Dolphins 2023 Camp: August 8 Practice Offense Observations

What stood out on offense during the first joint practice for Miami Dolphins with the Atlanta Falcons

Highlights, lowlights and observations from the 10th practice (day 14) of Miami Dolphins training camp Tuesday, better known as the first joint practice with the Atlanta Falcons:

-- The practice was held on perhaps the hottest day of training camp so far and went on for a little bit more than two hours.

-- The most noteworthy developments unfortunately involved two players, one from each team, carted off the field with leg injuries — Dolphins wide receiver Braylon Sanders and Falcons rookie cornerback Clark Phillips III.

-- The overall theme on this day for the Dolphins offense, though, was another disappointing performance following the rough outing in the scrimmage Saturday.

ACHANE, EZUKANMA RETURN

-- We'll start off, as usual, with the attendance check, with was highlighted by the return of wide receiver Erik Ezukanma and rookie running back De'Von Achane.

-- Another bit of good news was safety Trill Williams no longer wearing a red (no-contact) jersey, though safety Brandon Jones still had it.

-- The only players who were not spotted at practice Tuesday were cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey, Keion Crossen and Ethan Bonner.

-- As head coach Mike McDaniel had indicated before practice, tackle Terron Armstead did not take part in any team sessions.

-- Linebacker Jerome Baker wore the orange jersey as the top performer from Saturday.

SANDERS' BIG PLAY BEFORE HIS INJURY

-- The first head-to-head competition involved one-on-one work, and the highlight in the matchup between Dolphins receivers and Falcons defensive backs was Sanders' long touchdown over cornerback A.J. Terrell — one of the best players in the NFL at his position — on a perfect deep pass by Tua Tagovailoa down the left sideline.

-- Not surprisingly, Tyreek Hill gave Atlanta defenders fits during that session, though Terrell had him very well covered on his first rep.

-- In the pass-rushing session involving linemen, Robert Hunt and Dan Feeney generally performed well among Dolphins offensive linemen, 

-- Those who didn't fare so well among Dolphins linemen were Liam Eichenberg and Connor Williams, who lost one rep after sailing the shotgun snap over the head of the assistant behind him.

PASSING GAME OUT OF SYNC

-- The team periods included red-zone and two-minute work, but none of the three Dolphins QBs really had a great day.

-- Based on some very unofficial stats, Tua completed 12 of 19 passes with one interception; Mike White was 6-for-11 with a pick; and Skylar Thompson completed only one of his three attempts with one pick. Doing the math, that 19-for-32 with three interceptions for approximately 193 yards (unofficial), which would produce a team passer rating on this day of 37.6. That's not good.

-- Dolphins quarterbacks were sacks a combined four times, but two of those could be attributed to coverage.

-- Tua's first pass in 11-on-11s was a nice completion to Robbie Chosen, who again was a factor in this practice, though he followed that with a low throw to Jaylen Waddle that he failed to come up with. 

-- Sanders was injured on a play where he dropped what looked like an easy pass from White with Terrell in coverage. It wasn't clear whether Sanders was injured before or after the drop.

-- The Dolphins didn't have any long completions in 11-on-11 work, though Tua had a good gain (maybe 20-25 yards) on a completion to River Cracraft.

-- White's biggest gain also covered about 25 yards and came on the first play of an 11-on-11 when he hit Tyreek Hill down the middle.

-- The Dolphins had a really bad sequence offensively that started with Tua being sacked (coverage sack), followed by an incompletion when Waddle was tightly covered near the sideline, followed by two false-start penalties, the second against Isaiah Wynn.

-- White's best throw was a dart to Braxton Berrios for about 15-20 yards in between defenders in the middle of the field.

-- Tua's interception came during a red-zone drill when he tried to hit Freddie Swain at around the 5-yard line, but there appeared to be mixup and the two or three players closest to the pass were defenders, including linebacker Troy Andersen, who made the pick.

-- Tua followed that with a pass for Cedrick Wilson Jr. in the back of the end zone that sailed over Wilson's head and a pass over Waddle's head.

-- Rookie tight end Julian Hill had the most unusual play of the practice for the offense, a catch near the goal line among defenders after White's pass was batted at the line of scrimmage and bounced high into the air.

-- Achane had a determined run up the middle in a second-and-goal situation, lowering his shoulder as he was about to make contact with the Atlanta defender.

-- Thompson got the next red-zone series, but it ended immediately when he was picked off by DB Breon Borders, a former member of the Dolphins practice squad, in end zone on a pass intended for Ezukanma.

-- The last play on offense for the Dolphins was White's pick in a two-minute drill  recorded by safety Micah Abernathy on a pass intended for Berrios over the middle when White failed to spot him in a zone in the middle of the field.

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