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Ginn Continues To Make Strides
By ALAIN POUPART
Dolphin Digest Associate Editor
Ted Ginn, Jr. may not yet be what some Dolphins fans expected after he became the ninth overall pick in 2007, but there's no question he's come a long way in his second season.
Ginn has made particularly significant strides since the Oct. 26 game against Buffalo when he broke out with seven catches for a career-high 175 yards - the ninth-most productive day for a Dolphins receiver in terms of yardage.
"I started off slow, but I think I'm coming on strong," Ginn said. "I've just got to keep playing hard, keep playing tough, limit the mistakes, finish plays, and I should be fine."
Actually, the Dolphins need for Ginn to be more than fine the rest of the regular season - and not just because of where he was drafted.
With leading receiver Greg Camarillo now out for the season after sustaining a knee injury in Sunday's loss to New England, the Dolphins need for all of their receivers to step up.
That means bigger roles for rookie Davone Bess, Brandon London, Ernest Wilford, and most definitely Ted Ginn, Jr.
"I know I'm going to have to step up a little bit more," Ginn said. "I'm just going to continue to keep working, keep fighting and just do what the team asks."
What the team has asked of Ginn all season has been a wide variety of things.
In addition to catching passes from the start, Ginn has since added the duties of kickoff returner, occasional punt returner and ball carrier.
His 40-yard touchdown run against Oakland was a perfect example of what the previous regime envisioned when it made Ginn the Dolphins' first-round selection in April 2007.
Ginn has yet to break a long return this season, but he did have a kickoff return for a touchdown that was nullified by a penalty, and he did take a punt return back for a score at Philadelphia during his rookie season.
That kind of versatility is fine and dandy, but any receiver picked that high in the draft needs to be a major factor on offense.
Ginn wasn't that for most of his rookie season and he certainly wasn't that at the start of 2008. But things have changed since that Buffalo game.
"I think something happened with Teddy when he had that big day against Buffalo," said offensive coordinator Dan Henning. "He's played better, he's played faster, he's played with more confidence."
Through 11 games, Ginn finds himself with 43 catches for 596 yards and one touchdown, a 39-yarder off a flea-flicker against Seattle.
While those numbers might seem modest to some, keep in mind that Ginn is still only in his second season.
Chris Chambers, for example, finished his second season with 52 catches for 734 yards. At his current pace, Ginn will end this year with 62 catches for 866 yards.
Ginn's projected yardage total would be better than anyone other than Chambers has managed for the Dolphins since the 1999 season.
And things figure to get better for Ginn, who came into the league as more of a great athlete than a great wide receiver. His route-running and understanding of defenses have gotten better and the hope is he can develop some consistency with his hands - particularly after he dropped a couple of passes last Sunday against New England.
A lot of wide receivers make their biggest jump between their second and third seasons, and it's a pretty safe assumption Ginn's best football is still ahead.
Already, he has drawn the attention of opposing defenses.
"To me, that has been very obvious that he's getting better and better and people are paying a lot more attention to him," Sparano said. "This is where I think he's grown is that before we just kind of had to say, 'You go stand over there,' and now we're able to move him around a little bit. We're able to get him involved.
"With his speed and his presence, he can splash water in a lot of different ways. He runs the ball for a touchdown; he's in the slot for a touchdown. That's important; it's no different than what the Patriots did with Randy Moss last week. Randy played three or four different positions in that game last week. With Ted, he's able to do that. I see that as being a major step in his growth right now."
Let's be honest, nobody is comparing Ginn to Randy Moss. He's simply not that kind of receiver.
What Ginn can be is a big-play wide receiver with the ability to make explosive plays several different ways. We've seen glimpses of it throughout his first two seasons.
The next challenge is for Ginn to try to produce more consistently. He's clearly not there yet, but he is moving in the right direction.
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