The Sports Xchange

DAVIE, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins will use this week’s organized team activities to concentrate on two problem areas from last season: red-zone performance and producing turnovers.

The Dolphins also will be without kicker Caleb Sturgis, possibly through the June 16-18 minicamp. He has a bruise on his left (non-kicking) thigh.

It is notable that Sturgis was 28th among NFL kickers for field-goal accuracy at 78.4 percent (29 of 37) last season. While he recovers from the leg problem, Sturgis will be replaced by rookie Andrew Franks, who attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y.

This isn’t a good thing for Sturgis, who has struggled throughout his two seasons in the NFL. He hit only 76.5 percent (26 of 34) of his field-goal attempts as a rookie, and he battled a groin injury last year in training camp. The combination of unreliability — in health and in kicking — obviously doesn’t solidify his pro future.

As for the red-zone drills, the defense did well Monday and the offense struggled. Rookie cornerback Tony Lippett, who is converting from wide receiver, was able to show his catching ability with three interceptions.

“The fact of the matter is he got his hands on three footballs,” coach Joe Philbin said. “That’s a good thing no matter how you look at it.”

The defensive line applied steady pressure on quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill and Matt Moore for the second week in a row. Right defensive end Olivier Vernon was successful against left tackle Jason Fox; and, as expected, left defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh dominated right guard Billy Turner.

In fact, with concerns at both guard positions, the Dolphins gave first-team snaps to left guard Sam Brenner and right guard Jamil Douglas in place of Turner and Dallas Thomas, respectively.

“Jamil, we’re just getting to know a little bit and he’s a guy that’s picked up the system well and he’s competitive,” Philbin said of the fourth-round pick from Arizona State.

“And Sam Brenner’s been with us for a couple of years, so we’re just kind of looking at different combinations. We don’t really have a first team, second team. We’re just getting guys in.”

Tannehill had success throwing to rookie wide receiver DeVante Parker, fellow wide receiver Jarvis Landry and tight ends Dion Sims and Jordan Cameron. All had at least one touchdown reception. So it wasn’t necessarily a bad performance by the offense, which was 21st in the NFL in red-zone touchdowns last season. It just wasn’t a good performance.

“It’s an area that we’ve really got to improve upon,” Philbin said. “Offensively we got down there a bunch, but we’ve got to score more touchdowns. And defensively we kind of finished in the middle of the pack in terms of efficiency down there.”

As for the turnovers, which saw Miami finish plus-two last season and tied for 12th in the league, it was a good showing for the defense on Monday. But Philbin wants to be much better.

“You’ve got to make those plays when they present themselves,” he said. “So that’s something that’s going to be a big emphasis from now until the season ends.”