Dolphins-Falcons Instant Takeaways

2024 draft picks steal the show in Miami Dolphins victory

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Chris Blair (19) fumbles the ball while pressured by Miami Dolphins linebacker Duke Riley (45) and cornerback Siran Neal in the first quarter during preseason at Hard Rock Stadium. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

What stood out during the Miami Dolphins' 20-13 victory in their preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons:

-- Right off the bat, we have to mention the large number of front-line players who didn't suit up for either team. For the Dolphins, the only player listed as a first-team player who was in uniform was edge defender Quinton Bell.

-- Among those who did play, it was difficult not to notice the 2024 draft picks because Patrick Paul, Jaylen Wright, Patrick McMorris and Malik Washington shined.

-- While Wright is the one who had the most highlight plays, particularly when he turned a bobbled catch behind the line of scrimmage into a 14-yard gain because of his speed, the others also were very good. Paul did a very good blocking while playing the whole game, McMorris was very active in the secondary, and Washington made plays in all sorts of ways.

-- We also have to mention the poor quality of the turf at Hard Rock Stadium, with players from each team slipping on several occasions.

-- The starting offensive line, for those keeping track had rookie second-round pick Patrick Paul at left tackle, Kion Smith at left guard, Jack Driscoll at center, Lester Cotton at right guard, and Ryan Hayes at right tackle.

-- Along with the draft picks, it was a good night for rookie free aqent cornerbacks — Isaiah Johnson, Storm Duck and Jason Maitre. All of them had nice plays in coverage, though Duck was beaten for a 16-yard gain that gave Atlanta a first-and-goal midway through the fourth quarter.

-- Smith had a rough two-play sequence early on when he was cleanly beaten on a run block and that was followed by an Atlanta pass rusher falling into his leg and caused a knee injury that knocked him out of the game.

-- Edge defender Grayson Murphy, linebacker Ezekiel Vandenburgh and cornerback Siran Neal also left the field with injuries in the first half, though Murphy came back before leaving again. Then in the second half, tight end Tanner Conner and wide receiver Je'Quan Burton were injured.

-- Burton was hurt after he dropped a slant pass from Mike White and took a big hit from an Atlanta defender, capping a rough night in terms of dropped passes.

-- Jason Sanders attempted two 58-yard field goal attempts, nailing the first one in the first half but badly pulling wide left the second one in the fourth quarter.

-- Before he went to the locker room, Neal made a clear impact. He had the tackle on the opening kickoff, then was involved in two tackles for short gains. On the second one, he stripped the ball from the Atlanta player and recovered the fumble.

-- Cornerback Ethan Bonner was involved in the action early on. He had really good coverage on the first third-down incompletion by Falcons rookie Michael Penix Jr. (his accuracy was very spotty). Later in the first quater, Bonner was beaten pretty cleanly on back-to-back plays, though he was bailed out on the first by a bad Penix throw. The second resulted in a 41-yard completion to Chris Blair. Bonner later had good coverage on a fade to force an incompletion on a third-and-goal from the 1, though the Falcons scored on the next play. Bonner also blew up a screen pass, leading to one of the two tackles for loss for rookie safety Patrick McMorris.

-- Skylar Thompson got the start at quarterback for the Dolphins and played the entire first half. His performance was decent, though it picked up quite a bit after a rough start.

-- He had a bad pick when he threw into coverage down the middle of the field and cornerback Kevin King stepped in front of intended receiver Malik Washington.

-- Speaking of the rookie sixth-round pick, Malik Washington was very active while being used as a rusher, receiver, punt returner and kickoff returner. His highlighted was a 21-yard gain off an end-around where the Dolphins caught the Falcons overpursuing. He later had a nifty 18-yard punt return after catching a low line drive.

-- Mike White came into the game at quarterback in the second half and had a really rough go of it, though he wasn't helped by a couple of drops. White had a bad mental mistake when he slid short of the first-down market on a key third-down play late in the game, but replays showed that simply was a bad ruling by the officials — and the call was upheld after Mike McDaniel threw the challenge flag.

-- His best play was a 22-yard completion to Conner that ended with Conner heading to the locker room after he took a shot in the midsection after he went down.

-- Among the lowlights were a couple of bad drops by wide receiver Braylon Sanders and newcomer Willie Snead IV. This continues a nasty pattern for Snead, who hasn't looked good since arriving in South Florida.

-- All the Dolphins running backs looked good, with Jeff Wilson Jr., rookie Jaylen Wright and Chris Brooks all with good runs. Wilson scored a touchdown on a reception and Wright scored on a 6-yard run up the middle where he was barely touched.

-- Props to the blocking up front in the second half, with special mention to Paul and veteran newcomer Sean Harlow.

-- The Dolphins failed to convert a fourth-and-2 from the Atlanta 5 when both Wright (while trying to get open) and Thompson (while scrambling) slipped.

-- Good job by rookie corner Storm Duck, who had good coverage on back-to-back deep passes from Taylor Heinicke that ended in incompletions.

-- Nice to see the sack ending with a sack by 2022 third-round pick Chaning Tindall, with Miami taking a 17-10 lead into halftime.

-- The bottom line is this was a very long preseason game, made longer by three replay reviews. In the end, the Dolphins got the win thanks to two goal-line stands, but the final score didn't matter as much as some of the individual performances, as usual.