Pads on means getting to work
Dolphins have a couple of scrums as intensity picks up
DAVIE – The Miami Dolphins were in full pads Monday for the first time during training camp. And it didn’t take long for the fights. It was time to pay for all the trash talk of the previous four days, when practice was either in shorts and T-shirts, or shorts and shoulder pads.
“You can’t hide when the pads come on,” safety T.J. McDonald said.
First it was cornerback Bobby McCain fighting wide receiver Danny Amendola in a reprise of an incident from last season. McCain, in fact, was ejected from the New England game at Gillette Stadium for that incident.
Then it was rookie safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the first-round pick from Alabama, going at it with wide receiver Jakeem Grant.
Special teams coach Darren Rizzi was still excited about that one after practice, jokingly referring to the 5-foot-7 Grant as “Clubber Lang,” the vicious character from Rocky III played by Mr. T.
McCain, an affable type who is likely the consensus choice as the mouthiest player on the team, said the defense tries to get under Grant’s skin.
“We call him ‘Mighty Mite’ ” McCain said. “He may get a little feisty at times, but he has got a lot of dog in him. That’s what we love about him. He’s got dog in him and I’ve got respect for him.”
Neither of the fights was the type in which helmets are ripped off an opponent’s head and used as a weapon. These were heated, but relatively tame encounters.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill has mixed emotions about such episodes.
“It’s good and bad to it,” he said. “You see the fire that some of our guys have and the passion we play with and you love seeing that aspect, you love seeing the competitiveness, the desire to win. You don’t really want to take away from practice and be a distraction, take away from the greater good. So it’s a fine line between going all out and then being a distraction and taking away from what we’re trying to accomplish.
“On one hand I love to see it, I love to see the fire that our guys have. On the other hand it takes away from us a little bit.”
However, Tannehill understands.
“When you’re going against the same guys day in and day out, the little things start to build up and become bigger than what they really are,” he said. “But that’s just the nature of the business.”
The bottom line is no one gets a break, not even wide receiver Isaiah Ford. He’s nursing a shoulder ailment so he wears a wears a red jersey, meaning he can’t engage in contact.
“They’re not obeying it, though,” Ford said with a smile about the defensive backs.
Cornerback Xavien Howard said physicality can’t be avoided.
“That’s part of football,” he said. “It’s a physical game so guys are out there trying their best, trying to make a play.”
Monday was intense, but there was still time for a bit of fun.
The final play of the wide receiver vs. defensive backs one-on-one drill meant the loser’s unit had to do 10 push-ups.
Howard came through to bat a pass away, so the offense had to drop and do 10 push-ups. The defensive backs took great pride in winning that battle.
“It doesn’t matter where we’re at,” Howard said. “When we put the pads on we’ve got to go to work.”