Miami Dolphins Scrimmage Observations
The news that will dominate the Miami Dolphins' scrimmage at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday was the departure of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who walked off the field while head coach Brian Flores had his arm around him in the aftermath of the death of his mother.
RELATED: Fitzpatrick on Indefinite Leave
Fitzpatrick's absence meant more work for rookie first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Rosen, though neither was able to shine.
Rosen had the only touchdown pass of the scrimmage, which came when he connected with Ricardo Louis from 19 yards out. Louis earned that touchdown as he outjumped and outplayed cornerback Nik Needham for the ball.
Rosen also had a 56-yard connection with Malcolm Perry down the right sideline, though cornerback Ken Webster had good coverage but misplayed the ball.
Another big Rosen throw was a strike to Gary Jennings Jr. for 13 yards on a third-and-10.
Lastly, Rosen threw a dart to a well-covered Adam Shaheen while moving to this right.
Rosen, however, badly misfired on some throws — though we should always point out on those it sometimes could be a miscommunication issues. Like Tua, he threw one interception, with safety Clayton Fejedelem picking off an overthrown pass to Jakeem Grant, who was well covered on the play.
Maybe his worst play came when he was flushed out of the pocket and ran out of bounds 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage instead of simply chucking the ball away once he was outside the hashmarks.
As he indicated in his media session after the scrimmage, Tagovailoa worked with the first team in Fitzpatrick's absence.
Overall, Tagovailoa was solid, but nothing spectacular.
He said afterward his performance wasn't to the level he wanted it to be.
What Tua did best, actually, was slide up in the pocket a few times when pressure was getting close, a good sign of pocket awareness.
Tagovailoa was on target most of the time with slants, but threw a pick when he tried to force a pass down the right sideline to tight end Mike Gesicki. Safety Eric Rowe had great coverage on the play and came down with the ball for the interception.
Another disappointing play for Tua came on a third-and-9 when he quickly checked down to running back Myles Gaskin, who was corraled way short of the first-down marker.
Tua came close to a long completion to Preston Williams down the right sideline in tight coverage, though it appeared Williams simply dropped a perfectly thrown pass.
Other plays that stood out:
-- Tua's first pass was a strike to Isaiah Ford on a slant good for 15 yards. Ford continues to make a strong case for being the third option at wide receiver behind DeVante Parker and Preston Williams.
-- Speaking of Williams, he seemed to have issues with his footing on this day.
-- Cornerback Xavien Howard was called for defensive holding, which is significant only in the sense that Howard participated in the scrimmage. That was a major development after Howard participated only in individual drills in practice Friday. Howard later came back with a nice breakup against Williams.
-- Needham was flagged for a defensive pass interference on a play where he picked off Rosen and returned the interception for a touchdown. He did have a couple of pass breakups, however, and forced a fumble after Louis caught a quick slant in front of him.
-- Kicker Jason Sanders looked in fine form. He made field goals of 48, 41 and 57 and appeared to have the distance on a 61-yard attempt, though it was wide left. That 61-yard attempt came after a false start moved back what would have been a 56-yard try.
-- Cornerback Byron Jones had a nice pass breakup on a short Tua pass intended for Jakeem Grant, but he was beaten a couple of occasions as well.
