The Miami Dolphins walked into their preseason matchup with the New York Giants needing something cleaner, sharper, and more encouraging than what they got a week earlier. Instead, Saturday turned into a 26-3 loss that exposed the same issues in a louder, uglier way.
With most of the expected starters sitting out, Miami never found much rhythm on either side of the ball. The result wasn’t just a bad night on the scoreboard. It was another reminder that the depth behind this roster has real problems, and those problems showed up fast against New York.
The quarterback situation offered little comfort. With Quinn Ewers out because of a groin injury, second-year QB Cam Miller got the start after a rough two-interception outing last week.
He looked better than he did then, but not enough better to change the bigger picture. Rookie Mark Gronowski also got his first snaps with the Dolphins after being cut before last week’s game, and he finished with one yard on five pass attempts.
Miami’s receivers did not make life easy, but the full picture was still bleak: 52 net passing yards on 16 combined attempts.
The backup offensive line didn’t do the offense any favors, either. With Jamaree Salyer out for the season, Miami is leaning on Charlie Heck, Caedan Wallace, and Andrew Meyer if injuries force them into action.
Wallace has been the most notable of that group through two preseason games, and that says plenty considering he was on the verge of being cut by the Patriots before Miami acquired him. If the roster crunch gets real next week, this is the kind of area general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan will need to examine closely.
There were also more concerns on the perimeter. Free-agent additions Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert have not stood out in practice or in either preseason game so far, and Saturday didn’t help their cases.
Atwell was targeted twice and dropped both passes. Tolbert wasn’t targeted at all.
Through two games, the pair has been targeted just six times total, and Tolbert’s 27-yard catch from Quinn Ewers remains the only meaningful play either has made.
Penalties kept undercutting Miami’s chances, too. Head coach Jeff Hafley has made it clear he won’t accept sloppy, avoidable mistakes, and the Dolphins delivered more of them against the Giants after committing seven penalties in preseason Week 1. They were flagged eight more times Saturday, including holding calls that erased their only long runs and penalties in the secondary while trying to stay with their assignments.
That secondary remains one of the biggest concerns on the roster. Even if presumed starting outside corner JuJu Brents is ready for Week 1, his injury history doesn’t exactly settle anything.
Against the Giants, the backup cornerback group struggled, and Jameis Winston picked apart the defense with Darius Slayton as his only expected starting receiver out there with him. Hafley has work to do, and he has to get it done quickly.
The tackling was shaky all afternoon, which only made everything else look worse. The Giants repeatedly turned what should have been contained plays into extra yards, slipping free after Miami appeared to have them bottled up.
That kind of finish matters for a team that isn’t going to overwhelm people with talent this season. The Dolphins need to be physical.
So far, that hasn’t been the case.
The ground game was just as uninspiring. Miami finished with 50 yards on 18 rushing attempts, and more than a third of that came on Cam Miller’s 17-yard scramble.
The running backs managed only 23 yards on 14 carries, a brutal 1.6 yards per attempt. A few runs were wiped out by penalties, but that doesn’t change how ineffective the unit looked overall.
And hovering over all of it was the decision to rest most of the starters. It’s understandable why Miami wants to protect key players, but this team may not have enough players who can be trusted to be ready for Week 1 without more reps.
Even a few series from the first team might have changed the tone of the night. Instead, the Dolphins got a long, sluggish preseason loss that raised more questions than it answered.
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