Miami Dolphins football is officially back! The Dolphins wrapped up their 2019 public practices yesterday and now begin the final stretch of preparations before the start of the 2019 regular season. Between now and then, the Dolphins will play four preseason games and attempt to align themselves as well as possible to fit the vision of Brian Flores as a squad.
Tomorrow night kicks off Miami’s first preseason campaign — the Dolphins are hosting the Atlanta Falcons in what should be a good test of Miami’s depth. The Falcons are projecting to be a contender in the NFC this season, so Miami can walk away from tomorrow’s contest as a measuring stick — not just of their starters but also of their overall depth.
But some storylines will hold more water than others in tomorrow night’s contest. Here are the three storylines we are paying the most attention to in tomorrow night’s contest.
QB Josh Rosen’s snap count
Ryan Fitzpatrick will roll with the starters — but how long will he play? And when Josh Rosen comes in, will he effectively be given the middle two quarters? Will he get any reps with the ones?
The Dolphins giving Rosen the majority of the game will be very helpful to see how he handles the playbook and the offense in a game situation.
The offensive line combinations
How many different combinations do we see? Will Miami trot out Jesse Davis at guard despite playing almost exclusively at Tackle in recent practices? How long will the rookie guards get to stay on the field together? There’s a lot of questions in this group — as there seemingly always is with the Dolphins’ offensive line.
Who gets push on defense?
The Dolphins’ defensive line was a big standout in public practices for their ability to knock the offensive line around in short yardage situations. Was that a testament to a physical defensive front? Or a soft offensive line?
Seeing Miami’s collection of Christian Wilkins, Davon Godchaux, Vincent Taylor and others get a look against a pretty gifted offensive line should tell us more about Miami’s roster and if the defense should have fans excited or not.
