Saturday was a different day for the Miami Dolphins at practice. It was so different that receiver Greg Jennings remarked to coach Joe Philbin how he'd never seen anything like it in his nine previous NFL seasons.

The Dolphins, you see, held a two-hour practice and did not have one 11 on 11 drill the entire time.

None.

What is typically the most competitive portion of practice was simply not on the menu today. Why?

Today was about correcting mistakes. Today was about addressing fundamentals. For a team that had 12 penalties in its preseason opener and basically played poorly for three quarters, Philbin wanted to address the issues here and now.

And while the change in practice regimen may seem mundane to untrained eyes, it is a shining example of how Philbin's approach this year is different.

"I've tried to be a little more succinct and less detail oriented with the team in terms of, 'We're meeting at 6:45 p.m., get on the bus at 6:50 p.m.'" Philbin said. "I've tried to give them the whys of why we're doing things. Today we didn't have any 11 on 11 work. I tried to give them the reasons. I said guys, 'We believe in fundamentals.' I never had a practice without a team period until I came here. I had Greg Jennings come up to me today and I guess they never did that the last two places he's been. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to put the team in a position to win."

Don't underestimate this, folks.

The Dolphins on paper are a pretty good team. Las Vegas has their over-under number at 9. The reason it might not be higher?

Well, consider this: A national pundit was at training camp recently as part of his tour of most NFL cities. I asked him what he thought of my team.

"They have the talent," he said. "We'll see if they have the coaching or they keep getting out-coached in important games."

True or not, like it or not, that is a question mark for this team: Coaching.

And so it is notable that the head coach is actively trying to be better.

"When I studied whatever got me here, some of the things I may have done reasonably well to put myself in position to get this job is I was able to build positive relationships with the people I coach, the people I worked with," Philbin said. "And early on, when you're a coordinator, you want to know everything that's going on. You want to know every blitz, every adjustment. You become a head coach, maybe early on, I wanted to have my hands in all that stuff. I wanted to know every minute detail of what the team did.

"And now, as it's going on, it's not like I'm not involved. But I want to be more involved with the players. I want to build that relationship with the players so they trust me and have confidence. I told them why I want to win a championship. Why I think they should have confidence. Every decision we make -- why we have no 11 on 11 today, why we're going early to Carolina -- is made to win a championship."

About that trip to Carolina next week. The Dolphins will spend two days practicing with and against the Panthers prior to their preseason game Saturday. Philbin tried to make that happen last year but the game against Atlanta, who agreed to such practices, was the opener and the coach wanted to do it the second game instead.

So he and Carolina coach Ron Rivera got together and figured out a suitable way for their teams to do this. Andy why?

The Dolphins play seven of their first nine games on the road. The coach wants his team used to be on the road.

"My past history in the NFL, we didn't do that, we stayed in," Philbin said. "One year we had a team come in. I just felt it would be good for our guys to compete. It would be good because we have to be semi road warriors early in the year with seven road games the first nine weeks, so I felt it would be good for us that way."

I've covered Philbin for four years now. This is pretty good thinking.