The lead story for the beat reporters was Greg Lee’s return to practice.
“It’s not 100 percent now, so I’m going to slowly get back in the groove of practice,” Lee said. “I’m a little bit rusty. (Being out) threw off the timing between me and the quarterbacks, my reaction time to blocks and stuff like that.”
Lee had not practiced since Aug. 11, when he was injured while making a tumbling catch during a receiving drill.
And of course, the chance given to the other receivers.
Coaches were hoping that one positive to come out of Lee’s absence was extra reps — and thus a chance to improve — for the young receivers who are trying to break into the lineup.
There was plenty of extra reps to go around, but none of the young receivers have stepped up and played consistently enough to warrant more playing time.
That puts more pressure on Lee to perform — and stay healthy — because the Panthers’ passing game has suffered without him.
Lee, though, seems to think they just need some experience, and they will do better. As long as Lee’s injury isn’t lingering, the 10 days off won’t really hurt him or the team. There’s still 11 days to September 3.
The other story, of course, was moving Marcus Furman to receiver. Furman, without fail, said all the right things.
“Now that I’ve switched positions again, I think it might make camp a little more fun, more challenging,” Furman said. “It’s something I’m looking forward to doing. Hopefully, it won’t take me too long to learn it.”
…
“If I can get my routes down and figure out where I’m supposed to line up, I think I’ll be OK,” Furman said. “There are a lot more formations now than there were (last year) under coach (Walt) Harris — tons more. With my experience at the H-back, it shouldn’t be too hard to learn them all.”Wideout Greg Lee doesn’t think the transition will be too difficult for Furman.
“Just getting the plays down and stuff should be his only problem,” Lee said.
Furman also saw another benefit to his new role.
“I do less pass-blocking, which might not be a bad thing for me because, you know, I’m kind of brittle,” he said, grinning.
Furman will still be returning kicks. Between him, Tommie Campbell and Darrelle Revis Pitt has some good speed for returns. Call it a hunch, but I think after the coaching staff reviewed Allen Richardson’s work last year he will not be returning anything. They just need to have enough good blockers.
Receiver Terrell Allen participated in some non-contact receiving drills but was not wearing pads. He has a leg injury.
Here’s a decent story on Pitt great Tony Dorsett, his respect for the game of football and what a classy guy he is.
I don’t watch exhibition NFL games. Sportswriters for the Dolphins have no choice. Apparently that Dolphins-Steelers game was painful. One view, Wannstedt was lucky to get out.
Saban did say he feels the Dolphins are “more capable” than what they showed in Pittsburgh.
That’s probably true, but perhaps only because it’s almost unfathomable Miami could be any more clumsy and inept than it was on offense. The Dolphins’ average possession lasted four plays. Somewhere in Pittsburgh, no doubt, Dave Wannstedt breathed an escapee’s prayer of thanksgiving.
It is, after all, Saban’s headache now.
Another suggests that it’s deja vu all over again:
Man, it was ugly, and it made you wonder if the Dolphins have made any significant improvements to their offense, specifically their line, over the offseason and three exhibition games.
Could we possibly be right back where we started last year with a porous line and a coach undecided on the lesser of two evils at quarterback?
How much longer before Saban is running his fingers through his hair and wearing the same deer-in-the-headlights look as Dave Wannstedt?
You can’t tell me Coach Wannstedt isn’t smirking just a little.
