Posted on Thursday, 08.20.09
Miami Dolphins guard Justin Smiley leaves practice
BY JEFF DARLINGTON AND DAVID J. NEAL
jdarlington@MiamiHerald.com
WILD CARD
Left guard Justin Smiley left the second practice early during team drills and rode the exercise bike. Smiley moved with a slight limp after leaving the field, but said everything was OK. Brandon Frye replaced Smiley with the first team.
THUMBS UP
It's not often that a punter gets credit from a practice performance. But it'd be hard to ignore what Brandon Fields did during the morning session. Punting out of the back of the end zone, Fields bombed a ball to the opposite 15-yard line. Yeah, we know. Depending how deep Fields was in the end zone, that's more than 85 yards. In the air. Yes, there were also several witnesses.
THE EDGE
It's looking like Donald Thomas might have won his starting job back. On Wednesday - the first day of practice since Thomas and Shawn Murphy alternated with the starters during the preseason game - Thomas was the one running almost solely with the first-team offense. During the night session, Thomas took every one of the snaps. Coach Tony Sparano hasn't said whether that means the job is his, but it certainly looks to be headed in that direction.
OFFSIDES
Wide receiver Brandon London has become known as one of the scrappiest, high-energy players on the Dolphins roster. So it's hard to watch when London's chances of making the 53-man roster start to dwindle, as has seemed to be the case the past few days. He didn't help himself during seven-on-seven drills in the afternoon practice. First, he dropped a gorgeous throw on a post pattern from Chad Henne. The next play, he dropped an out route from Henne. We're not saying this is the end of the road for London. But he's going to need to come on very strong from this point forward.
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