NFL Preseason Game Preview: Dolphins vs Lions: Miami resting starters, Wilson & Ewers to get reps

NFL Preseason Game Preview: Dolphins vs Lions: Miami resting starters, Wilson & Ewers to get reps

All right, so preseason games, uh, the second round of them getting underway tonight. The Lions are going to be taking on the Dolphins this weekend, and apparently the Dolphins are hoping for a much better game than what happened at practice. So, more to describe how bad the Dolphins were when they were practicing against the Lion Horror Show. One of the most lopsided preeason practices I have ever seen. Burn the tapes. torched just describes a little bit of it. Taking a look at Saturday’s notable preseason games, we’ve already talked about the Browns and the Eagles going at one another. Dylan Gabriel uh likely to get the start there, but we are going to focus right now on the Dolphins at the Lions. And we got to bring in Emry Hunt, Bryant McFaten here. We’re going to start with the Dolphins and how bad things apparently were at practice. I mean, this is when when you’re hearing things like that, BMAC, I mean, sometimes things aren’t good, but when you get words like burn the tapes, that was a horror show for the Dolphins. What does that do for the team? Well, it it it kind of hurts the morale of the team, when you talk about an upcoming year where there are a lot of question marks associated with the Miami Dolphins on either side of the football field. And then when you look at the concerns, I think talent is an issue as well. And I’ll just go ahead and just give you guys it give give it to you guys full full spectrum. If you had to rank the Miami Dolphins in their division solely on talent from top to bottom, I think you would rank them last when you look at what the Bills have going on the Patriots and the Jets. So now understanding and knowing that and not hearing positive things so far in these joint practices most recently with the Detroit Lions button fans, you’re you’re starting to embrace yourself for a very uphill battle the entire season. I mean, this is a team that kind of moved all their quality players away either by choice or being forced to do so. Didn’t really bring in the same like talent for the players that left the program. And now I’m just kind of looking for that leadership issue, right? I that leadership type of command. I think that that’s been an issue in years past, most recently a year ago, the lack of leadership. And now we’re starting to see those things kind of surface in these joint practices. And it doesn’t do the Dolphins any justice when you’re playing against one of the best practicing against one of the best teams in the NFC in the Detroit line because if you have any holes, you better believe they will exploit those said holes. There’s one of three ways this thing could go, right? One way would be if it you get a leader that galvanizes a team like, yo, we got to really shape up and get out there and do what we’re capable of. The second way is guys go pack their bags and be done for the season already. You know, season a even start yet. And the other way is like you may see individuals pop up like well they played bad I play good. That stuff is the last two or two things that could really break up a team. You hope that your quarterback tour and other leaders on the team galvanize and get these things going. But I think this is exactly what the Miami Dolphins needed. Reason being coming out of the season and going into the offseason it was about attacking their toughness and mental toughness, physical toughness. They attacked that in the draft and free agency. They want to get tougher and going out there and playing one of the toughest teams in the NFL in the Detroit Lions shows you how far you have come but also how far you have to go. Uh I like the silver lining Emory. So people watching this are like okay you’re talking about how bad it was. How bad really was it? We’re going to give you some examples and the guys are going to react to them. Uh BMAC I want to start with you. You can react to this or give me like the playbyplay. Awan Ross St. Brown just just cruising. Well, what happened was the quarterback was anticipating the very first rep a a stop stop route. Amaras kept going and of course you never want to be in that in that position. The second one back showed the fade. I don’t know who exactly threw the football but ideal ball placement. And then you talk about this slot fade here, red zone concept being the number two wide receiver. Uh this is this is easy throw and catch for a veteran type of player in Amaran St. Brown. And they’re just clicking. And there’s another highlight that I see that we didn’t add to this highlight reel. Uh J Mo, I mean a deep post route. I mean got caught with the ball right in his bread basket when you talk about his speed, but this was an issue for Miami Dolphins in the secondary consistently allowing Detroit Lions pass catchers get behind them in coverage. So when you look at the makeup of this secondary a year ago, you had guys like Javon Holland, you had Jaylen Ramsey, those two players are no longer there, right? So you look at bringing in Ma Fitzpatrick, that’s that’s one quality addition. But the quarterback still when you look at the injuries they’ve been dealing with along with moving on from their best quarterback a year ago, that’s a major concern for a defense that’s going to be called to play really, really good football. And unfortunately, the corners in Miami didn’t have their best outing against the Detroit Lions based on those highlights that we went over. All right. You mentioned Jameson Williams and I’m not sure if this is the exact play that you were talking about, BMAC, but we do have one of him going up against the Dolphins. Uh Emry, tell me what you’re seeing here. 23 is still looking for the football. And 14 right here is not the fastest. And when you see middle of the field open like that, you know, Jameson Williams is going back to the sideline saying, “Bro, these dudes slow.” And now 23, once again, this is the second time he pops up in this video, right? And so that’s a problem. One, you can’t locate the football. Understand where you’re at on the field. That’s the biggest thing. You’re inside the green zone, 10 yard line going in if you’re number 23 and you’re still searching for the sideline for the football. That that shows you have lack of spatial awareness. And the Dolphins have already been a little bit banged up in the secondary. And to see Jameson Williams has free access off the line of scrimmage, no middle of the field safety, so open field and he’s going to run and exploit that defense. They have a lot to work out on. And some of those things speedwise they can’t get fixed. you are what you are, but man, spatial awareness, where you are on the field, those are things you expect the prolevel cornerback to understand so they don’t panic out there, which what we saw in that clip. BMAC, was that the clip you were you were hoping to see or was there something else where he was Yes. Yes. See, that is that that’s more of a coaching point than the one-on-one drills. We always emphasize one-on-one drills for quarterbacks and wide receivers. It’s solely more so for the offensive guys because there’s no pass rush. there’s no other safety or other defenders in the back end that can kind of assist the quarterback. But when you have 70 on seven type of situation where you have the secondary aole, you cannot allow guys to get behind the DBs, the quarterbacks, the safeties. And that is something that we saw throughout the joint practices with uh Miami and Detroit. And clearly, they got to get all of that out of their film regimen in terms of being better because if they don’t do any improvement, be prepared to see the same thing week in and week out. Mike Tom used to tell us all the time, anytime you put you put bad tape out there for the NFL rule to see, you will see the same thing week in and week out until you get better. Okay. I think uh there was one part that was positive for the Dolphins. Let’s take a look at D Escridge. A touchdown from him. Bmac, we’ll start with you on this one. All right, let’s see what we got. Oh, that that’s that’s more that’s more of a a good catch than a good throw. Making the adjustment. And you know, so far he’s been having a real nice camp when you look at what he’s done throughout the entire opportunities that we’ve seen. I’ve been hearing his name pop up time and time again for the Miami Dolphins on the offensive end. And that’s much needed in terms of the depth at the wide receiver position because one thing about Jaylen Wadd, he’s a very explosive, talented wide receiver, but oftent times he he’s dealing with nicks and bruises throughout the course of the season. And then the same can be said for a guy like Tyreek Hill as well. So having quality depth at the wide receiver position is a necessity for the Miami Dolphins. and hopefully he can really answer that call to be able to be in the rotation once the season starts. Okay, so a little bit of positivity there for the Dolphins, but overall, I mean, we’ve been talking about it just how bad that practice was. Uh, and we’re hearing from Mike McDaniel that he’s planning to sit uh a lot of the starters for this second game going up against the Lions. Emmery, is that a good idea? I mean, based on what he said, they got beat up in practice. They probably have to sit, right? They probably still sore from what they went through with Detroit. But yes, it does help this football team. Why? because it gives those guys behind them a chance to say, “Hey, put me in the game, coach. Let me go out there and rock out.” And I think that’s the type of mentality trying to establish with this football team. Like, hey, okay, if you’re not going to do it, I’m going to step up and do it and take advantage of the opportunity. You talk about D. Ess right there. He’s looking to rebound after what he wasn’t able to do out there in Seattle was injured a lot. Now, you get a guy that gets to step up and try to make a name for himself on his football team. So, yes, here’s your opportunity. twos and threes and other reserves trying to make a team. Maybe you could light that fire to ignite that that energy around this football team because right now they’re punchless in a bar fight with a team that’s going to not stop throwing these jabs. BMA, would you and I can tell you this much? Yeah, this this this is this makes perfect sense because number one, if you’re going to play your starters or think about playing your starters and you might not have Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Wadd out there, you don’t want to continue to put bad tape for all of us to digest and and talk about. We already kind of heard what happened in tra in practices and we kind of seen from afar, but remember these preseason games are televised. So if those said players are going out there short-handed, not having a full cast of starters, if you’re the Miami Dolphins, I’m doing the same thing. No, because you saw a glimpse of what it could look like in the joint practices. If you go out there in that preseason game in that game-like atmosphere, you don’t have a full deck of cards. You will really give us something to talk about. So, just go ahead and lick your wounds as much as possible. Get ready for week three. But it doesn’t make any sense to put your starters out there to make a a to make a bad situation worse. All right. Uh you guys get a choice on what you want to talk about. Max Bmac, I’m going to start with you. Uh and Emry, you can follow on whatever topic you choose. uh quarterback battle or running back battle, both for backup here. So, you get Zach Wilson and Quinn Huers. Quinn Huers being the rookie there, taking a chance on himself coming into the league. Jaylen Wright versus Ali Gordon. Ali Gordon is the rookie who’s making a splash at practice. Uh BMAC, which one of those battles are you more focused on? Well, you know what? Because I’m a good guy, I’ll allow the running back discussion to go to our resident running back in Emory Hunt. So, I’ll take on the quarterback conundrum for the Miami Dolphins in terms of second and third string guys. Right now, I think Zach Wilson is the lead candidate to be the the backup to to a tongue of Aloa. Uh, in the first game against the Chicago Bears, I mean, Zach didn’t really blow you away, but he didn’t really, you know, stink up the field either. I mean, completed around 55% of his passes, uh, 90 or so yards through the air. Very, very small sample size, but he didn’t really stink up the field. In terms of Quinn Eurus, you got to win this job. Quinn Euers. Now, we heard positive things associated with Quer’s name throughout camp, but then in the preseason game against the Chicago Bears, we saw a a bit of, you know, hesitant type play in terms of his decision-m and just being pinpoint with his accuracy. He only completed around 27 26% of his passes. That is not winning football, especially if you’re trying to earn a job within the NFL. So let’s see exactly what Quinn Uers and Zach Wilson have in store for week two because to your point Amanda Tua is not participating. So Z guess what? You get more rip more reps Zach Wilson you get more reps Queen UR. So let’s see exactly what either side could do. But right now it seems like this is Zach Wilson’s job to lose based on what he’s done along with the experience. The Dolphins offense is predicated on the explosive play and we see that in the passing game manifest itself in Jaylen Wadd and Tyreek Hill. The run game is the same way. The problem with the Dolphins run game is like when you’re in between the 20s, it’s like going from running in a parking lot to going to running inside of a classroom. Once you get inside that tight confined space, at some point you got to go forward. At some point, you’re going to have to have a physical discussion with the dude across from you. And the Dolphins right now, kind of the theme of this whole thing, are not physical enough at the point of attack. We saw that early in that Bears preseason game during the fourth down stop the goal line stands. Yes, they were able to get some short touchdowns, but they need someone that can really punch that thing inside. I think Ali Gordon gives them that. They have a lot of speed backs, a lot of guys that could work well from the 20 to 20 and they can probably hit the home run. But once you get inside the 20 in, that green zone inside the 10, you need someone that they fear that they do not want to tackle. To me, this is an opportunity for the rookie Ali Gordon, who was severely underdrafted to make this roster, make an impact, and have a role as a rookie. Uh, fantasy man. And another thing about Ali Gordon, real quick, Amanda, to Emy’s point, their running game is all about finesse. It’s all about misdirection, trying to trick you. They got to find a guy that can do damage, doing it the old school way with bruising mentality, bruising type production. And Ali Gordon could be that guy because we heard about Tyreek Hill emphasizing his concerns about short yardage opportunities. Heck, we saw that surface in the first first drive for the starters last week when they had a goal line stand by the Chicago Bears because Tua Tonga Valoa and his starting mates couldn’t get one yard on a fourth and goal situation. So to Emry’s point, at some point in time, the trick-orandreat type of offenses is good, but when you shorten that football field, you got to play north and south type football. And maybe Ali Gordon can give them that presence that they’ve been missing. in quite some time. All right. Uh I I was looking them up before and it was all about fantasy football. You guys are selling me on Olly Gordon. I’m not playing this season because I’m a quitter and uh I quit like halfway through the season. Fantasy managers also talking about Sam Leaporta, tight end for the Lions. We do have to talk about the Lions a little bit. Uh apparently he’s beat up. Dan Quinn said he’s going to be out for for a little bit right now. I mean, your concern level here and how crucial he is to this offense? Well, my concern level is a bit, you know, is marginal because Dan Quinn didn’t really give us anything. He said he’s going to be out for a little bit. What is a little bit? I mean, the NFL season is weeks away. So, I take that as Sam Leaporter should be ready to go. And to to your question about how important he is, he’s very, very important. I mean, when he is rolling, their offense is very, very hard to stop in terms of what he provide in the running game, of course, in the passing game as well. Not to mention in the red zone commanding the seams in the passing element. So hopefully this is nothing severe because when you talk about having a quality player at the tight end position, he ultimately comes the quarterback’s best friend and we kind of already seen that relationship established between Sam and this starting quarterback and Jared G. This is why I love offense because yes, Leaport is important and all depends on how long he’s going to be out. But man, there’s creative ways to get that production from his position by using Aman Ros because he can move around the formation. You can get the same type of effect on the inside from Amaran Rosa St. Brown because you now have the emergence of a Jameson Williams and you also have a healthy Tim Patrick that’s a very good wide receiver when he’s healthy. So there’s creative ways to get it done. But at the end of the day, what Detroit can do to help out Jared Goff, give that ball to 26 in the back field, Jir Gibbs. Give that ball to David Montgomery. let those guys rock out until he gets back because at the end of the day there are creative ways to kind of you know piece in and part together the the uh production but I’m raisable because he has that versatility. What is your back? Yeah, Emry, you didn’t get your Madden update. Jir is wearing number zero. He’s not wearing 26 anymore. You didn’t get your Madden. I refuse to acknowledge the running back wearing zero because that’s a bad omen. So that’s why I brought up 26. It was strategic Bmac. Well, that’s his number though, Amanda. Right. No, we got to call him by Why is that a bad omen? Because I don’t want to be known as zero. Like, give that to a defense. A hero. [Music] No, it’s a legal number. Take it. I mean, all right, I’m going to convince you on it. Also, I hope uh everybody realized that BMAC and I did mean Dan Campbell. Like, he does give Dan Quinn vibes. They’re both named Dan. They kind of look the same. Uh so, apologies about that. NFL Today Plus brand new show that is starting this season on Paramount Plus. It’s also going to be streamed on CBS Sports HQ and YouTube as well. The first ever streaming only pregame show to the NFL. It’s going to lead into the NFL today. Uh we are so close. It is just around the corner, less than a month now, to the NFL returning to CBS on September 7th, including the Lions taking on the Packers.

Emory Hunt and Bryant McFadden join CBS Sports HQ to preview Dolphins-Lions in preseason.

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