In the words of the great Aaron Rodgers, Dolphins fans and media, RELAX. Friday’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons was not the best start. The offense failed to score a Touchdown, the Quarterbacks did not play well, and the defense struggled in the second half. But tonight was just the first preseason game, and the team decided to sit most of the starters. There were some mixed reviews on social media about the roster after the game. I saw one tweet or X (not sure what it’s called now) say that the Dolphins look soft on both sides of the ball, and the team did not improve that during the off-season. I read another post saying that the offense continues to struggle without Tua. I do not believe that tonight’s game was a fair evaluation to make those statements.
Mike White drove the offense down the field into the red zone on the game’s first drive. The throw for the interception was late, but it was not a bad read. The cornerback made a great play on the ball to tip it into the hands of another Falcons player. In fact, in the first half, the Dolphins got into the red zone on three trips, with Mike McDaniel deciding to go for it on 4th down on 2 of those trips. If this was a regular season game, I am confident we would have gotten points on those drives. I also thought the run game was decent, with Devon Achane, Myles Gaskin, and Chris Brooks running hard and physical. Cam Smith made a couple of plays along with some of the other young players on defense.
Of course, some issues needed to be fixed by the start of the regular season. One of them is the special teams play. Special teams continue to be disappointing, and last night, they gave up a Punt return for a TD. That can cost you games when they really count and should be the focus on improving the play on that side of the ball. Our defensive line depth did not look well either, and that is concerning. However, Ogbah played really well and showed he will be a key contributor to this defense. The offensive line had its moments as well. The hope seems to be that someone will raise their hand for the starting left guard spot instead of looking for outside help.
All in all, the team has work to do going into next week’s practice against the Texans, and hopefully, we will see improvement each week leading up to Week 1 of the season. In the meantime, say it with me, RELAX!
