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

Randy McMichael and Donald Lee will likely be the Dolphins tight ends again in 2005. McMichael looked like himself, getting open in the middle of the field and was wide open on one play, but Frerotte overshot him. Lee looked alright. He makes a decent backup, but there is no one else there to compete with him really. Ed Perry dropped some balls, but he won’t make the roster as a tight end anyway because he’s the long snapper. Victor Sesay dropped some balls and really wasn’t that impressive. Alex Holmes, I do not remember. Either he was invisible on the field, or did not practice.

This is what will make or break the Dolphins yet again. If the offensive line can be at least adequate, then I believe the Dolphins have a legitimate shot at 8-8, 9-7, and with a bit of luck, better. The first unit looked alright, they still have a lot of work to do, basically just to get used to each other.

Vernon Carey does look a lot better. He squares up and moves his feet well. They had him playing with the first team at left tackle. There was once when he got beat badly inside by Jason Taylor. It is Jason Taylor, but he will be facing the likes of JT very often in this league playing at left tackle. He will improve though, he already has.

Stocker McDougle was a big pickup for the Dolphins. He is playing with the first team at right tackle and looks like he is handling it very well. He is a huge improvement over Damion McIntosh or Brent Smith. However, having said that, McIntosh did look good when playing with the second team; however, they do play against the second team defense.

The guards playing with the starting line were Jeno James and Rex Hadnot. Hadnot showed huge signs of improvement quickly last off season and was figured to take over soon. He played solidly as far as I could tell this weekend. James was also solid.

So, essentially, the crew they have in there as starters right now look pretty good as individuals and better as a group, but the line does collapse still sometimes, and there were times when they didn’t pickup a blitzing linebacker. During Sunday morning’s practice, they took the field in an eleven on eleven drill and 2:30 was put on the clock. The first play, Brown fumbled the exchange from Frerotte, the second play Brown got trapped in the middle of the line, and the same happened on the third. Then, Turk punted.

It’s hard to pay close attention to each individual on the offensive line because you’re more paying attention to how they work as a unit. So, unfortunately my individual reports on these guys are a bit vague.

On Saturday afternoon’s practice, Travares Tillman injured his knee and had to leave early. He was at practice on Sunday, but did not dress or participate. Saban said, “He probably needs a scope. I don’t think he has a bad injury or something that will be a long term issue… he should be ready for training camp, these things are usually 2-4 weeks.” Tillman and Tebucky Jones were playing with the starting defense based on their experience. “The more experienced players do a much better job than the inexperienced players,” said Saban, “And I think that’s why we call them inexperienced players…He [Tillman] has a better opportunity based on the number of players that have experience at his position…he’s not earned the spot yet, but he’s certainly taking good advantage of it.”

Sam Madison looked good. He made an interception in one of the defensive back drills. He looked a little lost out there without Patrick Surtain though. Mario Edwards was starting opposite him. Edwards looked solid. He was a bit confused at times, but he looked pretty physical and very aware of what was going on. Travis Daniels, who knows Saban’s defensive system from LSU had to explain a lot of things to Edwards quite often.

Daniels himself looked excellent. Not only did he have an obvious understanding of the defense, but played excellent coverage. He locked onto his receiver and was always stride for stride with him (when I was studying him at least). He knocked down a pass on the right sideline.

Tony Bua’s transition to safety from linebacker is going well. “His size was really a disadvantage for him at linebacker,” said Saban, “I think he has the athleticism to play in the secondary. It’s just not natural for him to play in the deep part of the field and he’s learning to do that.”

“He’s a good special teams player, so if we can find a place for him to be an adequate backup, that would be an advantage for us on special teams.”