26 points and Tannehill's impressive debut.

[CalDolFan10x14]

Buffalo Bills........6 points. (219 net yards).
Miami Dolphins...7 points. (354 net yards).
New England......7 points. (279 net yards).
New York Jets.....6 points. (173 net yards).

Yes, that's how many points the AFC East as a whole scored the first week of preseason. But guess who was the clear winner moving the ball? Tannehill accounted for nearly half of those yards.

I know, Tannehill didn't do that against their first unit and still has to prove himself against better defenses, but you've gotta have some kind of skill and potential to make a lot of those throws he made last night. During the TD drive (the one that counted), he went 8 for 9 and led the team 70 yards in about 3 minutes. Pretty damn impressive for your NFL debut no matter who it's against.

Defensively, the starting unit may have looked bad, but I'm not going to worry about that too much yet. If this continues for the next few weeks, then I'll become concerned. We'll see what Philbin and Coyle can do to get the defense better.

So before anyone goes on anointing this season as a failure already, remember, it's just one preseason game! There's going to be plenty of time between now and the regular season to get all the mistakes cleared away. This is a young team. There is going to be growing pains. We should know more clearly where the Miami Dolphins stand as a team come weeks 3 and 4 of preseason.

Rome wasn't built in a day and the Miami Dolphins clearly aren't going to become Super Bowl contenders within a year. But with Philbin leading this team and Tannehill's impressive debut, I feel a lot better about the Miami Dolphins' future than I have with any other coach we've had the last several years. If Tannehill continues down this road, we may get back to winning football a lot sooner than we think!

 

[kloud_9]

Bears are "supposed" to be super bowl contenders,but got waxed...stay healthy and improve fundamentals,technique is all you ask for these 4 weeks

 

[datruth55]

I haven't seen the game yet but from following it online and watching some of the highlights I think the offenses issues can be cleaned up, especially the passing game. The running game was a little more of a concern because they didn't open up any holes. If not for a nice move by Reggie Bush in the backfield he gets hit for a loss instead of the 12 yard gain he made. When I get a look at the game I'll get a better feel for the blocking. The good news is they didn't give up a sack even though the Bucs were one of the worst pass rushing teams in the league but had they given up a sack that would have been a bigger concern.

The biggest disappointment was on defense. I had concerns about Wake playing DE in the 4-3 against the run and in the highlight where Blount got the corner and picked up 16 yards Wake was completely sealed off from the play, couldn't set the edge. There's absolutely no way a guy as slow as Blount should be getting the corner on us. And the pass defense, ouch. Defense looked flat out awful with the exception of the middle of the D-line.

1st game is the baseline for me now I just look for improvement over the next two games. Hopefully we can clean this thing up a bit.

 

[Mike13]

Alot of teams played like ass this week.
Does anyone think thats a good indicator for the season?

 

[Phinatic8u]

If they play the same in week 3, which is the season preview in terms of preperation, then I'll be worried, week 1 preseason, **** it. Didn't even watch the whole thing, just Tanny's time

 

[CalDolFan10x14]

Alot of teams played like ass this week.
Does anyone think thats a good indicator for the season?

I would hope not because if so, the AFC East might be the worst division in football! 7-9 for everyone!

 

[BlueFin]

Sometimes I wonder how long some fans have been watching the game?

Do not over-react to the first pre-season game.

Be excited that Ryan Tannehill displayed the kind of skill your looking for in a great quarterback....the future looks bright!

Ryan in reality threw 2 touchdown passes in a little over a quarter of play (one was dropped).

One of the big things I look for in a QB is a guy who can get the ball in the endzone...its been the biggest failure of recent Dolphin QB's.

 

[Nublar7]

Sometimes I wonder how long some fans have been watching the game?

Do not over-react to the first pre-season game.

Be excited that Ryan Tannehill displayed the kind of skill your looking for in a great quarterback....the future looks bright!

Ryan in reality threw 2 touchdown passes in a little over a quarter of play (one was dropped).

One of the big things I look for in a QB is a guy who can get the ball in the endzone...its been the biggest failure of recent Dolphin QB's.

Fan reaction during the preseason has become very predictable over the years. There is no real reason to run to the top of the mountain and declare the Dolphins suck, based on last night. The team struggled as a whole last night, there is no sugar coating that. However, I hate to have to say the old tired line of "It is the preseason". But it is true, and especially the first game when teams enter with limited tackling in camp and no game planning. There is a reason why the preseason even exists, it is for teams to get in game shape and shake off the rust.

The front 7 of the defense struggled last night, but I think past year's results should outweigh one preseason game in the minds of fans. Not the other way around. The secondary is still a concern for me, but the defense as a whole should still be one of the top 10 in the NFL. Richard Marshall looks like he could be a very good pickup.

As for the offense, they were actually moving the ball, they just couldn't finish drives. The up tempo speed of the offense is also something to be excited about. The 3rd preseason game is the dress rehearsal game and is the preseason game you can start to make some conclusions and predictions from. Tannehill had a strong debut, but my biggest concern from last night is the injury status of guys like Burnett, McDaneil and Garner.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I agree that people are overreacting bigtime, but I'm definitely concerned about our secondary. Sean Smith looks like... Sean Smith out there.

 

[NyPhan23]

Despite it being preseason and meaningless... it's still nice to see ryan tannehill as the quarterback with the highest quarterback rating this week on NFL.com... granted it's only QBs with 14 or more passes and he played backups. Will be interesting to see if he keeps it up.

 

[tazthenomad]

One thing that I haven't seen highlighted in these posts

One of the encouraging things that I didn't see highlighted in the comments on Tannehill's performance was his ability to generally get the ball to the receivers quickly enough for them to try to make a move and get YAK.

His ability to get the ball to the receiver quickly (not just release the ball because Moore can do that when he doesn't get it batted) is a major upside.

I do hope he gets the start and plays against the 1's next week to see how he does when under more pressure/blitzes.

 

[BlueFin]

As for the offense, they were actually moving the ball, they just couldn't finish drives..

That was my point exactly....In a little over a quarter of play, Ryan Tannehill threw two touchdown strikes (It is not his fault the receiver dropped one)........that IS finishing drives from a QB perspective and the biggest fault of this team since Danny.

 

[islandah]

...The front 7 of the defense struggled last night, but I think past year's results should outweigh one preseason game in the minds of fans. Not the other way around. ....

Last year's results included going 0-7 to start, and the D played a significant part in that.

 

[ATL_PHIN_FAN]

The running game was a little more of a concern because they didn't open up any holes. If not for a nice move by Reggie Bush in the backfield he gets hit for a loss instead of the 12 yard gain he made. When I get a look at the game I'll get a better feel for the blocking. The good news is they didn't give up a sack even though the Bucs were one of the worst pass rushing teams in the league but had they given up a sack that would have been a bigger concern.

Everyone needs to keep in mind that we are converting to zone blocking this year, which will take some time to get down right. Also, we are starting a rookie at RT and we are running a vanilla passing game. If our passing game gets even MORE effective than we saw last night (and I think that's a real possibility), the defenses will have to back off in defending the run too closely or get burned by the passing game. I suggest we reserve judgement on the running game until at least PS game 3.

 

[finfan54]

If your a defensive player, knowing you are making this team, are you going all out to prove something at start of the game?

answer: NO

If your a rookie or undrafted guy or a PS guy trying to make it in this league, do you go out and try to prove something.

Answer: Yes

Thats how you should look at this game. Starting D was just not "strappin it on". And its really no big deal. Just worry about being in shape and ready to go in Sept. Vontae and Smith are my worries. Jimmy Wilson had good coverage deep but just didnt make the play. Learning experience.

We ran a no-huddle kinda nice for first time out in game situation. Buffalo is said to be doing the same thing. Not so much there to go on for the Bills. We actually have something to look forward to.