The five areas that Miami Dolphins fans should watch today

The Miami Dolphins are two hours away from their third game of the season and there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about. There should be though.

When it comes to the Miami Dolphins 2019 season there isn’t a lot to get hyped about but each week there are areas that seem to improve and watching that improvement week to week can give fans a clue as to what the future may look like.

This week the Dolphins are in Dallas to take on the Cowboys. They enter the game nearly 20 point underdogs for the 2nd week in a row. Fans are hoping that the team doesn’t give up another 40 plus points but more importantly, they want to see more than 10 points put on the board. Here are five things to watch today.

Jesse Davis

Davis has actually been a bright spot on the offensive line. While he is far from being Laremy Tunsil good at left tackle, consider that the Dolphins are playing him there for a reason this year. He is the left tackle of the future if they draft Tua Tagovailoa.

Davis had been good the past two weeks and will again face a tough defensive front from the Cowboys. He has already played against two other good defenses in Baltimore and New England. Another solid outing from Davis and we can start to see that maybe he is indeed the future of that position.

Josh Rosen

This really didn’t need to be mentioned honestly, but Rosen is making his debut as a Dolphins starter today. Last Monday, Brian Flores said that Ryan Fitzpatrick would start this week but that changed after the coaching staff was able to review game film. They decided that Rosen is ready to take over the team. Hopefully, this lasts longer than a single week regardless of how he plays.

If we are being blunt, Rosen looked better than Fitzpatrick in the pre-season and should have started from week one. The outcomes in terms of wins and losses may not have looked different but maybe the scores would have. With Rosen, we get a more agile and energetic quarterback. Will that translate to more points on the board? We will find out if he can orchestrate drives today.

Vince Biegel

Last week Biegel looked like he was sliding right into this Brian Flores/Patrick Graham style of defense. He got pressure on Tom Brady and even managed to record sacks. That is a big first impression.

Now we need to see if he can continue that role. He will still play behind Raekwon McMillan in situational play. McMillan himself is a situational linebacker as the Dolphins try to use their secondary to create mismatches on defense. It may seem as though it isn’t working now but each week we see better execution or at least we did last week.

Consistency is what is needed as well as improvement. Last week the linebackers played well against the Patriots and held them to only 13 points in the first half. That was a huge difference from the week before. Now they need to show that they can continue to build on that growth. Biegel is fun to watch. He has a high-motor and makes textbook tackles but he has to show every time he is on the field that he deserves more reps.

Post Fitzpatrick secondary

With Minkah Fitzpatrick now gone, how and who will line up in his role defensively? We should see more Jomal Wiltz today and Bobby McCain should have more opportunities to move around the field.

Fitzpatrick was versatile but I’m not sold that he played with the same intensity at every position that he was asked to. The Dolphins will also likely use Johnson Bademosi and Ken Webster more on the field today. If they are both active it will be interesting to see what kind of rep counts each of them gets.

Miami is going to see if anyone can step into that role which is a pivotal one in this defense. Fitzpatrick didn’t want to run it but I’m sure these two will relish the opportunity.

Matt Haack

Frankly, many fans are done with Matt Haack who is having another poor season. Last week it almost looked like he was getting paid to shank kicks. Meanwhile, the ineptitude of the Dolphins offense has seen kicker Jason Saunders sit on the sidelines. He isn’t getting so much as a chance for field goal attempts. Maybe they should let him punt.

Haack has been horrible and Miami can’t win a field position battle with shanked punts. The defense already is being given no help from the offense so it naturally not getting any from Haach hurts as well.

Running game

O.k. I know I said five but does anyone really count Matt Haack as one of five things to watch? Me neither. The running game has produced just over 60 yards in two games for an appauling 2.3 yards per carry. That needs to change. That change starts up front with the offensive line.

Miami’s offensive line needs to do much better than what they are because frankly, they suck. Jesse Davis has shined at left tackle and rookie Michael Dieter isn’t playing poorly at left guard but the other side of the line seems non-existent.

When the line is working their assignments correctly, the running backs are not hitting the holes when they open. This is a big problem for the continuity of the offense. Miami can’t move the ball because they are one-dimensional. Playing from behind does not help but the Dolphins need to find a way to open this part of their offense up.