Dolphins vs. Falcons – Expectations vs. Reality

Sitting here several hours before the start of the Miami Dolphins game vs. the Atlanta Falcons I am pondering what I should expect from the Fins in their 2nd pre-season game. Here are my primary pre-game thoughts. Let’s see how they play out during the game. 

First of all, my chief concern with any pre-season game is injuries, or lack thereof. Miami has had more than their fair share of injuries so far in training camp, so while I hope Miami plays well tonight, the most significant score for me will be – Injuries. And let’s hope that score is a big fat zero. 

2nd of all, let’s face it, it is only an exhibition game. Starters don’t play that much (the Falcons have already said many of their starters won’t play at all tonight) and there isn’t any real offensive or defensive game planning done, so do the results really matter? If quarterback Tua Tagovailoa completes every pass and throws for 3 touchdowns, does it really project to how he is going to play once the season starts? I’ll be more concerned with players or position groups that play poorly, as a poor performance against mostly 2nd & 3rd string players certainly raises a red flag.

Tua will get a lot of scrutiny, for obvious reasons. He plays the most important position in sports and Miami fans hope he can fill the huge hole the Dolphins have had at the position since the days of Dan Marino. In tonight’s game I’ll be looking for pocket presence, quick decisions, accuracy, and TDs, not interceptions, in the red zone. But his success will be closely tied to ….

The wide receivers. If there are any. Only kidding. Sort of. I mentioned the rash of injuries Miami has had so far in training camp and the WR position is far & away the leader in banged up players. Devante Parker and Preston Williams returned to practice this week on a limited basis, but neither will play tonight. On top of that, Will Fuller continues to be out with a soft tissue issue while Albert Wilson, Isaiah Ford and Lynn Bowden will also miss tonight’s game. Add Allen Hurns to the injury list after having wrist surgery that will sideline him for several months. 

If you are keeping track that is 7 WRs who will miss tonight’s game. It will be tough to fairly judge Tua when he is missing most of his top WRs. It should provide an opportunity, though, to get #6 overall draft pick Jaylen Waddle heavily involved in the offense. The Fins should focus on getting the ball in his hands to see what the speedster can do. Jakeem Grant, Kirk Merritt & Mack Hollins should also see some targets as should the tight ends.

The position group that could affect Tua the most and the one I will be paying the closest attention to will be the offensive line. Miami has used a lot of draft capital the last 3 years on the O-line (a 1st round pick, two 2nd rounders and 3rd & 4th round picks) plus they signed free agent center Matt Skura and recently traded for tackle Greg Little. 

The offensive line has struggled in training camp so far, as well as in the joint practice sessions vs. the Bears and Falcons plus in game 1 last week vs. Chicago. Is it a lack of talent or proper coaching or is it just the growing pains in developing young players not to mention building the cohesiveness that offensive lines require? Let’s hope the latter and hope the line starts to play better starting with tonight’s game. Tua’s performance as well as that of the overall offense will depend on quality O-line play.

On the defensive side of the ball, I’m looking forward to the play of the Fins other 1st round draft pick this year, LB/DE Jaelan Phillips. The Fins took him at #18 overall for a reason. They need him to be a 3 down player to set the edge on the run and, more importantly, to put pressure on the quarterback. Miami already has a solid defense, but to get it to the next level they need more pressures & sacks, and they are counting on Phillips making a significant impact. 

Those were my pre-game thoughts. Now let’s take a look at what actually happened during the game. 

OK, far & away the biggest takeaway from this game is that Jaylen Waddle is apparently healthy. As I noted above, coming away with a zero on the injury scoreboard is the most important part of any pre-season game. And that collective gasp heard around South Florida was watching Waddle crumple to the ground with what appeared to be a serious leg injury. But that gasp turned into a collective sigh of relief just 10 minutes later when Waddle re-entered the game.  Miami also got Waddle involved in the offense with 3 receptions. 

Even though Miami put up 37 points, the star of the game was linebacker Sam Eguavoen who had 11 tackles including 4 sacks, one of which resulted in a safety. The performance gives Fins fans some comfort in the event one of the starting linebackers should get injured. 

As the 37-17 final score indicates, Miami controlled this game from the get-go, which they should have with Atlanta sitting many of its starters while Miami played most of theirs in the 1st half. Tua had a strong game going 16 for 23 for 183 yards and a TD pass in the 1st half. The Miami run game was solid with 59 yards on just 12 carries in the 1st 2 quarters.

Myles Gaskin had a solid all-around game with 27 yards rushing on 6 carries and 44 receiving yards on 4 receptions. He also had 2 TDs; one each on the ground and through the air. 

The Miami offensive line played well opening holes for the ground game and allowing only 1 sack, but keep in mind they played the starters for the better part of 3 quarters vs. an Atlanta defense missing several starters. 

The most concerning part of the game was the Dolphins run defense, which has been a problem for several years. Despite playing their starters vs. a Falcons team sitting most of its starters, Atlanta managed to rush for 78 yards on 15 carriers for a 5.2 yards/carry average in the 1st half. The Fins need to find a way to fix this problem before they play the run heavy Patriots in week 1.

A few other takeaways from the game were:

Both of the backup QBs looked very good with Jacoby Brissett going 8 for 8 for 99 yards and TD pass while Reid Sinnett went 2 for 2 with a TD pass. 

WRs Mack Hollins and Kirk Merritt had good games with Hollins catching 4 passes for 49 yards while Merritt had 3 receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown. 

As TV analyst Jason Taylor noted several times, 1st round pick Jaelan Phillips received minimal playing time. He just started practicing a bit this week after being out for a couple of weeks with an injury, so perhaps Miami was just being conservative and will give him more playing time in the final pre-season game. 

The one thing the Dolphins offense is missing is big chunk plays. If Miami wants to compete with the big boys (i.e., KC, Tampa Bay, Buffalo) they need more big yardage plays. You can’t be dependent on nickel & diming it down field all of the time. The good news is that the offense does have the potential for big plays once all the wide outs get healthy. Waddle, Wilson & Fuller are as fast as any WRs in the league while Devante Parker and Preston Williams can also stretch the field. As long as the O-line gives Tua the time, big plays could become a staple of the Fins offense. 

Other than the issue with the run defense, tonight’s game was nothing but positives, although be it versus a team of non-starters for the most part. 

Pre-season game #3 is next Sunday in Cincinnati where the Miami starters are likely to play less than they did vs. Atlanta.