Marshall not a Beast yet, but

Brandon Marshall has yet to score a touchdown in his first exhibition season with the Miami Dolphins and he's even having a little trouble hanging onto the ball at times. Anybody want to give him back to Denver?

Of course not.

Even on a fractured Friday night at Sun Life Stadium, when nearly half the seats looked empty and most of Miami's offensive schemes smelled half-baked, Marshall made this 16-6 exhibition loss to Atlanta worth watching.

Would Chad Henne ever find him? There were times you had to wonder in the first half when the young quarterback and the wondrous wide receiver were so mixed up that they seemed to be working out of different playbooks.

One pass missed Marshall by 5 feet, so at odds were the rhythm of the route and the timing of the delivery.

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Another Henne ball to Marshall seemed tucked away on a potential third-down conversion until Falcons cornerback Christopher Owens chopped it loose.

Yet another sailed out of bounds and into the Atlanta bench, which turned out to be the safest place for it because Marshall hadn't even turned to look for the ball.

"Henne has a progression he goes through," Marshall said when the post-game questioning steered toward the possibility of a disconnect between the two. "It's not just me on the field. If the ball is supposed to go to Davone Bess, that's where it's going to go.

"He's just throwing it where it's supposed to go."

Again and again, eight times in all, the pass went in Marshall's direction, more than any other Miami receiver. Only three of those eight were caught, a pattern that continued with the Dolphins dismal 2-for-13 success rate on third- and fourth-down plays.

As sharp as the first offensive unit was last week at Jacksonville, it was that bad and more against the Falcons. Yet, and here's the good part, there always was the possibility, the expectancy, that the Beast might take a couple big bites of yardage for his own.

It happened twice in a matter of moments Friday after a Yeremiah Bell interception gave the Dolphins a midfield gift of a possession with a minute to play in the first half.

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Magically, casually, Marshall pulled in a looping, 26-yard pass from Henne and tapped both feet down just inside the sideline like he was stomping out a fire.

Three plays later, 5-foot-11 Atlanta cornerback Chevis Jackson took another stomping. Marshall, a 6-4 titan of a target, easily got inside position on a slant pass and reached up for what probably would have been a leaping miss by Ted Ginn, Jr.

Marshall, Miami's new and improved No. 19, stretched with two hands to snag the 20-yard gainer for a first-and-goal opportunity. Clearly, Marshall's got stilts he hasn't even used here, and roman- candle moves.

That's what you get from a 100-catch receiver, which Marshall has been for three NFL seasons in a row. Skills, skills and more skills. We'll see them all once the regular season gets started Sept. 12 at Buffalo.

Remember that 11-play drive by Miami in the third quarter?

Eleven plays, and the onlReplica Watches
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