Day 2 morning session: Chad Henne works with 1st team, Pat Cobbs finally shows up

( Updated with Sparano comments .) Chad Henne had a glimpse of the future lining up with the first-team offense, while Chad Pennington is off at his sister’s wedding. Tony Sparano said he has been looking forward to this day to see how Henne would respond running the show from the beginning of practice. Henne bounced back from a rocky day and made some nice throws, especially the intermediate outs that are tough for Pennington to make. (The best was a hook-up with Ernest Wilford in front of Chris Clemons.) In goal-line drills, Sparano said Henne didn’t make any bad decisions. (Neither did Pat White, but he made up for it with his passing … read on.) Henne also hit Anthony Armstrong behind defense with a perfect thrown, but Armstrong dropped it, though CB Eric Green was right there. Armstrong, who is the team’s best deep threat (in shorts, at least), made up for it, beating Green for the second straight practice for another long TD. Sparano said Armstrong continues to make big plays every day, to the point where, “Quarterbacks are trying to find him.” But Sparano is taking a wait-and-see attitude before he is sold that Armstrong can help the Dolphins on Sundays. Green is having a tough weekend, with three long TDs allowed in the past two practices. But Sparano said all three corners vying for the spot opposite Will Allen (Green and rookies Sean Smith and Vontae Davis), are mixing good plays with bad ones. In other news: – Patrick Cobbs has been a no-show recently, but made up for it with two TDs from inside the 10 out of the Wildcat. The Dolphins executed well on several plays out of the ‘Cat. Not that he’s concerned, Sparano said he wants Cobbs to continue to understand his role. “This guy can do a lot of jobs,” Sparano said. One Sparano would like to see more is Cobbs running the ball. – White continued to struggle throwing the ball. He hit the cross bar on one pass during red zone, threw an interception to Jason Allen (who

went up and snagged the ball while covering Armstrong), suffered a batted-down pass by rookie NT Lou Ellis and was so off on a throw into the corner of the end zone that was that it bounced off Parcells’ golf cart. Parcells immediately moved the cart 20 yards away. White did mix in a few encouraging tosses, including a seam route to rookie TE Jared Bronson that was on the money but incomplete when Clemons made a nice, last-minute play on the ball. Bronson, an intriguing prospect at a crowded position, showed some speed getting down field. Sparano said White is improving every day. “Every day he’s getting a little bit better at something,” Sparano said, adding White “throws a pretty accurate deep ball.” – WR Greg Camarillo had his second full practice out of three. At this rate, it’d been surprising if he’s not in the starting lineup for the Sept. 12 season opener. But Camarillo did come up on the short end on a nice play by rookie CB Vontae Davis. Davis stuck with Camarillo down field and showed how physical he is as he forced an incompletion. – Speaking after practice, Jason Taylor said he’s still struggling to find his comfort zone, lining up at the left side. But unlike a season ago with the Redskins, JT is standing up as a pass-rushing LB and not lined up at a 4-3 end. – Sparano said he would like to carry more linebackers this season than in 2008, but the back-ups have to be good special teams players. – Sparano said the addition of centers Jake Grove and Joe Berger – a pair of “football heads” – has changed the dynamic and intensity of the offensive line room. – Back-up tackle Nate Garner’s physicality has really caught the eye of Sparano. – Sparano said he could keep six wide receivers, not just five. There were games when Miami activated four. “I like the way (WRs) are shaping up,” he said.

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Day 2 morning session: Chad Henne works with 1st team, Pat Cobbs finally shows up

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