5 Miami Dolphins players who have a lot of work to do

On Saturday, the Miami Dolphins had some up and down moments but luckily most of them came in the second half. It’s those who struggle in the first that are concerning.

With the Dolphins holding only a 13-3 lead at the end of the first two quarters, Miami came out flat in just about every area during the last two giving up 17 points in the 2nd half and allowing rookie quarterback Justin Fields to look like a God.

Fields had a good game and shook off some early struggles but Miami’s defense really didn’t put up much of a wall in front of him. Still, we are talking about players fighting to earn a practice squad spot and maybe a 53 man roster spot, not a starting job.

I’m more focused on the struggles early in the game and here are five who stood out the most to me.

• Jesse Davis

Davis really needs to step up his game. I expected to see more from the veteran who really couldn’t handle the right tackle job against the Bears. This is Tua’s blindside and Davis struggled almost the entire time he was in. I know a lot of fans get down on Davis but I think he has a lot to offer the team because of his versatility to play four of the five positions. Consistency is a problem and he needs to do better.

• Malcolm Brown

I’m sorry, I know a lot of fans on social media pointed at the inept offensive line blocking that was not good for Brown and there were a couple of plays that Brown was tackled behind the line of scrimmage but at the same time, I didn’t see what I expected to see. I thought Brown was going to be more explosive as the team’s physical back but I didn’t really see him attack his running lanes when they were there. He just seemed hesitant at times. Not enough to be concerned this early but it will be something I watch closely next week.

• Austin Jackson

Jackson was taken 18th overall a year ago and started most of last season. On Saturday, he looked like a rookie. Jackson has to do better and isn’t making Chris Grier’s line additions look very good. He has to get better by week one and still has time to do so but at this point, we all should be expecting more and he should be expecting more from himself.

• Chris Myarick

Forget about the fumble, Myarick did not have a very good game on Saturday and when he is battling against five others who clearly stand a better chance of making the team, he can’t have bad series.

• Jermaine Eluemunor

We really could name every other offensive lineman that didn’t start early and we named one and could have named a couple of others I’m sure. Eluemunor, however, stood out. I didn’t expect a big game from Larnel Coleman and Robert Jones who both looked out of place in their first NFL action but I did expect to see more from Eluemunor. I’ll give him a pass given the surrounding rookies he had to work with but he should have played better individually.

Maybe some of this changes when I go back and look at the game film again but for now, these players didn’t do much to impress me during the game.