The most impressive thing about the Miami Dolphins on Saturday night in their second preseason game game happened 4 1/2 hours earlier, in an empty Hard Rock Stadium, on an empty field but for one man.
There was quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, in shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, at mid-afternoon, by himself, doing dropbacks and going through his progressions without a football. Shadow passing.
“That says everything,” new coach Mike McDaniel would remark later, after the 15-13 home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. “That’s why his teammates are confident in him. That’s why I’m confident in him. That’s why his coaching staff is.”
Said Tagovailoa: “All the little details. Going through all my progressions...”
It was fitting that the unusual preparation, mental fine-tuning and visualization by Tagovailoa was not something Dolphins fans could see.
Here is what they also are not seeing this preseason:
Their team. In full. With all its potential on display.
Didn’t see it in last week’s exhibition win in Tampa. Didn’t see it Saturday. Likely won’t see it next Saturday either in the fake-game finale vs. Philly.
The Dolphins are the gift you can’t unwrap and enjoy yet, you can only imagine what’s inside.
Christmas morning will come September 11 at Hard Rock against the New England Patriots..
Ever NFL preseason is inscrutable in this way, one’s full team seen in fleeting glimpses if at all, but this one more than usual, the exhibition games reduced from four to three and McDaniel’s obvious priority to figure out lower-tier roster spots rather than showcase his starters.
So the most notable revelation of this preseason, two games in, is that third-string QB Skylar Thompson might be really good. He was the star last week and then Saturday completed nine of 10 passes, one of them accounting for Miami’s lone touchdown.
Might Thompson , the seventh-round draft pick out of Kansas State, and old-ish rookie at 25, actually have a chance to beat Teddy Bridgewater for the backup job? No, almost certainly not. But there isn’t much real drama in watching backups play in games that don’t count, so why not imagine a little!
The one thing most Dolfans ache to see — Tagovailoa going deep to new receiving sensation Tyreek Hill, in a real game not on a practice field — is still hidden in the gift-wrap. Hill was a late scratch and did not play (again). Receiver Jaylen Waddle hasn’t played this preseason, either. Nor has key free-agent signing Terron Armstead, the left tackle.
Tagovailoa did play, barely, completing six of eight passes for 58 yards even sans his two best receivers.
“I was really happy with Tua because he’s been having such a good camp just in his development and ownership of the offense,” said McDaniel. Saturday, added the coach, “He commanded the huddle.”
If there s a concern about the Dolphins, two fake games in, for me it is the sputtering ground game, which is the forte’ of McDaniel, the run-game whisperer.
Saturday Miami garnered a mere 37 yards from 18 carries, and the numbers would have been much sorrier if not for one 12-yard run by Salvon Ahmed, who may find it tough to make the final roster.
Again, though, it is August, and McDaniel is not showing his full hand.. Four of five offensive line starters did play Saturday, but not the best one (Armstead), and not for long. Starting back Chase Edmonds played, but not much., though enough to remind he’ll be as dangerous on the receiving end as running. Raheem Mostert and his blur-speed did not play.
Cornerback is another possible concern area, after Trill Williams was lost for the season injured last week. But top corner Xavien Howard has not played at all this preseason, and the other starting CB, Byron Jones, still is fighting back through an ankle injury and hasn’t played.
The running game/offensive line and the defensive backfield seem like the areas of concern through two exhibitions. Except neither is. Not yet. Not when Armstead, Mostert, Howard, Jones and others are still gifts yet to be unwrapped.
The overarching question about the Dolphins is what it’s been the past two years: How good can Tua Tagovailoa be and what will it take to get him there?
Saturday afternoon, alone in an empty stadium, when nobody was watching, said much even as it happened in silence. It sure impressed his head coach.
When the third-year quarterback is in a real game, with the 100-catch Waddle and Hill, The Cheetah, both among his targets — only then will we begin to see the full flourishing.
We have not seen it yet, but soon. Soon the gift wrap comes off and the present, and future, finally arrives.
