New Man of the Match: Jakeem Grant. You wanted to see a new name flash well with the lights on, even the small lights of the first preseason game. You saw it from Grant. Four catches (five targeted) for 68 yards. Four punt returns with a 15-yard average. Two kickoff returns with a 26.5-yard average. He ran a nice route to catch a well-thrown ball from Brandon Doughty for 24 yards. Two punt returns showed off his elusiveness best. On one, he simply accelerated by Giant defenders for 28 yards. The 12-yard return in the second quarter was more impressive, though. He caught the punt at the 23-yard line and immediately juke-stepped past safety Bennett Jackson. Then he stepped upfield made linebacker Mark Herzlich miss. Still moving upfield, he stepped out of the grasp of tight end Jerrell Adams and ran upfield before a few Giants converged on him. He maximized a 12-yard return. That’s what the Dolphins hope they see a lot of coming up. He’s had some trouble holding onto balls in practice, but that didn’t show. Should he have caught a first-quarter punt that bounced 10 yards to the Dolphins 6? Maybe. You had to like the aggressive manner he ran a deep kickoff out of the end zone to the 22. Bottom-line: If this is who he is, the Dolphins got great value in the sixth round.
Mismatch of the Match: Dallas Thomas vs. Johnathan Hankins. If this night doesn’t lead to rookie Laremy Tunsil being put at starting left guard, there are issues beyond the obvious. Dallas Thomas of this night looked like Dallas Thomas of last year. The first three offensive plays of the game: 1) Jay Ajai ran to the left side, Thomas couldn’t move the fourth-year defensive tackle from Ohio State and Hankins made the tackle after a yard; 2) Thomas blocks Hankins well, but end Olivier Vernon stunts inside to knock down Ryan Tannehill during the throw ; 3) Hankins bull-rushes Thomas, shoving him right back into Tannehill as he throws. Again: If this doesn’t night put Tunsil in as starter, then there are larger problems involved.
Stat of the game: Two drives, eight yards. That’s what the Dolphins first-team offense managed against an admittedly motivated (by first-game of preseason standards) defense. The Giants overhauled their defense, spending $200 million on the likes of former Dolphin Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon Harrison. This was their first sighting in the home stadium. Also, you knew there would be growing pains for this new Dolphins offense. They’ve been apparent in camp and were again Friday. On to Dallas.
Three nice plays by the Dolphins defense led to Giants turnovers in the first half:
* Bobby McCain played outside after being the slot cornerback much of camp. He made a nice interception in the second quarter, leaping and taking the ball from rookie receiver Sterling Shepard.
* Walt Aikens didn’t give up on a play, swatted the ball from behind quarterback Ryan Nassib. Spencer Paysinger picked it up and ran 24 yards to the Giants 7 to set up a touchdown.
* Rookie cornerback Lafayette Pitts deflected a long, sideline pass into the air and rookie safety A.J. Hendy came through to pick it off.
Missed tackles were the order of the night for top defenders. That’s not a big surprise as they don’t tackle to the ground in camp. But it’s noteworthy to need improvement. Isa Abdul-Quddus took a bad angle and saw a few-yard loss turn into a nice Giant gain; Kiko Alonso’s failed arm tackle turned a couple-yard loss into the Giants first touchdown. James Michael-Johnson missed a tackle on tight end Will Tye and he ran five more yards for a first down (the play was called back because of an illegal formation).
You saw why Brandon Doughty intrigues the team. He gets rid of the ball quickly. He is accurate. He completes passes. Coming on in the third quarter, he completed seven of nine passes for 66 yards. The best pass was the aforementioned one to Grant, one he had to put between two layers of Giants defense with a mix of touch and speed. We’ll see where this goes, but what you saw Friday night is what Doughty has shown in practice.
Yes, everything the Dolphins did is graded on a scale of a first, preseason game without a lot of starters. And it was good common sense to sit veterans. What do Ndamukong Suh, Mario Williams and especially Cameron Wake (coming off Achilles surgery) need to do with a first, preseason game? Ditto for running back Arian Foster, safety Reshad Jones and cornerback Byron Maxwell. Any work they’d get in isn’t worth the risk of injury. This is par for the course. The Giants sat starters beginning with quarterback Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr.
Cornerbacks. This is a big question and hard to grade without the Giants starting passing game in there. Overall, they had a good night. There was McCain’s interception. There also was him getting beat on the Giants’ first possession on third-and-1 for a 5-yard pass to Geremy Davis and having an illegal hands to the face penalty. Tony Lippett? Well, second-year receiver Jeremy Lewis released inside early in the second quarter and beat him for a first down. In all, Nassib was 7-for-15 with two interceptions, so the pass defense held up fine.
