Dolphins Preseason Opener Overreactions

The Miami Dolphins opened their preseason against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, taking another preparatory step toward the regular season.

Because a lot of starters are held out or play very little and because the game plans are vanilla or even nonexistent, we always caution against reading too much into what happens in these preseason games as a gauge for what's to come.

But that's never stopped anyone, right?

So let's then offer our instant overreactions to what we saw from the Dolphins.

-- Zach Wilson isn't much of an upgrade as the backup quarterback and isn't much different than the quarterback he was with the Jets: This totally is what figured to pop into the heads of Dolphins fans watching Wilson hang on to the ball in the pocket and absorbing sacks. Wilson was dropped four times by the Bears, including once on fourth down. Now, it's difficult watching live action if Wilson wasn't seeing open receivers or they simply weren't getting open, but the internal clock on when to bail out of the pocket wasn't sharp, let's put it that way. Wilson did make some splash plays with a couple of nice throws and a scramble, but the pocket awareness or lack thereof no doubt was a bit alarming.

-- The backup offensive line is just as bad as we feared: Yeah, not much to say about this one, and it's tough not to be alarmed after what we saw against the Bears. But, again, some of the sacks, including two against rookie Quinn Ewers were the result of the quarterback staying in the pocket too long.

-- Quinn Ewers isn't anywhere near ready to play an NFL regular season game: Yeah, it didn't look very good for Ewers, whose first five pases fell incomplete, who fumbled when sacked from behind as he held the ball away from his body, and who missed a wide open — and, I mean, wide open — Pharaoh Brown behind Alexander Mattison on the completion to Mattison where he got injured. But this was his first NFL game and any premature evaluation here would be counterproductive.

-- The Dolphins never will be able to succeed in short-yardage situations: Yeah, Jaylen Wright getting stuffed on three consecutive runs near the goal line on the first drive was a bad look and not very encouraging for a team that struggled so badly in that department last season. Again, one game.

-- The special teams are ready to make a big jump: Again, one game, but there were a lot of encouraging signins, particularly in the return game. Dee Eskridge had a 41-yard return and Erik Ezukanma added one for 37 yards, and Jake Bailey and Ryan Stonehouse each went 50 yards with their one punt. Oh, and then Jason Sanders made a 56-yard field goal. New coordinator Craig Aukerman was the answer all along. Too soon, but it was tough to beat this debut, other than Sanders coming up short on a kickoff to give the Bears a starting spot of their own 40.

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