MIAMI, Fla. -- Whether throwing a touchdown pass or watching an on-target toss fall through a receiver's hands, Josh McCown's expression scarcely changes. Thus, he is a master of deadpan, which he displayed when asked about stepping onto the same field as the Dolphins for the first time since they dealt him to the Panthers last August.
"This is a huge revenge game for me. This is big-time," he said, maintaining a straight face while chuckles spread virally around him. "I've had this marked on my calendar since the preseason schedule came out."
McCown left South Florida at the end of the 2008 preseason with no ill feelings toward the Dolphins, even though his time there took an awkward turn when they signed Chad Pennington prior to the first presason game -- a move made possible by the chain reaction that began with the trade of Brett Favre to the New York Jets.
"You can blame a lot of it on Brett, because he came back last year and ousted Chad, and thus me," McCown said. "I know how Sage (Rosenfels) feels (in Minnesota). That's the business; we choose to be in it. We can go home at any moment, but a lot of great things in this business are why we're here.
"It was just one of those deals. Chad was a player they knew and they had experience with him before, so I understood it completely. Obviously it's not the selected path at all, but it is what it is. I will say this: the good thing was that it brought me here, and I'm very happy to be here."
When McCown left Miami, he hadn't even been there five months; bonds existed between him and his teammates, but they weren't too difficult to untie. But the house he bought? Well ...
"That was the smart thing to do," he said, his eyes rolling at the irony. The house remains on the market, as does the home he purchased in Detroit in 2006 when he spent a season with the Detroit Lions.
"When I go to situations where I'm competing, there's something about the competitive side of you that you go, 'OK, this is it; we're going to win this job,'" McCown added. "There's a side of me that says if I rent a house, then there's a side of me that's preparing to fail."
McCown might have a chance to check on his South Florida property during the road trip. But what he looks forward to more is catching up with his old teammates.
"I got brought in with the first group of free agents there, and we were there trying to establish a mind-set for that team. I really felt like I helped be a part of that," McCown said. "When they had success, I apppreciated and felt good about that, because it was something we laid the groundwork (for) in March. We really worked hard and grew together. It's a good group. I'm looking forward to going back and seeing those guys."
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH:
WHO WILL PLAY?
Wide receiver
Hayden's quick recovery was a relief to fellow defensive tackle
"I asked, 'Have you heard anything pop,' and he said, 'No.' I said, 'OK, you're good,'" Lewis said. "That's the last thing we need, especially at the tackle position. We don't need any more losses."
WILDCAT STRIKE?
When a pair of preseason foes have a regular-season duel scheduled, they typically don't reveal their entire repetoire of plays, so one might not expect to see too much of the Dolphins' Wildcat formation, which takes advantage of having both Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown in their running arsenal.
But the Wildcat has become such an integral part of offensive coordinator Dan Henning's attack that the Panthers might face it, simply because it's part of their base preseason preparation. That wasn't the case last summer, however, as the Dolphins weren't yet aware of how the profound impact the formation would have on their 10-game, worst-to-first turnaround.
"We were just scratching the surface before I left. You could see that they had plans for it and it was going to be something they wanted to (use), but I don't think they had identified the guys they wanted to use," McCown said. "It's like anything, you try plays and all of a sudden they work, so you enhance it and use it more. I don't know if anybody envisioned it being that successful, but obviously it helped them out last year."
FORTIFYING THE RUN DEFENSE:
As with the Giants last Monday, working on run defense will be crucial for the Panthers, who surrendered 62 yards on seven carries during last Monday's first quarter, with 19 coming on an Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown that saw him break a pair of tackles. The ground defense did stiffen as the game progressed, as Carolina allowed 77 yards on 25 carries, for a 3.1-yard average, in the final three quarters.
"From the first two the second game, it's playing smarter, playing faster and just making sure we're getting our fits and hustling to the ball," said Lewis, who expects the defense to be more sound its second go-round. "We expect to come out faster the second game and just be more crisp in our playing. Our first game last week, everybody's still kind of feeling their way through it and trying to get back to recognizing and reacting at game tempo. This week, we've already had a taste, so we should be playing a lot faster."
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Carolina's punt team got a fair amount of work Monday night, as veteran
DECIDING THE DEPTH:
The competition continues for backup positions at quarterback wide receiver, linebacker, defensive tackle and offensive line, among others. If past preseason playing time trends hold true, and the starters play into the third quarter next week against Baltimore, then this represents the last, best chance for reserves to see plentiful playing time before the first cutdown, which comes before the preseason finale against Pittsburgh.
