Dolphins Gear Up for Preseason Finale!
Tonight is the last chance to impress the coaches for many Dolphins youngsters
The Miami Dolphins will play their third and final preseason game tonight at 7:30 PM in Tampa Bay against the Bucs with the possibility of getting healthy starters a chance to put in some work. The Dolphins are dealing with a laundry list of injuries, especially at the wide receiver position. Hill, Waddle, OBJ, River Cracraft, Tahj Washington, and Braylon Sanders have all had some form of injury. The good news is that the three keys, Hill, Waddle, and OBJ didn’t have a major injury, although Cracraft’s severe injury does sting as he was our best blocking wideout. So, what should we look for and hope to see tonight?
Well for one the report that Assistant head coach/tight ends coach Jon Embree will serve as the head coach for the second half is one thing!
Last dress rehearsal for the Regular Season
This will be mostly about the youngsters and fringe players will get their last chance to make a claim to be kept on the 53-man roster, when final cuts are made. The Dolphins are currently 2-0 in the preseason, which doesn’t mean much. However, the youngsters, specifically our rookie draft class, have played pretty well and a few could be poised to earn some solid playing time when the regular season begins.
Players like DT Brandon Pili, ED Quinton Bell, RB Chris Brooks, DB Elijah Campbell, WR Erik Ezukanma, DB Isaiah Johnson, DB Jason Maitre, and DB Storm Duck are all players looking to make one final impression to help their chances of sticking. It’s the defensive back group that’s the most interesting. Chris Grier brought a load of young talent that if cut might not find their way onto the Practice Squad because another team might poach them like Arizona did last season with Elijah Higgins.
Of course, the main thing for Miami in this upcoming game is getting out of this game as healthy as possible. We must limit new injuries especially if some key players get time tonight, but we also need the backups to avoid any nicks. That’s always the catch-22 of the preseason: You want your starters to get some game time snaps, but at the same time, you don’t want a key player to get injured in a ‘meaningless’ game. Considering the Dolphins ended last season with a swath of starters on the injury list, Miami would like to do whatever they can to limit possible injuries. But ultimately, we all know football is a violent sport, so no matter how careful you are, injuries will happen. Crossing our fingers is all that we can do.
Tua looked sharp in his first preseason game against Washington and will look to keep up that efficiency in this last preseason game–if he plays. Tua might not see time tonight and if he does it will likely be for at most a single drive or two. The one plus with having our starting wide receivers limited to injuries is that Tua will have a chance to build on his chemistry with other receivers who could make an impact. Braxton Berrios, Malik Washington, and Erik Ezukanma will be important players for this team and need sharpening. I expect all three to make the 53-man roster, but you never know. Miami will also give a chance to increase their workload in the passing game to their TE’s who were active in the Washington game. And who stickers and who goes between Fortson and Tanner is in the air. Maybe both? Maybe only one.
I am very interested in seeing Jon Embree run the team while Mike McDaniel calls the plays. There has to be more to this than simply giving Embree some experience, although I think that’s the biggest portion of it all. Still, maybe McDaniel would like to unload some pressure and duties in key moments this season to allow him to focus on the big moments. Maybe?
The best bookie services have the Dolphins as a +3 point underdog against the Bucs. But there’s not too much to read into there, since this has no impact on the win and loss column for the regular season. Still, it does say that the talent pool of the Dolphins is viewed as better than Tampa in a roundabout way and that’s never a bad thing!
What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans looking to see in this last preseason game and what’s your overall feeling on how high the potential is for this team during the regular season?
