For the first time in nearly 8 months... It's Game Day your Miami Dolphins!
Yes, it's only preseason. And yes, it's only the very first of four of these long, drawn out, mostly boring exhibition games. But, look at the bright side, folks... Your Miami Dolphins will once again be on your TV screen tonight.
And, despite it only being game #1, there will still be plenty to look for..
Like:
- The first team offense. How does Bill Lazor's new look attack fair against another defense for the first time this season?
- What kind of growing pains does this young offense experience?
- How does the offensive line hold up in their first real game action? In-fact, just who are the starters?
- Does Ryan Tannehill show consistency in what limited playing time he gets? Does he look like the QB from last Saturday's scrimmage, or the one who threw 6 INT's earlier this week?
- Jarvis Landry, Brandon Gibson, and Rashard Matthews.. Who of these three shines tonight?
- How does the secondary look, most notably, newcomers Cortland Finnegan and Louis Delmas?
- How does the run stopping attack look tonight? Remember, Dannell Ellerbe and Koa Misi are now flip-flopped. Does it make a difference?
- Does the defensive line exhibit the dominance in this game it has all of camp?
- What does Dion Jordan do with his playing time?
- Jamar Taylor and Will Davis has looked improved. Do they show it tonight?
My expectations:
- Ryan Tannehill and company will play most of the first quarter. Expect 3-4 series out of the first unit.
- WR Mike Wallace and TE Charles Clay will not play tonight. Could they play in a regular season game? Yes. But why chance it tonight?
- The first team offensive line will most likely look like this: Albert, Colledge, Satele, Thomas, James.
- Expect to see a lot of WR Damian Williams tonight. He's been a camp standout so far. Now it's time to show what you can do under the lights.
- RB Mike Gillislee has stepped it up lately, expect a heavy dose of him tonight.
- Pay close attention to the second and third team offensive lines tonight. It's a fluid situation right now and any of those guys could jump up with a good performance.
- Expect the defensive starters to play 2-3 series.
- Expect at least one sack from Dion Jordan. He'll see a lot of playing time with Olivier Vernon nursing a back injury, and he's been dominate in camp.
- You'll learn a lot more about Jamar Taylor and Will Davis after tonight. I've seen significant improvement from both since camp started.
- Jimmy Wilson will most likely lay a big hit on someone tonight. He's been forced to hold back all summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see one tonight.
- Randy Starks has had the best camp of his career. Look for him to make some plays in the first quarter.
Look for updates pregame, at halftime, and after the game tonight. I won't have the quarter by quarter blog as I'll be over at Dolphins.com running the live chat, you can join me there if you wish.
If you need something to hold you over to kickoff, and you will seeing as it's only 11:30 right now, then check out my articles for The Finsiders and Dolphins.com from earlier this week.
Ellerbe 'Back Home' In Second Season
Casserly: Dolphins Have Best Chance To Unseat Patriots
Football is BACK. Game Day is BACK.
Check BACK later.
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