Defense Impressive During Monday's Dolphins Practice
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DAVIE (CBSMiami) – The Miami Dolphins were back to work on Monday as the team participated in practice number nine at their practice facility in Davie.
After a positive showing during the annual intra-squad scrimmage on Friday, the Dolphins are now beginning to shift their focus to the preseason.
Miami's first game comes on Thursday night as they travel north to face the Chicago Bears. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and you can see the game on CBS Miami, your official Dolphins station.
Monday's practice was a tough one for the offense as mistakes and turnovers seemed a bit more common than in recent workouts.
One interesting note came on the offensive line as Jacques McClendon took the first reps of practice with the starting offensive line.
McClendon played right guard, taking the place of Billy Turner. The rest of the first team o-line was Mike Pouncey at center, Dallas Thomas at left guard, Jeff Linkenbach at left tackle and JaWuan James at right tackle.
Speaking of James, he and Anthony Johnson got into a nice little scuffle during today's workout. It appeared that James came away the winner.
LaMichael James had another strong practice and continues to impress during training camp. He's making a major case to be Miami's second running back behind Lamar Miller. Damien Williams is also having a strong camp and as of now it appears that the two of them are vying for the backup role.
On the defensive side of the ball, several players had a very strong practice.
Chris McCain started the day working as the first team strong side linebacker, playing with Koa Misi and Jelani Jenkins.
Brice McCain, Reshad Jones and Brent Grimes each had an interception.
CJ Mosely stood out for maybe the first time during training camp. His reps have been very limited as the team gradually works him into the defensive scheme.
As for the kicking saga, Monday was Andrew Franks' turn in the daily rotation.
The rookie continued to show that he has amazing power in his leg. He converted on five of his six field goal attempts during team drills.
Franks' consistency has slowly improved but it's going to have to get a lot better over the next few weeks if he's going to take the Dolphins everyday kicker job.
Even if he out performs incumbent Caleb Sturgis during training camp, Franks will still need to impress enough that the team doesn't feel the need to bring in a veteran kicker off the free agent market.
The Dolphins will be back on the practice field on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.
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Watch Miami take on the Chicago Bears this Thursday at 8 p.m. on CBS4, your official Dolphins station! #FinsOn4
