The
sense coming into the third preseason game was the Miami defense would
need to carry the team until the offense found its swagger. Jay Cutler
needed time to shake off the rust and find a rhythm with his receivers.
The opposite proved true, Adam Gase’s offense quickly adjusted to
Cutler’s quick release and carved up the Eagles secondary, while the
Miami defense struggled mightily.
Jay Ajayi slashed and bruised
his way through the Philadelphia defense for nearly 6-yards a carry and
even Mike Pouncey walked away smiling. The Cutler signing looked almost
prophetic as Matt Moore threw two ugly interceptions, one resulting in a
pick six. With the Dolphins threatening to score, Moore tossed a rookie
INT into two defenders with no Miami player close enough to contest.
If
anything, the 38-31 loss to the Eagles seemed to vindicate Adam Gase’s
decision to pull Jay Cutler out of retirement for one last shot at
something special. The offensive line mostly held its own with Mike
Pouncey out of bubble wrap for the first time this preseason. An ugly
missed block by left tackle Laremy Tunsil caused Cutler’s only bad play,
a strip sack-fumble leading to an Eagle TD. Both Tunsil and right
tackle Ja’Wuan James looked slow and unprepared for live game action.
21 dynamic points with Jay Cutler at the helm, showed the Miami offense did
not miss a beat without Ryan Tannehill. In fact, Cutler was noticeably
more at ease in Gase’s offense after only 18 days in Miami, than
Tannehill had been in a full season. With the playbook relegated to only
a few pages, it should be quite interesting to see the transformation
with a full arsenal on display. Cutler seemed particularly eager to find
DeVante Parker in one on one situations and their 72 yard hook-up was a
teaser of things to come.
The Miami defense on the other hand
did not look much different than where it left off ranked 30th in the
NFL last season. There were a couple of bursts in the first quarter,
including a tipped ball interception that saw 340 pound Jordan Phillips
rumble to the 2 yard line, but overall, the defense was not good. Byron
Maxwell lost interest in coverage resulting in a 50 yard TD completion
to Alshon Jeffery. Bobby McCain was caught flat footed on multiple
occasions and hopefully Reshad Jones was simply rusty because his
tackling was pathetic.
Key defensive free agent acquisition
Lawrence Timmons looked incredibly slow reacting at the point of
attack. The step Timmons was rumored to have lost, did not come from his
feet, but rather in his inability to recognize the play before being
blocked out of it. It was not a good sign for Miami, when Timmons looked
lost for much of the evening. For whatever reason, Kiko Alonso and
Ndamukong Suh did not appear to be interested in the game as their names
were rarely called.
Playing T. J. McDonald at safety seemed
counter-productive when the player will be lost to suspension for the
first 8 games of the season. Obviously, Nate Allen was nursing some
vague injury, but aside from Xavien Howard, the Miami secondary had
trouble in staying with Eagle receivers the entire night. With blown
coverages all over the field and missed tackles, Matt Burke’s defense
looked a long way from being ready to open the season in two weeks.
Before
reading too deeply into negative reactions, this was a preseason game
and for the defense, it certainly looked the part. There is work to be
done all over the defense, from the line play, to linebacker
positionings and in the secondary. The positive is the plethora of
opportunities Miami coaches will have to teach from the many mistakes.
In
all, the Miami Dolphins can safely place the loss of Ryan Tannehill
behind them in the mental preparation for the season. Jay Cutler is
going to be just fine and may even be the NFL’s biggest surprise. The
concentration should now be centered on getting the offensive line
playing together, healthy and in sync.
On the defensive side,
there simply must be more intensity. In this game, there were a few
moments of true dominance, but far too often poor execution led to
costly chucks of yardage and touch downs.
Suh’s
name was not called, Alonso’s name was not called, Jones’ and Maxwell’s
names were called for all the wrong reasons. If these guys are joining
Cameron Wake as the money players on this defense, then they’re going to
have to strap it up and bring some conviction. After spending two days practicing against the Eagles, Lawrence Timmons' lack of anticipation should be a huge concern.
It’s a preseason game, and drawing too many conclusions from these games is a mistake…
The Dolphins now have a very good read on what they need to sure up over the next two weeks.
They
can do that with a comforting sigh knowing the loss of Ryan Tannehill
will have little or no impact on the season’s outcome.
Welcome to Miami Jay Cutler!
