The Dolphins' disappointing start generated plenty of commentary from team alums at Don Shula's and O.J. McDuffie's charity events last week. Ted Ginn Jr. drew derision from several former Dolphins for drops and his penchant for running out of bounds.

``He's an embarrassment and a coward,'' Bob Kuechenberg said. ``He's got alligator arms. It's sad. I don't even know that he has the ability. I haven't seen it.''

McDuffie lamented, ``Every good team has a solid No. 1 receiver, and we have nobody. Just a bunch of twos and threes. Teddy can run, but how much of a football player is he? You either have it or not. Teddy is not as astute a player as I thought he would be. I've seen him go down when nobody is around.''

Jim Kiick diagnosed Ginn's problem as mental. ``He doesn't concentrate. And his route running is not good.''

Mercury Morris said Ginn ``needs to talk to either me or [inspirational speaker] Tony Robbins about becoming enlightened and doing the opposite of the things he thinks are right.'' Mark Duper said he sent Ginn an e-mail, offering tutoring, but Ginn never responded.

``The only way you're going to get better is if you get somebody to come in and work with him,'' Duper said. ``I would do that for him. I wouldn't charge. As far as not wanting to get hit, I could [fix] that. He's got the speed I had when I came into the league. You can't teach that. What you can teach is technique and fundamentals, which he's been missing. I was fortunate enough to have Nat Moore to play with. Ted doesn't have that.''

Still, Duper, McDuffie, Shula, Dan Marino and others said the Dolphins should not bench him.

``No way,'' Shula said. ``If you have a guy with that talent, you've got to give him every opportunity and the time and confidence to do it. He's got all the tools, but he's got to start making those plays he's capable of. Some of the things haven't been his fault.''

Marino's take: ``They need more playmakers [but] Ginn has his place. You have to play him. He was a high pick. He makes some plays, sometimes he doesn't. What are your other choices, really?''

The Dolphins' pass defense also troubled alums. ``Gibril Wilson came with the reputation of being a big hitter, but we haven't seen it,'' Larry Little said.

``The other thing,'' McDuffie said, ``is every other week, there's no pressure on the quarterback. Cameron Wake should be playing more.'' Wake said he had fewer than 10 plays on defense against New Orleans.

CHATTER

• Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith was flattered when Drew Brees sought him out after the New Orleans game to tell him what a good job he's doing. But here's a potential concern Smith said he sees with Will Allen out for the year: ``Will was so smart, if he saw something in the opponent's offense, he would let me know before the other team tried it on me in the second half. Now teams will try some new things to see how [Vontae Davis] and I respond.''

• Not only is he playing the run well, but Jason Taylor already has more sacks in six games (5.5) than he had in 13 for Washington last year (3.5).

``He's holding up his side of the bargain, and now it's time for me to come on,'' said Joey Porter, who has 2.5 sacks in five games after collecting 17.5 in 2008. ``I haven't made the impact plays I pride myself on.''

• The dissing of the Heat reached ridiculous extremes last week, with ESPN's Jon Barry claiming the talent is so limited that it was ``nothing short of a miracle'' that Miami made the playoffs last season, and ESPN's Jalen Rose claiming Miami no longer even ``stacks up talent-wise with the second-tier in the East [such as] Chicago and Washington.'' Rose also warned there's ``an insecurity hanging over the team'' because of 11 impending free agents.

Jermaine O'Neal said Heat players discussed privately how to deal with their looming free agency and agreed ``we will not talk about it. It will not be an issue. Those are guys [Barry, Rose] who have an opinion of something they know nothing about. They're basically angry guys. They don't even watch the games.''

• UM rejected ESPN's overtures to open next season on Labor Day against Virginia Tech because it plays at Ohio State the following Saturday (Sept. 11). . . . Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in April he wanted to renew the football series with UM. But Swarbrick now isn't returning calls, and UM believes he's no longer interested because he never responded to two UM proposals (including a home-and-home series and/or a neutral site game).

• Besides higher-rated prospects Logan Morrison and Michael Stanton, here's another emerging name Marlins fans should remember: outfielder Bryan Petersen (.297, four homers, 49 RBI, 13 steals, no errors at Double A Jacksonville). He ranks fourth in the Arizona Fall League with a .404 average.

``Very good prospect. He had a terrific year leading off and can play all three outfield positions,'' assistant general manager Jim Fleming said. ``There are some similarities to Chris Coghlan.'' The Marlins recently dumped outfielder Alejandro De Aza, who was claimed by the White Sox.

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