of practice. Then, an air-horn blows and each offensive and defensive group jogs to the next part of practice. There was never a moment of pause. Saban himself was also all over the field, chewing out whomever he decided to focus in on a particular play. Whether it was Zach Thomas, Junior Seau, or even Jason Taylor, Nick Saban will tell his players what they did wrong and how to improve it.

Practice started out with walk-throughs of basic schemes and general fundamentals. A sort of pre-cursor and reminder to what would be taking place full-speed later on in the practice. Then, the team stretched and did a few “hoo-rahs.” Randy McMichael is a very vocal leader and it is no wonder why he is a team captain.

The offense and defense did work separately: the offense on the opposite field, and the defense in front of the fans. The defense would split up into their individual positions with their proper coaches, and Saban (who mostly paid attention to the defense) would circulate around the different groups.

During the practice, including the last drill, the offense and defense would come together and either run seven on seven drills (no line), or full eleven on eleven (two hand touch) drills. The players were not wearing pads, but that didn’t prevent Zach Thomas from laying into Randy McMichael over the middle and knocking him down after a Feeley pass was knocked up into the air. McMichael whined on the ground for a bit as Zach and Jason Taylor jogged back to the huddle laughing and high-fiving as if it were a big joke (which it was). McMichael, of course, was fine.

The final eleven on eleven drills that concluded each practice were two-minute situations that most likely were utilized to force the players to know their plays because it is a hurry-up offense situation. This is the second phase of Saban’s teaching, so the players should be expected to have a pretty good knowledge of the new schemes and the playbook. However, certain players like Gus Frerotte and Travis Daniels are a bit ahead of the game because of their backgrounds. Frerotte knows the offensive system because he worked with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan last year in Minnesota. Daniels was with Saban the last four years at LSU and then subsequently drafted in April in the fourth round.

Gus Frerotte will be the starter on opening day for the Dolphins, and I even believe that this will be decided and announced before training camp is over in July. He obviously knows the system from his previous experience with Linehan, but he is also a smarter quarterback than Feeley and releases the ball quicker. Especially in these situations where no one has pads on and the coaches are basically looking for good execution, the ball should be out of the quarterback’s hand in three seconds. Frerotte consistently did this, whereas Feeley sometimes did, but was more likely to hold onto it for four seconds.

Feeley managed to throw two interceptions on Sunday morning in basic seven on seven drills and should have had another, but it was dropped by Reggie Howard and subsequently fell into the hands of Wes Welker and counted as a long completion. He was not accurate on the deep ball most of the time, leading his receivers too far. His accuracy over the middle however was pretty good. One sign of improvement from last year that I noted was his ability to throw the “banana pattern” pass, where the tailback arcs out to the sideline and receives the ball. Last season, he seemed to lob the ball too much, allowing whomever the outside linebacker was to close in on the tailback, which subsequently gave the play no chance. Now, he has a lot more zip and accuracy, leading the receiver in stride, right as he is breaking up the sideline.

Frerotte, as I have noted already, overall was very good. He is 33 years old and is still very mobile and accurate. However, he has not been the full time starter for a team since 1997 when he led the Washington Redskins to the playoffs. “His experience is certainly something that we needed at that position,” Saban said, “And we’re gonna hope that we can develop both of those two guys [Frerotte and Feeley] to play winning football for us.” His veteran experience is well welcomed and is something the Dolphins needed after releasing Jay Fiedler who is now with the New York Jets. One thing that should be well-noted of Frerotte is that he is very accurate with his deep ball. In the two practices that we attended, he only missed on two deep balls (and there were a lot thrown). He connected on two on Sunday morning, one down each sideline, floating the ball perfectly over the defender and into the receiver’s hands. He also stepped up in the pocket during and eleven on eleven drill and threw off-balance downfield to Chris Chambers who made a beautiful diving catch on the left sideline for about a 35-yard gain. His slant-in passes were very crisp and accurate, and unlike Feeley, he seemed to find the open receiver quickly and complete the pass ...