Hey scrooge

[Admin]

Dolphins-Titans Scrimmage To Air On MiamiDolphins.com

August 2, 2003

MiamiDolphins.com, in conjunction with Sunshine Network, will provide live streaming video of the Miami Dolphins-Tennessee Titans Scrimmage on Saturday, August 2, beginning at 4:30 p.m. (ET). The webcast will run until 6:00 p.m. (ET). Real Player is required to watch the scrimmage.

Calling the play-by-play will be Paul Kennedy, with former Dolphins wide receiver Nat Moore serving as analyst. Dave Lamont will provide reports from the sidelines.

To watch the Dolphins-Titans scrimmage LIVE at 4:30 p.m. (ET), please click on one of the following links:

http://play.rbn.com/?url=nfl/nfl/open/2003...&proto=rtsp

http://play.rbn.com/?url=nfl/nfl/open/2003...&proto=rtsp

[Guest]

I'm not really looking forward to the NFL season this

year...It's gunna be a long year.I can't figure out why

the Titans have yet to replace Eddie George.He is one

of the 3 worst starting HB's in the league.

[DJ_Money]

Eddie George > Anthony Thomas, Antoine Smith, Thomas Jones/Mike Alstott

He's not that bad.

[Admin]

I would take any of those guys over the Eddie George of the past few years. George is averaging what, 3 ypc? Those injuries have just destroyed what used to be a terrific running back. Now he is just a shell of his former self.

I cant understand why the Titans havent made more of an effort to replace him either. They are clearly a team that needs to run the ball and play great defense, but they dont have a running game and thats putting far too much pressure on Mason and McNair.

[Guest]

It even seemed like all his TD's were one yarders.

He didn't score many TD's to start with...But very

few of them were really even earned.

[HAWKSFAN]

I think Eddie George is slowly getting better. Losing Runyan, Neal, Bruce Matthews over the past years has hurt him some as have injuries. In 2000, he only had a 3.7 ypc, but he had 1509 yards rushing and 14 rushing TDs.

In 2001, his ypc was down to 3.0 and many were saying he was just like other power backs and was done. Last year he got it up to 3.4, had 1165 yards and 12 TDs.

Last year his first 5 games were pretty bad and I was really worried for his as I had predicted last year would be the year he was back to his oldself. In the last 11 games of the reg season last year, he had 947 yards though. Thats 86 yards per game. He had 262 carries over those last 11 games, an average of 3.6 yards per carry.

In those 11 games, the titans went 10-1. Were they winning because he was running good again. Or was he running good again because he got all those carries due to the team having the lead. Irregardles, thats the type of back he is. He's going to wear the defense out and get better as the quarters go on.

If he plays the way he did the last 11 games of last season for a full season, thats 1377 yards.

[Guest]

Anything under 4YPC is bad.McNairs career year is

why they won...They ain't gunna win nothing with a

bum like Drew Bennett as their second best WR this

year.

[Admin]

Bennett isnt their second best WR. Did you watch the scrimmage yesterday? This rookie WR that they drafted Calico has the chance to be a star in this league. He has great size 6'4 220 with super long arms, 4.3 speed, and great leaping ability. I saw him make some very good catches yesterday. A combo at WR of him and Mason can be deadly, but they still need help at RB. However, yesterday they did say that George had lost like 20 lbs this offseason and is finally healthy, but I will believe it when I see it. I think that his physical style of play has finally taken it out of him.

[HAWKSFAN]

Id say Justin McCariens is or should be their #2 WR this year.

[Guest]

Eddie George hasn't been the same since he fumbled

the ball in a important play a couple of years ago in

the playoffs againest the Ravens.Ray Lewis scared

Eddie half to death is what it was.Eddie George always

feared Lewis.He'd kinda fall ahead of time when he would

see Lewis around.

[Guest]

The Titans need a 9-100 catch type of WR.

[KB21]

The Titans won't throw the ball enough to have a 90-100 catch receiver. Mason had 79 receptions last season, and that's about what you should expect from the Titans top receiver. That is a running offense. They aren't going to throw the ball 30-35 times a game.

That's like saying Chris Chambers in Miami should catch 90-100 passes. He may be good enough, but he isn't going to get that kind of opportunity.

[Guest]

When your RB is averaging 3YPC I wouldnt say it's

much of a running game.

[KB21]

No, but that isn't going to stop them from trying to establish the run.

[Hawks4ever]

Chambers is the star in the making, not Calico.

[Admin]

They are both going to be stars for their respective teams.......and this is a sleeper to look out for that the Redskins foolishly dropped, Derius Thompson. Watch out for him because this kid has some serious skills. Of course neither of these guys will ever post huge numbers in Miami because of the system that is run there. Put either of them in a place like St Louis or Oakland and they would explode.

[HAWKSFAN]

I dont mind losing Derrius Thompson because he didn't fit the system well and the Redskins are very good at WR now. He's a good player though, he's got good size, and he's displayed really good hands at times. He's got good speed for his size too. The Redskins have been developing him for a while and he finally had a breakout season, I hate how they always lose players like that. It doesn't bother me, because of our situation at WR. But the principle of it gets me. It really bothered me when we let that happen with James Thrash, basically the same situation. I read a quote from Dave Wanstedt that Derrius Thompson has been the best WR on the roster since minicamp.

I remember a preseason game last year against the Steelers, where Thompson just went off. He caught the ball 5 straight times, the last being a touchdown. The Steelers DBs just couldnt cover him.

[Admin]

Thats how it was against the Titans during the scrimmage the other day. Every time they went to him he caught the ball......the Titans just couldnt cover him. Of course this friday agains the Bucs will really tell the story about how good he is, so we shall see.

[Guest]

That's because Samari Rolle hasn't been the same since

he got hurt at the tail end of the game in the Super Bowl.

Lance Schulters is a scrub and Andre Dyson doesn't seem

like much.Hanesworth and Carter are just a big tub of

goo eating up salary cap space.

The only defender even worth mentioning on the Titans

is Keith Bulluck and Carlos Hall played fairly well when

he got a chance to play.

[Admin]

Eagles' loss is Dolphins' (and Turner's) gain

BY MIKE BRUTON

Knight Ridder Newspapers

DAVIE, Fla. - (KRT) - Derrius Thompson is one of those players who bring into question the competence of those in the NFL who evaluate talent.

The rangy, 6-foot-2 wideout was not drafted when he came out of Baylor in 1999. The Washington Redskins signed him and kept him on and off their practice squad until last season, when he caught 53 passes for 773 yards and four touchdowns.

Then the Redskins couldn't keep him at all.

Thompson's ability was there for all to see, and the Eagles, among other teams, saw it and tried to acquire him.

The Miami Dolphins saw it, too, and had an ace in the hole. They had offensive coordinator Norv Turner, the man who saw in Thompson four years ago what most scouts and personnel gurus completely missed.

So after the Eagles waved a contract in Thompson's face in March, when he was an unrestricted free agent, the receiver headed south to reunite with Turner and picked up a three-year, $3.58 million deal.

Since then, Thompson, 26, has performed like a player who is discovering day by day what it feels like to be a lead receiver in the NFL.

"He's having the best camp of any player on our team right now," head coach Dave Wannstedt said. "He's been that way since the minicamp."

Thompson was second string during the spring workouts, but when the Dolphins opened training camp Friday, his name was penciled in as a starter opposite Chris Chambers, Miami's top wideout.

The Dolphins should have used ink. Nobody is going to be erasing Thompson's name. If he keeps going at his present pace, he just might be Miami's lead receiver. That's saying a lot because Chambers is no chump.

"I feel like right now I'm finally starting to come into my own," Thompson said. "Just lining up and running around, I feel like I can just have fun."

Thompson had to think to absorb Turner's system when Turner was the Redskins' head coach, and he was still trying to grasp it when Turner was fired during the 2000 season.

Now the scheme - the routes, the formations - is oozing from his pores. He's certain, deliberate, consistent, and deadly for unsuspecting defenders.

Korey Banks, an undrafted rookie free agent, discovered how lethal Thompson could be Sunday during a one-on-one drill.

Thompson put a wicked move on Banks that left the cornerback frozen 5 yards deep and 5 yards behind the goal line while Thompson deftly gathered in the ball in the corner of the end zone.

Nat Moore, a Hall of Fame wide receiver for the Dolphins who is now a broadcast analyst for the team, was so stunned that he just shook his head.

Lead receiver? Not yet. In the making? Time will tell.

Said Dolphins cornerback Terrell Buckley: "He's playing with a lot of confidence and he knows they're going to get him the ball."

Thompson could end up being the big fish that got away from the Eagles.

The big receiver remembers the Birds' secondary, and wideout James Thrash used to be his teammate in Washington.

"After playing against those guys for four years, I definitely knew I had talent and I'd get a lot of opportunities," Thompson said. "Me knowing this offense and being able to come in and play right away definitely helped me make the decision."

There was no such certainty with the Eagles. Thrash and Todd Pinkston have pretty much nailed down the starting jobs, and Thompson would have likely played a lot in three-wide formations, in a role similar to Antonio Freeman's last season.

"Things have finally come together for him in this system, and that's why he's making all the plays now," Turner said. "He knew he'd have a comfort zone here instead of signing with the Eagles, I think."

Jokingly, Turner said he was now even with Eagles head coach Andy Reid for luring Thrash away from him.

Turner is just the man to exploit the receiver's ability.

"What he does is give you the best situation to make plays," Thompson said. "Whatever you do well, that's what you want to do. … He puts you in different formations, and defenses can't handle it because you can run the same play all day and they don't know it because they're not sure what they're looking for."