Game Summary

TDs: 0

Penalties: 8-72

Turnover battle: 0-4

Not much went right in the Dolphins’ 19-3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in tonight’s pre-season game.  You’d be hard-pressed to find some positives, but there were a few.  The backup running back corps showed much promise.  Veteran Miles Gaskin had 77 yards rushing and pass-catching.  Rookie De’Von Achane showed he’s dangerous in space and had 104 all-purpose yards.  Rookie Chris Brooks showed a power game in his five carries which netted a tough 24 yards.  Wide Receiver Erik Ezukanma had three catches and ran two reverses for 52 yards.  Braxton Berrios looked like a viable/dependable weapon on offense.  The Offensive Line held their own in the first half, but third and fourth stringers struggled, particularly James Tunstall, who had two holding calls and a sack allowed.

Unfortunately, there were a LOT more negatives.  Neither quarterback won the backup battle tonight.  Mike White and Skylar Thompson combined for a QB rating of less than 100.  White had one interception, and Thompson had two.  White showed the ability to move the ball down the field, but when it counted most in the red zone, he underthrew his receivers on two potential touchdown passes in the end zone. Thompson was harassed often, and even when he had time, he could be inaccurate. Both held onto the ball too long for sacks.  It’s too early to panic, but there isn’t much hope if Tua goes down.

Special Teams performed poorly once again.  Jake Bailey had a net punting average of 16 yards on three punts, the last of which was a low 41-yarder that was returned 79 yards for a touchdown.  My advice? Somebody give Free Agent Punter Matt Araiza a call.  Jason Sanders did hit his only field goal attempt, a 49-yarder to get the Fins on the scoreboard.

The young Dolphins’ secondary showed some flashes of good play with some nice pass breakups by rookie Cam Smith and Keidron Smith, but both allowed plenty of completions.  Rookie Mark Gilbert got off the hook when a sure-fire touchdown pass was dropped.

From a coaching standpoint, I’m sure we were all hoping the heavily penalized Dolphins of last year would be coached up and improve on silly mistakes and unforced errors.  But as noted above, eight penalties for 87 yards showed no improvement.  There was no scheme tonight from Vic Fangio, and it was a vanilla defense, so not fair to judge his scheme just yet.  The Falcons were running freely in the first half, including 40 yards on their first touchdown drive.

There are only two preseason games left, so not much time to improve; so let’s hope we see a different team show up in Houston for next week’s preseason game against the Texans.