The Miami Dolphins’ first half effort in Week 1 of the preseason against the Chicago Bears was a significant one — even despite the shortcomings on the offensive line Miami dominated and carried a 13-3 lead into halftime in their opening contest. But the game slipped away from them from there as the Dolphins were outscored 17-0 in the second half and lost in Chicago by a final score of 20-13.
There would be no coughing up a lead this time around for the Dolphins. Miami ran away from the Falcons with a 37-17 victory that offered plenty of fireworks offensively and a herculean effort from linebacker Sam Eguavoen, who logged four sacks and a safety just days after being activated off of the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Tua Tagovailoa penned a masterful first half of play for the Dolphins’ offense as Miami built a 14-3 lead to carry into halftime on this night. And it could have, and arguably should have been, much worse for Atlanta. Tagovailoa started the game 8 of 8 passing and led consecutive touchdown drives to open things up for Miami — and his third drive ended on downs inside the Falcons’ 25-yard line after Miami took over on a 4th-down stuff of Atlanta from inside the 5-yard line on defense.
The Dolphins finished the night with a 28-16 advantage in first downs, a 422-253 advantage in yards and a 36:42 to 23:18 advantage in time of possession. The Falcons holstered many of their top starters for this contest, but Miami was without a great deal of contributors of their own, too — so while Matt Ryan and Calvin Ridley would have made a difference, they wouldn’t have gone a long way in stopping Miami’s torrid pace on offense. And the offensive explosion from Miami came without wide receivers DeVante Parker, Will Fuller, Albert Wilson, Preston Williams, Allen Hurns, Isaiah Ford or Lynn Bowden Jr. even dressed for the game.
To boot, Mike Gesicki and Jaylen Waddle both appeared to get banged up and one point throughout the first half, but both were seen for live action after their respective injury scares.
In all, the Dolphins will carry themselves out of the weekend with plenty to correct, a lot of rehab ahead but plenty of excitement to pull out of their performance versus Atlanta. With the starting offensive line playing into the second half and Tagovailoa getting a full half work of action (and finishing 16/23 for 183 yards and a score), we may have seen the closest thing to a dress rehearsal we’ll get from Miami this month. And if that’s the case, the Dolphins picked a heck of a way to show what they’re capable of.