.
This preseason game had a little juice to it because the Falcons actually went with their first-team offense for a couple of series. Miami countered with a collection of players they were gonna cut soon after, but also played rookie Chris Bell (0-0-0, 2-18-0/5) at wide receiver for his debut...a rookie who's coming off an ACL where he's returning in a shockingly quick amount of time. It's looking more and more like ACL injuries are not a year-long thing, but more like a 7-to-9-month things, and the players are coming back without hesitation—they look like their normal selves upon return.
There are players to talk about in this game for sure, but to touch upon the overall game itself...
The Falcons looked OK with the first-team offense versus the third-team defense of Miami. Tua led them right down the field for what should have been an easy TD opening drive... Instead, the drive got squashed in the red zone and they had to settle for a field goal. Pretty pathetic that they couldn't get a touchdown over on this defense.
So, then Kevin Stefanski made the first-team offense go back out there for a second series, in which on the very first play, Tua fumbled the snap for a turnover, and then Stefanski was just done with it all. That was it for the Falcons first team offense after that.
The Falcons won the game from there, but it was a lot closer than it should have been given the Falcons have a talent gap over Miami and that they went with their first and second team when Miami wasn't. The Falcons are slowly starting to swirl down the drain. Miami is already down the drain for 2026. I don't see anything filling me with hope watching the Dolphins this preseason. The only allowance I could give them is that they're not really playing their starters a bunch, so it's hard to tell.
On to the players...
Player Notes...
-- Let's talk about the Chris Bell (0-0-0, 2-18-0/5) debut. Miami's third-round pick wide receiver out of Louisville, who has been rehabbing from a late-season 2025 ACL in college, shockingly made his NFL debut in this game...a very quick turnaround time for him to return to the field of play.
And I gotta tell you, he looked as good or better than he did on his college tape. He is a dead ringer for A.J. Brown in almost every way you could say that. He's by far the best wide receiver on the Dolphins roster, which isn't the greatest compliment, but his situation is what it is... He can't help that this depth chart stinks.
Bell looks in perfect shape. He has that 6’2”/220+ thicc body with fluid movements at that size. He caught the ball well. I'm gonna have to agree with Ross and say he's ultimately going to lead Miami in receiving statistics this year, assuming he stays healthy. That's the one caveat: these guys who are returning so fast from major injuries tend to have a compensation injury pop up because they're babying their injured leg too much and doing it subconsciously. But Bell did not show any signs at all of hesitation in his movements in this game.
Ross is super high on Bell, and I'm starting to catch up to him with my enjoyment levels of him too. We did a Two Scouts Talking video scouting and discussion on Bell just last week. Here it is if you haven't seen it yet.
Chris Bell scouting: https://youtu.be/FJEF89DxpK4
I don't think Bell is gonna start Week 1, but it won't be long from there. Miami is set to start Tolbert-Washington-Douglas. I'm guessing that Bell is going to replace Douglas in the starting lineup eventually...and the presence of Bell will also take down any type of WR3 hopes we might have in Malik Washington.
For those who possess Washington, it might be best if we let him maybe catch a bunch of passes Week 1 and then trade him hot... Lord willing.
That's the only real note that I have from Miami.
-- Tua Tagovailoa (7-8 for 95 yards, 0 TD/0 INT, 1-(-1)-0) returned to the scene of the crime in this game. A preseason game at Miami. Tua was greeted with a round of boos from the crowd... It wasn't that loud, but only because there was hardly anybody there because no one in Miami cares about this football team in 2026.
Tua looked OK enough. To me, Tua has been a backup QB talent forced to start for ‘reasons’... One of those reasons being the arrogance of Mike McDaniel thinking he can make any QB work, and he did get some good mileage out of Tua, but McDaniel was too stupid to find any other QB through the draft or wherever to have a built-in replacement. McDaniel went down on the Tua ship, and he deserved it. McDaniel reaped what he sowed.
The same thing is about to happen to Kevin Stefanski unless Michael Penix can save the day somehow.
-- The first-team offense was out there for two series for Atlanta, and now we for sure know what the starting trio of wide receivers is going to be: London-Dotson-Zaccheaus.
Not mentioned, Zachariah Branch. He was barely seen in this game period, and he definitely didn't work with the first-team glimpse. He did return a punt. If Branch can't crack that starting lineup out of the gates, then I can't get too excited about him... Even if it's not his fault and it's just that Stefanski's an idiot, it's still Branch not having quick FF impact, so his value to me drops precipitously in dynasty rookie draft rankings.
-- I'll tell you who Tua’s top receiver look is, if you base it on this game only: It’s Kyle Pitts (0-0-0, 2-28-0/3). I might be under-projecting Pitts, but we also have to account for what happens when this offense led by Tua faces real first-team defenses. I don't know if it's going to be good for any of them.
-- Into the second half of the game entered the Falcons quarterback savior Jack Strand (12-17 for 212 yards, 1 TD/0 INT, 3-14-0).
Strand has been all the rage for Falcons fans—they definitely need something to rage about and to get excited about. Strand has shown to at least belong in the NFL to some degree, which is major for an UDFA rookie who went to Morehead State.
This was another wildly capable performance by Strand. He's looking just OK; he's looking over-managed and over-cautious against backups-to-the-backups defenses this preseason, so the hype is a little bit ahead of itself. But I will give him credit, he's another one of these young QBs who just walks into the NFL from whatever levels of college play they come from, and those guys just get into NFL preseason games and look like they've been playing for five years. Strand isn't completely shaken by being in an NFL pocket, and he doesn't lock on to any receivers; he takes the time to read the field. Very, very impressive for an UDFA QB. I doubt we'll see Strand starting in an NFL game for a few years, if ever. If he's ever gonna make it big, he needs time to cook in the oven... and he needs to get away from Kevin Stefanski before he ruins him.
===========================
