Preseason Game One: Recap

(sun-sentinel.com)

Before I get to the game there are a couple things I want to mention. Obviously, the Dolphins signed Chad Pennington. I gave my thoughts about the potential move a couple days ago, so there is no reason to elaborate again. I was not in favor of this acquisition but it has been made and now we need to embrace it. There are some good things that can come out of it, namely getting insider information about our division rival the New York Jets.

With this move, one of two quarterbacks will eventually have to be removed from the roster. I thought it'd be a fairly simple decision. Pennington is an upgrade for Josh McCown's role and he is the one who should be cut. But, there are rumors that if John Beck, who has had a slow start to training camp, doesn't start to turn things around, that he would be the one dangled in a trade or released. I am not in favor of that. McCown is a known quantity in this league (below average player) while Beck is young and still developing. It would be a bad move to give up on Beck this soon.

On to the game, I'll start with the good. The one player that stood out most was Ricky Williams. He just looks better than everyone else on a football field and made a couple nice runs. Our strength should be running the ball and giving it to Ricky is clearly a good option. All he needs is a small hole or crease and he can burst through for a big gain. Even one rush he was stuffed in the backfield, but he bounced off, took it the other direction, eluded another tackle and made a six yard gain. If he plays all sixteen games he could put up great numbers and really give us a good chance to win.

Chad Henne looked solid in his debut. You hear this cliche a lot and I don't like to use it, but he really did not look like a rookie out there. He was poised and had a couple of impressive third and long conversions where he stepped up in the pocket and delivered a bullet. He also didn't have any "wtf?" moments that you see some rookies make.

Both rookies on the defensive line (Philip Merling and Kendall Langford) also impressed. The both got a good rush and were pretty good stopping the run. I don't think these guys will put up big stats but there job is to occupy space and disrupt things. Along with nose tackle Jason Ferguson they gave the linebackers a lot of opportunities to make plays.

Dan Carpenter is making this kicking battle interesting. He made both of his field goal attempts which were of above average difficulty. The first was a 41-yarder off the infield dirt and he followed it up with a 49-yard conversion from the grass. He didn't have any touchbacks but it appeared as if Miami was using the directional kicking strategy. Carpenter and the coverage team did well with that.

Let's move to the bad side. The receivers were as advertised. They failed to impress. David Kircus made a few nice catches but other than that they had a quiet outing. The three players figured to get the most time this year (Ginn, Wilford, Hagan) were rather invisible, each just catching one ball. Tampa did a good job in coverage but it's still their job to get open and make plays.

The problem on defense was stopping the intermediary passing game. The Bucs did a great job of methodically moving the ball down the field with short passes and efficient runs. I'm not sure if it was the linebackers fault for not covering well or if it was the cornerbacks who should be jamming receivers at the line. The west coast style posed a problem for our defense and they will have to take a look at the film.

One more person I thought had a bad night was Jayson Foster. He won't get many opportunities in the preseason games to impress and in this one he didn't have any dynamic returns and he even muffed one punt. He looked like he didn't belong on the field quite honestly. Let's hope he turns it around this week.

Overall this was much like any other preseason game. The things that went well you say to yourself, "Now that's an encouraging sign." When things don't go so well, you just chalk it up as the preseason mistakes that will get corrected eventually.

Coming up this week are only five practices over the Monday through Thursday span. I figure Pennington will get lots of time and reps while he relearns this Dan Henning offense. The next preseason game is on Saturday in Jacksonville facing the Jaguars.

Update: Also of note, starting outside linebacker Charlie Anderson left the game with a hamstring injury, no word yet on his status.