Twenty notes and thoughts from the Dolphins’ 27-10 preseason win against the New York Giants:
• Adam Gase's thoughts, afterward: "On offense, we once again, 2nd and 3, run the ball, get called for holding [Ja'Wuan James was the culprit]. And we're third and long. Not ideal for us.... It's part of the process. Couple drives. We need to get better from it. We can't have the penalty. That just kills us. We need to get in third and manage-ables. We didn't get that with the ones.... I'll watch [tonight's tape of Ryan Tannehill] on the flight home. I don't know how much of an opportunity he had to really kind of do anything."...
On Jakeem Grant: "I've been waiting for that since we drafted him, to get him out in space and see what he can do."... On Matt Moore's interception: "That surprised me, very unusual from what I've seen running that play in practice. I felt it loosened him up."... On Laremy Tunsil: "It was great we got him a ton of reps. It's harder in practice because it's not real. This is our best evaluation."... On Brandon Doughty: "He never looks like he's in any kind of duress -- just calm. Never seems like he's got any kind of panic in his face."...
Gase said: "I loved the fact [the backups] came out great energy, flying around the field."... On Bobby McCain: "He kind of got thrown out there last minute and got a good rhythm, playing tight coverage."... Byron Maxwell didn't play because "he couldn't get loosened up. It was smart not taking a chance, make sure he's ready to go when we start the season."... He said "it was good to see both" Daniel Thomas and Isaiah Pead run well.
• As I asked on Twitter, if the Dolphins first need an offensive line that will keep Ryan Tannehill clean before we can fairly evaluate him, how many decades must we wait for that?
There are no more excuses for this offensive line, the fifth-highest paid in football.
Tannehill threw four passes in two series and was heavily pressured on three of them, with Dallas Thomas (the starter at left guard) allowing himself to be pushed back on a 3rd and 9, and Jordan Cameron and Branden Albert providing no resistance on Olivier Vernon on another third down, forcing Tannehill to throw the ball prematurely. And the aforementioned James penalty wiped out a first-down run.
Dolphins coaches believe Thomas has been superior to Tunsil entering tonight, but it’s clearly time to insert the rookie and let him get most or all of first-team snaps before his regular-season indoctrination in Seattle. Tunsil came off the bench and played into the fourth quarter tonight.
“He’s going to be a 10-year player for us,” Mike Tannenbaum said on the WFOR-4 broadcast.
At times during practice the past two weeks, Tannehill held onto the ball too long. But few quarterbacks could have done anything with the lack of time he was given tonight.
Tannehill left after completing two of the four passes for eight yards, with Miami failing to get a first down in either of his series.
"We didn't move the ball like we wanted to," Tannehill said. "Frustrating. Limited sample size there. But there were some good things we did well. Some things we need to clean up as soon as possible. Definitely some things to build on. We're not coming to any conclusions or jumping to anything to assume what we are. It's just another step in the process. Nothing to stress, nothing to worry about.... You've got to be able to protect the quarterback, get the ball in the playmakers' hands. It's all part of the formula to great offense."
How did having audible power feel tonight? "It felt good," he said. "Didn't have many checks at the line, maybe a couple. Guys were confident in what we were doing. They made a couple of plays on us up front and forced us to get the ball out quickly. You have to give credit to them. We had Jay [Ajayi] in the flat and weren't able to make that play."
• Positives? Start with electrifying jitterbug Jakeem Grant, who might give Miami the type of explosive presence this team badly needs. (DeVante Parker, who has the potential to be a high-impact presence, sat out, with the team cautious about his recent hamstring injury.)
Grant was the delightful story of the night: He caught four passes for 68 yards, returned two kickoffs for 53 yards and had four punt returns for 60 yards. Grant never returned a punt at Texas Tech (only kickoffs).
This was dynamic, folks.
The only negative: He injured a rib and missed the fourth quarter.
"I wanted to show my teammates they could rely on me," Grant said. "I wanted to prove to them I'm a receiver, too. I'm anything you want me to be. Wherever coach puts me, I'm going to try to shine as much as I can. Once I got the first [punt return] out of the way, I started to get my groove. Speed has always been part of my ability. All I have to do is slow the game down."
Tannehill: "He's going to help us a lot in special teams and we see what he can do at receiver in practice. We will keep developing there."
Mike Tannenbaum mentioned how Grant winning the return jobs would ease the load on Jarvis Landry. Grant is the heavy front-runner after tonight
“He has a high floor and an even higher ceiling working him into the offense,” Tannenbaum said.
There were several impressive plays by the Dolphins’ young defensive backs. Walt Aikens, who is much improved, had a quarterback strip, forcing a fumble that Spencer Paysinger recovered.
Bobby McCain made a scintillating interception on a deep throw, and had another pass deflection.
Lafayette Pitts, who started four years at Pittsburgh but went undrafted, made a nifty deflection that fellow undrafted rookie AJ Hendy intercepted. Former Hurricane Brandon Harris, trying to revive his career after missing last season with a torn ACL, made a nice play in coverage.
Isaiah Pead, competing with Damian Williams and Daniel Thomas, ran with purpose to start the second half, closing with 50 yards on 10 carries. “I’m really happy how well he’s playing,” Tannenbaum said.
And Leonte Carroo used his excellent hands to make a difficult catch, from Moore, by the sideline.
As Mel Kiper told me this summer, "The thing with Carroo is he’s thick and a tough guy. He is like smaller power forward like Charles Barkley who can muscle you around. When it looks like he’s covered, he’s not because he shields defenders very well and has vertical stretch ability. I am not going to say he’s Anquan Boldin but he’s a good player.”
• Granted, Miami sat its starting defensive line, Reshad Jones and its best cornerback, Byron Maxwell. But the poor tackling early on was disconcerting.
Isa Abdul Quddus was faked out on a 15-yard run and Kiko Alonso missed a tackle on the Giants’ TD run on their first drive. James Michael Johnson, Alonso’s backup, missed a tackle later.
• Foolish penalties were also hurtful – a Jordan Phillips hand to the face, a Chris McCain offsides that negated a negative play for the Giants on a high snap. McCain redeemed himself later with a sack and a tackle for loss. He sustained an elbow injury during the game.
• The Dolphins hope Xavien Howard is healthy enough to start the opener, and Tony Lippett didn’t exactly instill confidence tonight. He allowed an easy release inside to Jeremy Davis and was beaten on a 26-yard passing play. Unless Lippett is very good over the next three weeks, a strong case could be made to let McCain play on the boundary opposite Byron Maxwell, and Michael Thomas in the slot, until Howard is healthy and can become a starter.
• The Dolphins didn’t get a first down until tight end Dominique Jones caught a 19-yard pas from Matt Moore midway through the second quarter. But Jones dropped an easy pass later.
• The Dolphins’ second-team o-line featured starting right guard Billy Turner at right tackle, but he whiffed badly on a sack during his stint tonight at tackle. Anthony Steen, not Jamil Douglas, was the backup center. Ulrick Jean, at tackle, was beaten a couple times and allowed a sack. Matt Moore was sacked three times operating behind backup linemen, including Tunsil.
• With the Dolphins resting their starting defensive ends, Terrence Fede started ahead of Chris McCain and made one terrific play, forcing a tackle for loss.
• Tannenbaum said of the preseason offense: “We’re going to be very bland and basic. We might have missed some blocks. There are some things we have to clean up but there were some positives.”
• Asked about cornerback, Tannenbaum said: “We wanted to get longer at corner. A lot of big receivers in our division with Eric Decker, Brandon Marshall, Sammy Watkins,… Byron Maxwell, Xavien Howard, Chris Culliver, Tony Lippett… are long.” He mentioned Howard’s injury, then said: “By opening day, we’ll feel better about it.”
• Tannenbaum said he hopes Kenyan Drake returns next week from a hamstring injury… Julius Warmsley left with a concussion; he has been disruptive defensively at times in camp and had two sacks tonight… Aikens and Chris McCain had Miami’s other sacks.
• Andrew Franks hit a 49-yard field goal and has missed only two in 35-plus attempts since camp start… Marshall Koehn, facing an uphill climb to unseat Franks, hit from 27 yards.
• Brandon Doughty entered seven minutes into the third quarter and finished 7 for 9 for 66 yards. “Good, not great arm strength, high completion percentage,” Tannenbaum said. “Processes information quickly.”
• Matt Moore finished 10 for 14 for 122 yards, his numbers helped by the Matt Hazel 50-yard TD pass off an AJ Cruz deflection.
• Linebacker Mike Hull helped his chances a bit tonight with seven tackles and a stout third-down stop.
• Zac Dysert finished the game at quarterback and threw a touchdown to rookie seventh-rounder Thomas Duarte, whose receiving skills intrigue this staff.
• Running back numbers, beyond the aforementioned Pead: Jay Ajayi 2 for 6, Damien Williams 7 for 13 and Daniel Thomas 10 for 40.
• We mentioned during the offseason that the Dolphins told free agent defensive ends that it wanted to move Cam Wake, ideally, into a designated pass rusher role. So we found it interesting that Dolphins employee Nat Moore, on the broadcast tonight, said he expects Jason Jones to start at defensive end, opposite Mario Williams, with Wake playing off the bench.
• For a lot more Dolphins nuggets from earlier today, plus Heat news and 10 newsy items from UM football practice today, please click here.... And please follow me on Twitter (@flasportsbuzz).
• And finally tonight, the Dolphins' receiving numbers:
| Jakeem Grant | 4 | 68 | 17.0 | 0 | 24 | 5 |
| Matt Hazel | 1 | 51 | 51.0 | 1 | 51 | 1 |
| Dominique Jones | 2 | 25 | 12.5 | 0 | 20 | 3 |
| Leonte Carroo | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 0 | 8 | 3 |
| Thomas Duarte | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 1 | 16 | 2 |
| Damien Williams | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| A.J. Cruz | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Kenny Stills | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Daniel Thomas | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Dion Sims | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Jarvis Landry | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jay Ajayi | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Isaiah Pead | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 0 | -3 | 1 |
| TEAM | 20 | 212 | 10.6 | 2 | 51 | 28 |
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