http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/Some thoughts and notes, position by position, after the Dolphins' 27-10 loss at Chicago in their preseason opener, a game in which Bears backups outscored their Miami counterparts 24-0 in the second half:
### Quarterback: Ryan Tannehill was sharp and efficient in his only drive, completing 6 of 7 passes for 56 yards and a 139.6 passer rating. He had a nifty 19-yard throw to Greg Jennings and delivered a pinpoint pass to Jarvis Landry on fourth and goal for a touchdown...
Matt Moore (4-9, 43 yards) had a 59 rating and did nothing of note... McLeod Bethel Thompson completed a 34-yard throw to a lunging Laron Byrd, but his night went downhill from there. He threw two atrocious interceptions deep in Dolphins territory and finished 5 for 12 for 71 yards and a 21.9 rating... Josh Freeman, who has struggled throughout training camp, matched MBT's 21.9 rating, closing 5 for 16 with 76 yards with an interception. Yuck.. It's impossible to fathom Miami keeping more than two quarterbacks.
### Offensive line: The interior of the first-team group was solid, except for a goal-line holding penalty by Billy Turner and poor blocking on a short gain by Lamar Miller on Miami's first offensive snap. Otherwise, Turner was adequate at right guard and Dallas Thomas had a good night at left guard... Turner played longer than any starter... Jason Fox had a holding penalty...
Tackle Donald Hawkins and center Sam Brenner were the first offensive linemen used off the bench... Hawkins allowed a sack (the only one Miami gave up all night) and hasn't been very good in training camp... Brenner appears to have the edge over JD Walton as the third center. Walton had a holding penalty and struggled at times.
### Running back: Miller had a terrific 27-yard run and finished with 32 yards on three carries... Aside from Damien Williams' two catches for 28 yards (and we already knew he could do that), none of the backup running backs distinguished themselves. Williams, who averaged less than three yards per carry last year, had 7 for 20 tonight (2.9 average)...
LaMichael James averaged just 2.6 (5 for 13) and was merely OK in the return game (25.3 average on three kickoff returns, 1 for 8 on a punt return). He inexplicably called for a fair catch late in the first half despite having 7 to 10 yards of open space in front of him... Mike Gillislee fumbled after an impressive run and closed with 16 yards on five carries. Hard to see him making this team.
### Receiver: Byrd had the catch of the night but remains a long shot to make the team. With Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker sidelined, all three starters got targeted during the first-team offense's brief stint. Jennings had the 19-yard catch, Landry caught 2 for 11 (including the touchdown) and Rishard Matthews 1 for 11...
The second-team receivers were Byrd, Michael Preston and Matt Hazel, who had two catches for 34 yards but also dropped a pass... The third team receivers were Cobi Hamilton (4 for 49), Kevin Cone (2-30) and DaMarr Aultman. Cone, all alone, dropped a touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter, though the ball wasn't particularly well thrown by Freeman. Aultman returned a punt for 42 yards late in the game..... Tommy Streeter was injured.
### Tight end: Dion Sims had two catches for 15 yards, shaking off a poor week of practice in which he had several uncharacteristic drops... Jordan Cameron wasn't targeted.... Gerrell Robinson entered as the No. 3 tight end, followed by Jake Stoneburner. Bad sign for Arthur Lynch that he's no better than fifth on the depth chart.... Aside from Sims, Stoneburner was the only other tight end with a catch (2 for 13).
### Defensive line: The starters were very good, the backups less so. After Ndamukong Suh left the game, Miami allowed runs of 15, 5 and 6 yards on the next three runs, with CJ Mosley and Jordan Phillips playing tackle... Phillips had one exceptional play, penetrating into the backfield on a running play to allow Michael Thomas to make a tackle for a 3-yard loss....
Anthony Johnson, who began camp as a second-team defensive tackle, played with the third team and committed three neutral zone infractions.... Terrence Fede, who has been terrific throughout training camp, nearly sacked Jimmy Clausen, instead forcing him to scramble unsuccessfully. (Clausen fell to the ground.)
### Linebacker: Already without Koa Misi (calf), the Dolphins lost Jordan Tripp to an ankle injury. He was on crutches, with his right foot in a boot, after the game. Tripp has had bad luck early in his career; he had a chest injury and an appendectomy during preseason last year... Chris McCain, the last defensive starter in the game, injured his ankle after Derrick Shelby accidentally stepped on him late in the first half. But he returned to the sideline and seemed fine...
The other starters besides McCain --- Jelani Jenkins and Kelvin Sheppard --- were solid. Jenkins played terrific defense in coverage on an incomplete throw to Martellus Bennett and also had a tackle for loss on a running play. Sheppard was fine in his snaps at middle linebacker.
We told you last week that the Dolphins believed Zach Vigil had emerged as the best of their four undrafted linebackers. And he justified Miami's faith tonight with five tackles (including two for loss) and the Dolphins' only sack... Mike Hull also had some good moments, including a breakup of a potential touchdown in the end zone... Neville Hewitt missed a tackle on special teams and had a holding penalty.
### Defensive backs: Reshad Jones made his presence felt early with a good play on a Bears run and a deflection in coverage... Walt Aikens filled for Louis Delmas and did nothing objectionable... Jamar Taylor was solid, allowing only a short completion... Brice McCain played and was OK despite tweaking his groin on Tuesday....
Bobby McCain, who has been such a ball-hawk in training camp, got early snaps in the nickel but committed a couple of holding penalties... Zack Bowman was beaten twice but also broke up a pass in the end zone in the third quarter...
Tough night for rookie fifth-round safety Cedric Thompson, who whiffed on a tackle that would have prevented a touchdown on Kadeem Carey's fourth-and-1 run, and later failed to make an open field tackle on a 52-yard TD run by Sinorise Perry.... Will Davis had a very nice play in coverage.
### Kicker/punter: Caleb Sturgis kicked a 31-yard field goal but one of his kickoffs went out of bounds. ... Rookie Matt Darr averaged 44.3 yards on three punts, Brandon Fields just 37.7 yards on three punts.
Sports Buzz: Notes, thoughts after loss
- Thread starter gafin
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ShorePhin
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Add Brandon Albert to this and those solid/adequate words change.
gregorygrant83
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It was a squib kick that hit the ground at the numbers on the 30 yard line before taking a bad bounce and rolling out at the 20.
Nobody is talking about it because it was nullified because of a penalty, but Wake's sack was a thing of beauty, looking foward to watch that dl line for whole games during the regular season... fun times ahead...
Man I jumped up out my chair when he sacked Cutler . . . . it was like "ahhhhhhhh"
Yeah! He destroyed Cutler.... thing of beauty...
Thanks for the write up gafin
Interestingly Omar (I know not the best source) said on Joe Rose this morning that he believes Sturgis was supposed to do a normal kickoff and since Sturgis is so worried about his groin he didn't open up his hips enough to kick off properly and kicked it out of bounds. I haven't watched the game but I'll pay close attention to it. If Omar is right, and no one has confirmed the intention of the kick with any of the coaches or players, but if Omar is right then there's no possible way you can keep Sturgis.
Yea Joe Rose just reconfirmed that the kick was supposed to be a deep kick and Sturgis miss hit it. Ouch
****ing christ.
Fins_of_Fury
In a contract year
We are going to live and die by the kicking game this year...Better get that mess sorted out...
