Miami Dolphins Training Camp: 10 Observations from Sunday's Scrimmage

The Miami Dolphins took the field on Sunday afternoon at their training facilities on the campus of Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla., for their first 11-on-11 scrimmage.

The scrimmage featured limited contact, however, it also gave a good insight as to how far the Dolphins have come since the beginning of training camp, as well as a little peek into what we could possibly see this season. 

There was a lot to take in today. Plenty of important developments that for the first time make me feel a bit optimistic about this team's chances this year.

Here are 10 things I took away from Sunday afternoon's scrimmage.

1. Jason Taylor Will Make Us Forget He Was Ever a Member of the Jets

So how many of you were skeptical when Jason Taylor signed with the Dolphins for his third tour of duty during the offseason?

I count myself as one of them. 

However, Jason Taylor still looks like he's in great shape. He played like it too. 

Now you could minimize it by saying that he was mainly beating the seemingly-often-vilified Mark Colombo off the line; however he looked like the old JT.

From snuffing out the only two swing passes attempted by the first team offense to getting good pressure on Chad Henne (by the way, more on how Henne handled that pressure later), Jason Taylor looked like a man on a mission.

If his play during the season equals what I saw on that field today, then Dolphins fans will most likely forget that last season he wore that darker, uglier shade of green. 

2. Miami Will Have a Top-3 Defense

The Dolphins' first team offense did great work today, but it was the defense (both the first and second teams) that continued to impress.

"The sky's the limit for this defense, like you said we got all the pieces coming back like some new guys we got JT, we got [Jared] Odrick coming back off injury we got Will Allen," said Dolphins CB Sean Smith. "I mean the list goes on with names and when you got Mike Nolan calling plays for us that's always a plus."

It's true. Last year's Dolphins defense had problems with injuries, yet still finished sixth in the NFL (and would've ranked higher had it not been for a terrible final game of the season against New England.)

This year, it can only get better. Jason Taylor (mentioned the slide before) will bring more leadership to the squad and complement Cameron Wake. The defensive line is arguably the Dolphins deepest position, and will bring enough pressure on the QBs this season to allow a secondary highlighted by Vontae Davis and Sean Smith to shine.  

3. Depth at Offensive Line Might Become a Problem

This is mainly a positive slideshow because I saw a lot of positives at the Dolphins scrimmage and not too many negatives. However, I have to talk about the one glaring, sore thumb negative.

The difference between the first team offensive line and the second team offensive line was like the difference between using barbed wire and yarn to fence your house.

The first team for the most part opened up plenty of holes for the running game and was able to protect Chad Henne. And keep in mind, this was without Jake Long who did not practice today and likely will miss the preseason.

The second team? It was open season for the second team defense. More often than not Matt Moore, Pat Devlin and new acquisition Kevin O'Connell found themselves under a lot of pressure.

If the Dolphins fail to shore up their offensive line depth and injuries take their toll on the line this season like it did last season, then it will be a very long season indeed.  

4. The Real QB Battle Is for No. 2

This will make more sense later on in the slideshow, but Chad Henne seems locked into the starting slot at quarterback.

The backup slot though might be a bit more muddled.

Moore struggled with the second unit with the exception of a good pass to Roberto Wallace, as well as an eight-yard QB keeper he ran in for a touchdown.

O'Connell did fairly well, despite this only being his second day on the team, throwing a couple of nice passes to undrafted free agent running back Nic Grigsby and wide reciever Patrick Carter, which was a touchdown. 

However, O'Connell had problems with one snap from Mike Pouncey, who surely had some bad memories of John Brantley on that play. 

Then there's undrafted free agent Pat Devlin from Delaware. I actually wanted to see him get some snaps from the first team just to see what he would do in that situation. Devlin looked like a quarterback while in the pocket, something that I couldn't really say about Moore.

Odds are the Dolphins will mainly see Devlin as a project to develop and Moore will be Henne's main backup. However, watch out for O'Connell, odds are if he winds up making the team, Moore might be on the way out despite having more playing experience. 

5. Expect a Different and Somewhat More Exciting Offense

I was a bit skeptical about bringing Brian Daboll on as offensive coordinator, especially after seeing that his Cleveland Browns offense from last year was actually worse than Miami's offense.

However, you could say that a lot has to do with talent. I mean no matter how you cut it, with the exception of Peyton Hillis, the Dolphins have more overall talent on offense than the Browns did last season.

What I saw so far from the Dolphins offense was a willingness to take more chances.

More four wide receiver sets, more deep throws.

Not just less Wildcat, but no Wildcat.

Could this mean a better offense?

Considering that the Dolphins already have a top defense, a better offense only means good things.  

6. Reggie Bush Will Excite, but Daniel Thomas Will Be the Primary Back

Reggie Bush is exciting to watch and was great catching some balls out of the backfield, including a 14-yard pass play that could've gone for more in an actual game.

Reggie also gave us a play that again in an actual full contact game would've looked like a move right out of Madden, as Bush was caught but broke the tackle and ran the other way.

But while Reggie will add the flash to the game that the Dolphins expected, it's Daniel Thomas who will be getting most of the carries.

On many plays Thomas looked more explosive than Bush. While playing with the second team most of the afternoon, Thomas made the most of the running plays called.

Expect Thomas to be the steady running back and expect him to start. He took a lot of snaps with the first team, and should take more as training camp and the preseason goes on. 

7. Edmund "Clyde" Gates Will Become a Weapon in Special Teams and on Offense

So much of football is teaching. Whether its how to run a specific route, how to run a specific play, where to be and why, to be successful in football depends on what you're taught and how.

But you can't teach speed.

There's a lot of wondering if Reggie Bush will return kicks and punts for the Dolphins this season. However, during punt return and kick return drills, it wasn't Bush out fielding the kicks, it was last year's return man, Davone Bess, as well as two newcomers. 

One of the newcomers was Phillip Livas, a 5'7" undrafted rookie out of Louisiana Tech. In his one kickoff return, Livas returned it about 36 yards from outside of the end zone until he was stopped (by stopped I mean touch, remember, no full contact).

While Livas looks promising and will return some kicks in the pre-season, Clyde Gates is the one to watch. 

His lone kickoff return was a good 26-yard gain that could've easily gone for more. On top of that, his speed even impressed CB Sean Smith, who had this to say about the Dolphins speedy rookie wide out:

"The little kid could go, we definitely have to get him on the field somehow, he's a young guy with plenty of big play ability and as you can see they're trying to get him the ball early."

Whether its through the return game, deep routes or even reverses, expect Gates to get plenty of touches this season with the Phins. Think Ted Ginn speed but with better hands. 

8. Dan Carpenter Was Sharp as Usual

Despite all of the advancements I've seen in the offense, it's still important to note that Carpenter will continue to be a huge part of it. 

Well just to let you know, Carpenter did not miss any of his six field goal attempts, with his longest coming in at 42 yards. 

Let's just hope that he doesn't have to kick as many this year, as the offense plans to be more aggressive.

9. Chad Henne Looks Relaxed and Confident Despite Constant Criticism from Fans

Gone is the Chad Henne from last year who always looked nervous in the pocket and scared to mess up.

Enter Chad Henne 2011: More relaxed, and it seemed at times, more focused.

Henne's passes on Sunday were very well thrown balls. He hit some fairly tight spaces, in many instances the only spaces he could hit without turning the ball over. 

This led to a day where he went 10-of-15, throwing for 146 yards, three touchdowns and only one interception, which was his only bad throw of the day. When you calculate Henne's passer rating from the day, it was 110.0.

On one play Henne even managed to scramble his way out of what last season would've been a sure sack. In fact, he showed more movement in the pocket than I've previously seen out of him all afternoon. 

Did I mention that this was against a defense with Cameron Wake and Jason Taylor bearing down on him?

Or that Vontae Davis and Sean Smith were covering either Brandon Marshall (who caught all three of Henne's touchdowns; one of them even over the head of Sean Smith) the entire afternoon?

Even Henne's check-downs were good. He made a good 14-yard pass to Reggie Bush that went for 14 yards, and under other circumstances would've gone for more, as well as another good pass to Bess that went for 22 yards. Both on those dreaded check-downs.

Tony Sparano, who has stood behind Henne the entire time had this to say about his quarterback:

"I felt like Chad's been throwing the ball well the last couple of practices. Today out there I thought he threw the ball well, particularly in the first two series that he was in there. He made some plays today with Brandon [Marshall], got those guys on the same page."

Then when asked about Henne's leadership, Coach Sparano had this to say: 

"What I've seen is more people going to Chad for the answers, and that's a good problem. You would have to envision that when you're at Indianapolis or a place like that that people are going to Peyton for the answers. Well more people are going to Chad for the answers now and that's a direct reflection of what this young guy has done in this lockout period. With what he did with those workouts and the ammount of time he's put in has been outstanding."

Maybe taking on such a leadership role, along with the lack of Dan Henning and having an offensive coordinator who seems to trust him more in Brian Daboll has helped Henne's confidence. He certainly looked like a more confident quarterback, and played like one, however he also spoke like one during his time with the press on Sunday.

Overall, the embattled quarterback actually seemed to win over the support of the fans in attendance at the scrimmage and didn't even get booed after the Dansby interception.

After Sunday's performance, it's easy to see why the Dolphins weren't ready to give up the farm for Kyle Orton. If Henne continues playing like he did on Sunday, then he'd beat out Orton for the starting job in the theoretical competition.  

10. Overall a Different and More Positive Vibe Surrounds the Dolphins

That face wasn't the look I saw on Coach Sparano today.

Instead I saw the look of someone who was more confident, hyped up, and, well, happy.

Maybe getting out of The Tuna's shadow is just what the doctor ordered to turn this team around. It did do wonders for Bill Belichick and is probably why he wouldn't have had the same success had he kept the Jets job that he wound up having in New England.

It's probably why Chad Henne is more comfortable and why Jason Taylor wound up coming back to the Dolphins.

It just feels like a new era in Miami. A good defense and an offense that looks primed to prove people wrong.

Maybe the Dolphins aren't a playoff team yet. It's a tough AFC East and an even tougher AFC.

But the attitude is certainly one that you'd like to see a team have in order to succeed.

And maybe that in it of itself will breed success.

Thomas Galicia is a Miami Dolphins Featured Columnist. Follow him on twitter, @thomasgalicia.