The Dolphins lost the "suck for Luck" contest, and didn't even come close to winning the Peyton Manning, but boy they sure did come in first place in the David Gerrard invitational.
And, that might not be the worst thing ever. Sports Illustrated writer Peter King claims that Gerrard is looking a whole lot more impressive in Miami than Manning is looking in Denver right now.
King is doing a bit of tour de training camps, and on the day he visited Miami, Gerrard, who previously spent eight years with the Jaguars, was on fire:
Upstairs in the press area watching practice, traveling partner Neil Hornsby made a list of the top quarterback performances we'd seen on our (so far) eight-camp trip. Drew Brees and Philip Rivers were at the top of his list; I agreed. After that, he had Carson Palmer, and then Peyton Manning. But the more I thought of it, the more I thought Garrard should be no lower than four -- ahead of Manning. He was terrific consistently through practice, hitting a bomb to promising free agent Roberto Wallace down the right side, throwing well on the run across his body, and, in general, looking extremely comfortable in a West Coast offense, which is new for him. "This guy's got something to him,'' said Philbin. "I like what I've seen." I'm told he's looked the best overall in Miami's camp work.So, fourth out of eight ain't bad. I suppose. Hooray for Miami mediocrity! In retrospect, it might have been a good thing we didn't overpay for a fading superstar on the wrong end of his career.
Though, there's no guarantee Gerrard will be the Dolphin's QB starter, but by all accounts he certainly seems to be in the lead.
According to the Palm Beach Post, the competition between Gerrard and last year's started Matt Moore is still "very close" in Coach Joe Philbin's eyes. PBP also adds another twist: the loser in the battle between Moore and Gerrard may find themselves cut from the team, with rookie Ryan Tannehill, whose being groomed for starter duty one day but by all accounts isn't quite there yet, taking the second string job.