First, the Miami Dolphins would love to keep playing the Philadelphia Eagles’ reserves.
Second, the Dolphins are very happy with their part of the deal that brought them Tyreek Hill.
The Dolphins opened their final preseason game with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fading back, checking the activity downfield and letting it fly — all of 51 yards right into the arms and hands of Hill. Another shorter pass of 15 yards to the 15 to Hill and we can all settle down. A short run and a pass of about 9 yards to River Cracraft and Miami was on the scoreboard.
Seven points with the extra-point kick by Jason Sanders.
That’s how it went the rest of the night, whether the Dolphins’ quarterback was Tagovailoa,
Teddy Bridgewater or Skylar Thompson. The wide receivers were Hill (for two catches, then gone to the bench), Hunter Long, Lynn Bowden Jr. or Cracraft. The running backs were Raheem Mostert, Sony Michel, Gerrid Doaks, Miles Gaskid or Salvon Ahmed. And in coach Mike McDaniel’s offense, running backs will be important.
The defense was successful, too, as Elijah Campbell intercepted a Philadelphia pass and ran it back 30 yards for a touchdown. Linebacker David Phillips made some good plays. Kicker Sanders added five more extra points and two field goals. That, if you’ve been counting, adds up to 48 points, which was Miami’s final total.
The Dolphins won, 48-10, on Aug. 27, improving their preseason record to 2-1. Miami
begins playing for real at 1 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 11, when they face the New England Patriots at
Hard Rock Stadium.
Of course, it won’t be the same players for the Dolphins or any of the other 31 teams, as clubs
that were carrying 80-some players a week ago had to reduce that number to 53 as of
Aug. 30, and are allowed nine more on the practice squad.
The Dolphins and Eagles were scheduled to practice together midweek, but Miami called off its
last day before Saturday’s game, saying a flu bug had infected the team. The Eagles went ahead and practiced, then decided its first team had had enough and gave most of those players Saturday night off. That’s how the Dolphins ended up playing Philadelphia’s second team and beyond.
A year ago, Reid Sinnett was the No. 3 quarterback for the Dolphins, who hoped to hide him on
the practice squad. Not so fast, said the Eagles, who claimed Sinnett on waivers when he became available, kept him as their No. 3 QB and used him in that position Saturday night against his former team. After Saturday’s game, there was some prognostication on what the Dolphins would do with Thompson: Put him on the practice team, where he could be claimed, or try to hide him on the 53-player squad? If you’ve been following NFL news, you’ll know what the decision was, but I’m betting he’ll have been assigned to the 53-player squad.
MIAMI COACH MCDANIEL was so upset over the news of the death of team vice president Jason Jenkins that he was sobbing at the postgame press conference while talking about their relationship.
HOW ABOUT THIS? New York Yankees pitcher Aroldis Chapman got a tattoo, it became Infected and Chapman went on the injured list.
AS DO SEVERAL baseball players, St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado went on the Injured list because his wife was due to deliver their baby. Come on now. I come from an era when baseball writers stayed in Florida while their babies were being born up north. Of course, the warnings of forthcoming delivery were not as exact back then.
And, after being gone just a day or two, Arenado returned to go 4-for-4.
