So the Dolphins lost 17-6. Big deal. The score is obviously not the important part about last night's game. What is important is what we can take from this game (though you got to remember that it's only 1 game).
So below are just some quick thoughts from the game. I hope to have a more detailed analysis tomorrow night. Before I begin, though, a quick thanks to everyone who participated in our live game thread. Over 300 comments for a preseason game is outstanding!! You buys are awesome!!
Now some quick thoughts:
- None of the QBs, in my opinion, did anything to set themselves apart. John Beck didn't play great, but didn't play poorly, either. The same goes for Chad Henne, though he did make a couple of nice throws. If anything, Josh McCown should be worried, as his work against Tampa's 3rd team was unimpressive, especially for a veteran like McCown.
- Despite running for just 4 yards on 3 carries, Ronnie Brown impressed me. He did so because he showed no ill-effects from his torn ACL. I still hope he takes it slow and is careful, but this was encouraging.
- Ricky Williams is back. He ran hard, looked quick, and showed good burst. I'm officially excited to see him in the regular season!
- Jake Long made his debut and wasn't heard from much - which is a good thing when you're talking about offensive lineman. He was called for a false start, but I'll live with that. All in all, a solid debut.
- Jay Feely needs to be careful. Dan Carpenter can kick the ball. He knocked home a 41 yard FG and a 49 yard FG. The issue, though, is that of Carpenter's 3 kickoffs, only 1 went inside the 5 with none of them reaching the endzone.
- Brandon Fields is going to be an asset. He looked shaky as a rookie, but had some nice booming punts tonight. He had 6 punts, and 3 were over 50 yards. Two others were 48 yards and the only short one, a 34 yarder, pinned Tampa down at their 9 yard line. The punt coverage, though, leaves something to be desired.
- The 1st team offense looked much improved, holding Tampa to 2 consecutive "3 and outs" to start the game.
- Too many penalties in this game. I believe there were 8 or 9 committed by Miami - that has to piss off Tony Sparano.
So that's all for now. Those are my early thoughts. Look for a more detailed post to come on Sunday night. Until then, tell us what you thought about last night's preseason opener below...