The Matt Roth groin-gate saga took a new turn today when the prodigal linebacker returned to practice with the Dolphins for the first time after failing a pre-season physical -- and then lying about his injury -- on August 2. That doesn't mean everything's all hunky-dory now, though: the Dolphins are annoyed with Roth, and his old job is taken.
Where does he go from here?
The bench, for the foreseeable future. It was expected when Jason Taylor returned to Miami that he would come in in passing situations, and Roth would hold down the run defense. But handsome does as handsome is: the Taylor-starting Dolphins are third in the league against the run, allowing a measly 76.4 rushing yards a game and 3.4 yards per carry. Even with a one-legged Joey Porter, the Fins didn't spare Roth an extra thought.
(Which begs the question: did Jason Taylor's aging process peak last year at 34, and now he's going Benjamin Button on us? Throw him in a lake and see if he floats!)
Of course, Old Man Taylor may not look this peppy come November, so the Fins may want Roth's relatively fresh legs down the road. But to keep him, they'll have to cut someone else. With 10 linebackers -- 7 of whom play outside, like Roth -- already on the maxed-out 53-man roster, Miami would have to release another player to keep their little naughty boy around.
They have 21 days to decide whether or not they want to. Performance is what matters, of course, but they might find him unworthy of the trouble, as Armando Salguero reveals in a juicy new tidbit:
Sparano...was royally torqued off at Roth. I do mean he was red-faced mad. Sparano was mad at Roth's prevarication and others in the organization were angry at Roth because he apparently got hurt while doing something -- no one knows exactly what -- that has nothing to do with playing football. The injury apparently did not occur at the Dolphins facility or as Roth was doing Dolphins work.
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What the ...? Still no one knows how this happened? (Our guess: tripping while stealing pink dog, if only because it's an excuse to marvel at that story again.)
At this point, it may not matter, but it's indicative of something terribly off between them that Roth not only lied to Tony Sparano's face more than once, going so far as to sit for bloodwork he knew he didn't need, but still won't admit what he was up to with his job on the line and the no-nonsense Bill Parcells helping Sparano decide his place on the team.
Yeesh.
