The Miami Dolphins are two games into their pre-season schedule and we really don’t know who or what this team will be in 2019.
Later this week the Miami Dolphins will play their third preseason game. It seems as though Ryan Fitzpatrick will get the nod to start in what many teams term the “dress rehearsal” game for the season. The Dolphins are not like other teams.
When teams play the 4th preseason game, starters either sit or play one series before giving way to the rest of the team to finish out the game. The Dolphins may play their starters but for how long we don’t know.
The question, of course, is do we know anything about this Miami Dolphins team yet? The answer is a little difficult because we probably haven’t seen anything outside of a vanilla system. That may not change until opening weekend.
Chad O’Shea’s offensive system is still being worked. We haven’t seen the tight end involvement that we expected. Is that because he is holding that part of his offense back? Will he use more FB than he has so far? Clearly, the Dolphins are taking a page out of the New England preseason playbook, show them little to nothing and work on the fundamentals.
Fundamentals have been a focal point for the Dolphins and their new coaching staff. For everything, they have been working on, tackling still seems to be an issue but that could also be a result of not being in the right position, to begin with. That is a typical side effect of learning new systems.
So far we know that there are some players that are beginning to emerge. Kalen Ballage is looking more than capable of taking the lead running back spot and the injury to Kenyan Drake makes that more likely still. At receiver, there is the emergence of Preston Williams but overall the receivers are running much better routes than they have over the last six or more seasons. It is that small attention to details that are making the difference.
Defensively we are seeing quarterback pressure coming from different players and spots on the field. The Dolphins are not simply hoping that their defensive ends can collapse the pockets. Still, it is unlikely that we have seen anything yet when it comes to what Brian Flores and Patrick Graham will call once the season gets underway.
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The Dolphins are also hoping for big impacts in the secondary. Bobby McCain has been playing deeper than normal and it is paying off downfield. Minkah Fitzpatrick continues to be the Jim Jensen of the defense lining up at several positions but slot corner remains his best. Last week he only played two snaps in the slot.
Flores and his staff continue to tweak and work the systems and finding players that can provide the team with more options. The reality is simple, to answer the question about what we know right now, we really don’t know anything other than the fact the team is rebuilding and working towards getting the players fundamentally ready to play football.