2021 Dynasty/Fantasy Preseason Wk2 Game Analysis: Dolphins 37, Falcons 17
Ross Jacobs did a full analysis of this game first/published earlier today…but so did I. I crossed up the wires on who was doing the main write up for this one…so, 2-for-1 reports on the most boring preseason game in the history of football.
Miami came with their mostly 1st-team while Atlanta called in a sick day and sent mostly the bottom of the roster to face Miami’s 1st-team – so, the Dolphins got a big win…but it was an optical illusion of Miami really running their 1st-team for a while and Atlanta not caring less about it.
Think I’m just trying to ding Miami because I hate them/am betting against them in 2021? Yes, that’s true…but you tell me – Atlanta threw 15 passes and completed 7 of them for 66 yards. Do you really think they were trying to win?
The Falcons backups did run 31 times for 187 yards (6.0 ypc), so nice job Miami run defense against mostly the Falcons to-be-cut squad!! And thus not much to really sink your teeth into as a scout in this game.
OK, let’s get to the ‘Bash Tua party’…
Dynasty/Fantasy Player Notes…
-- I mean, have I ever mentioned how much Tua Tagovailoa (16-23 for 183 yards, 0 TDs/1 INT) sucks as an NFL QB? He’s a full-scale fraud. He can’t fool me with his constant dump passes, check downs, quick short slants, and then balloon balls to tall Mike Gesicki, hoping the tall guy can out-reach a defender for it.
Tua should’ve lit up the not-trying Falcons with their 3rd-string starters – but Tua was checking down like a fool and his stats looked good, but he was typical Tua…dump passes and checkdowns that the receivers did all the yardage work. I GUARANTEE he’s a bust. He will not end 2021 as the starter because he will be benched for Jacoby Brissett (8-8 for 99 yards, 1 TD/1 INT)…and the chatter on that will start after Week 2 (they face NE and BUF Weeks 1-2).
Everything in Miami is dead with Tua starting…and Brissett isn’t a whole lot better, but he is better.
-- The Miami backfield is a cluster to figure out again…
The great Miles Gaskin (6-27-1, 4-44-1/4) started here, not Malcolm Brown (10-43-1)…which it was Brown starting last week. It looks like Gaskin-Brown will split to whatever degree, but Gaskin looked more like a lead here.
Ahmed Salvon (2-6-0, 2-19-0/4) was sprinkled in later.
Gerrid Doaks (7-30-0, 1-0-0/1) ran with the late/who cares group. He looked fine but he’s not pressuring to crack the rotation either.
This is a Gaskin-Brown split to start, with Gaskin getting more love from the jump…but if he falters or Browns gets hot – Brown will kinda lead the way.
Doesn’t matter…everything is dead with Tua. But Gaskin was the recipient of many Tua dumps, so there’s that.
-- We also got to see a little more Jaylen Waddle (3-21-0/4), and it was standard smaller, skinny, speedy WR fare. He looked OK, but nothing special. Balloon ball Tua has a hard time throwing him crisp passes to work with on top of everything else.
It’s going to be an ugly year in Miami for FF…
-- When Atlanta lost A.J. McCarron early to a torn ACL, I think Arthur Smith said “F it,” and just decided to run every play to keep the clock going and just get out of the game without the next QB getting hurt.
Feleipe Franks (4-9 for 46 yards, 0 TD/1 INT) threw 9 passes in about three quarters of play…running a rate of a little over 1 completion per quarter. So, no WR evaluations here. But we did see a lot of RB work!
I was wanting to watch Qadree Ollison (7-21-0) in his first action since re-doing his running style. I thought he looked pretty good. He’s lean, a little more bouncy…and still tough as nails. Given he ‘started’ and ran with a bad O-Line vs. the Miami 1st-team defense…he did fine.
Caleb Huntley (6-57-1) came in and looked decent too…but he faced more of the Miami backups, so his numbers popped a little off a 30-yard TD run in the 2nd-half.
Javian Hawkins (5-46-0) looks like he’s headed to the practice squad. And D’Onta Foreman (9-41-1) looks solid enough but got the ‘who cares’ late game touches. I assume he’ll be cut as well.
Mike Davis and Cordarrelle Patterson are listed as co-starters…and are being kept in protective storage along with Kyle Pitts among others. This is a good sign for CPatt.
