RE-CAP: Carolina vs Miami (with roster moves)

There weren't a huge amount of problems during Saturday's game versus the Panthers. In fact, all kinds of things were improved upon.

First, the organization played the original fight song instead of the ghastly T-pain version. I suspect they are trying to see which version elicits the best response, but despite the older one winning that battle hands-down, I'm sure they'll mix it up by playing BOTH at Miami's next home game. Keep in mind that the T-pain version allows for bathroom and beer breaks.

Next on the list of improvements was the play-calling. To my knowledge, Henning didn't call any 3rd and 7 half-back sweeps and the sprinkling of Wildcat plays, while some fans (including myself) were initially distraught to see shown in the 2nd pre-season game, actually was useful in the essence that the coaches also need to practice their gameplans, to see how plays work up against each other and how they can control the ebb and flow of the game. Plus, let's face it, these plays were both successful and added to the overall excitement and entertainment value of the game.

It can't be skipped over the improvement in the offensive line. With Donald Thomas getting more and more reps, they are starting to gel together and it really shows. And while the commentators sort of over-exaggerated Thomas' blocking during the game (he whiffed on a couple of easy blocks in space), he was able to get out there very quickly and his upper body strength really shows up in the trenches. The running game was much more respectable this weekend and showed glimpses of how the Dolphins would like to move the ball. Keep in mind, the Panthers are not really a run-stuffing team, with the d-line built for pass rushing, and the linebackers being excellent in coverage but hit and miss versus the run. With that said, our quarterbacks were kept relatively clean throughout the game. On the one play where Pat White was 'flushed out of the pocket' according to Craig Bolerjack (the play-by-play announcer) I thought he had plenty of time to look downfield, but it was a designed play that was read perfectly by the outside linebacker, and White immediately took off instead of patiently allowing the play to develop or improvising by looking elsewhere. He still instinctively wants to run and while it's good to keep moving the ball, pre-season is the time to slow the game down and make the mistakes that don't hurt any records or play-off chances, so I would like to see him force himself to stand in the pocket a bit longer.

Speaking of White, did anyone else notice that he doesn't look to be the 6 feet tall he's reported at? I know we have a lot of really tall linemen but I could've sworn he was barely taller than Patrick Cobbs at one point when they were standing together. Maybe he just looks smaller because of his over-sized helmet.

Defensively, the game was a bit of a let down for me because I wanted to see more of Sean Smith and Jason Allen, both of whom didn't play due to illness. Otherwise, once again we were good against the run minus the one DeAngelo Williams pin-ball-esque touchdown run, where to be honest, the Dolphins front 7 all kind of fell over each other because they all got to the point of attack at the same time. The tackling was non-existent, but it still came off as a fluke play to me, and those happen all the time to every team out there. It wasn't because of great blocking by Carolina or bad penetration by Miami, it was purely Williams showing what he can do if you don't wrap him up.

As for our players to watch, both Vontae Davis and Chris Clemons were much improved in game 2, especially Clemons. In fact, I thought he outplayed Tyrone Culver in this game, after looking out of his depths in Game 1. 3rd string center, Mark Lewis, just might move up to 2nd string this week. Joe Berger has been a weak link lately, and Lewis looks like he's progressing. Nose Tackle Joe Cohen was called out by me as the 'next to go' and for once I was right, as he was released today after being both invisible in games and Louis Ellis showing more physicality. Anthony Armstrong got lucky today as Chris Williams was waived injured. I'm not sure what injury Williams could possible have gotten on the muffed punt which was his last play of the game (he certainly didn't look injured - other than his pride - on the sideline after the play when Sparano was yelling at him). Armstrong has not been good in the game, but the fact he's now playing on special teams and getting CLOSE to the returner on coverage as well as returning kicks, hows that the Dolphins want to give him a good shot to make the roster.

The Dolphins announced several roster changes today:

• Ernest Wilford (contract terminated)

• Chris Williams (waived injured)

• Tearrius George (waived)

• Orion Martin (waived)

• Joe Cohen (waived)

• Anthony Kimble (waived)

• Andy Alleman (traded to Kansas City)

• Ike Ndukwe (traded to Kansas City)