MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Dolphins’ first-team offense was able to get mostly whatever it wanted against Atlanta Falcons Lite over its first two possessions, and Miami avoided a major injury scare in its second preseason game on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium.
With quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and running back Myles Gaskin keying two early touchdown drives, the Dolphins cruised to a 37-17 preseason victory over Atlanta in an exhibition that had 57,217 tickets distributed.
Rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, the Dolphins’ prized No. 6 pick in this year’s draft, re-entered the exhibition after going down in pain blocking on a Gaskin run near the goal line on the team’s opening drive.
Getting his left leg chopped by a Falcons defender, Waddle was able to walk under his own power as he went to the sideline and, momentarily, into the tunnel toward the locker room. He came back onto the field minutes later, running and cutting on the sideline, before he was back in for the Dolphins’ second drive.
“He’s a tough kid,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores told CBS4 at halftime. “Took a hit. That happens in this game. It was good to get him back there. He played a couple plays. He did a good job.”
Those two drives produced exactly what the Dolphins wanted to see out of their first-team offense against a watered-down Falcons defense that was sitting most of its top defenders, including defensive lineman Grady Jarrett and linebacker Deion Jones.
Tagovailoa completed his first nine passes Saturday, a run which was only snapped because a diving catch by Waddle was overturned upon review. In the first half, he was 16 of 23 for 183 yards and a touchdown to Gaskin. Backup Jacoby Brissett subbed in for him to start the second half.
Gaskin capped each of the two early scoring drives by getting into the end zone. He punched the first one in on the ground from the 1-yard line before he was on the receiving end of the 8-yard strike from Tagovailoa, in which the Dolphins’ second-year signal caller from Alabama went through his progression before finding Gaskin open in the middle of the field out of the backfield.
Gaskin ran for 27 yards and the touchdown on six first-half carries. He added four catches for 44 yards and his touchdown through the air.
Tagovailoa made impressive throws throughout his outing, the best one was a 30-yard strike to tight end Mike Gesicki over the middle where Gesicki limped off the field. Mack Hollins had four receptions for 49 yards from Tagovailoa at halftime, and Waddle caught three passes on the opening drive for 21 yards.
“We did some good things,” Flores told CBS4. “Moved the ball, get the drives going. Punched it in a couple times. Missed opportunity on the last drive down here but overall we are playing some solid ball.”
After the first two touchdown drives, Tagovailoa’s third drive stalled in the Falcons’ red zone after an incomplete pass to Malcolm Perry on fourth-and-3. In the first half’s final seconds, Tagovailoa completed two passes to get the Dolphins within range for a 58-yard field goal attempt by Jason Sanders, but Sanders missed wide left, although he had enough distance on the kick.
While the Falcons held out several top defenders, they also played on Saturday without quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Calvin Ridley. The Dolphins played their true first-team defense and began sitting defenders after two drives, when cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Byron Jones were taken out.
With Atlanta starting AJ McCarron at quarterback, he made an early exit on Saturday with a right knee injury on a handoff. Feleipe Franks then entered for McCarron and got the Falcons down to the Dolphins’ 2-yard line. A would-be touchdown on third down was dropped by Atlanta wideout Tajae Sharpe, and Eric Rowe broke up a fourth-down throw to the end zone.
Linebacker Sam Eguavoen had back-to-back sacks late in the first half. He then added two more in the second half for a total of four, one of which went for a safety.
With Brissett in for Tagovailoa to start the second half, he had a chunk play to Kirk Merritt that picked up 27 yards as running back Malcolm Brown plunged into the end zone from a yard out two plays after carrying the Falcons defense with him to the 2-yard line on a physical gain of 11.
Brissett later added a touchdown pass to Robert Foster in the corner of the end zone from 8 yards away.
Shortly after an interception from linebacker Calvin Munson, third-string quarterback Reid Sinnett lobbed a pass up to Merritt for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
