Dolphins-Texans Complete Observations

Checking out the key moments from the Miami Dolphins' 28-3 preseason victory against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium

Here's what caught our eye during the Miami Dolphins' 28-3 preseason victory against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

-- We'll start, as always, with the inactive list — or more precisely in this case the list of players not expected to play — released by the Dolphins about 90 minutes before kickoff.

-- The big news on this day involved who was NOT on that list, which was pretty much every front-line player not dealing with an injury. That meant the expectation was that QB Tua Tagovailoa, WR Tyreek Hill and CB Xavien Howard all would make their 2023 preseason debut.

-- Among those sitting out are DT Christian Wilkins, who continues to "hold in" in search of a new contract and OL Lester Cotton, among the contenders for the starting left guard job who did not appear to sustain an injury during the joint practices against the Texans.

FIRST QUARTER

-- Tagovailoa indeed got the start at quarterback and let's just say things didn't get off to a very good start. On his first snap in a game since Christmas Day, he rolled to his left and his pass to tight end Tyler Kroft at the numbers easily was picked off by linebacker Denzyl Perryman cutting under the route. That play was just a force.

-- The defense got a stand after Houston began its first drive at the 7-yard line and went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 6.

-- After a delay penalty moved the Texans from the 1 to the 6, Bradley Chubb caused an incompletion on third down, which was followed by a poor fourth-down throw by rookie C.J. Stroud.

-- The Dolphins' second drive was really impressive, with a nice combination of running, passing and, maybe most satisfying of all, great blocking by the offensive line.

-- It didn't start off very well, though, as the officials missed a blatant false start by starting left guard Isaiah Wynn, which was followed by a high shotgun snap by Williams that delayed a handoff to Raheem Mostert, resulting in a 5-yard loss to the 2-yard line.

-- But Mostert's next four runs on the drive produced gains of 7, 16, 4 and finally the 2-yard touchdown to cap the 93-yard dirve.

-- The Dolphins converted three third-down on the drive with Tua completions to Durham Smythe, Tyreek Hill and Salvon Ahmed. 

-- Tua's best pass on the drive, though, was a 15-yard completion to Braxton Berrios to the 6-yard line, where he got it over a defender and right to Berrios.

-- The pass protection was outstanding throughout that drive.

-- Houston came back with a strong drive of its own to end the first quarter, with C.J. Stroud showing some good passing.

-- From the Dolphins' standpoint, Emmanuel Ogbah had a QB pressure David Long Jr. had a stop for a 3-yard loss on a run when he shot through the line and another stop on a run.

-- The Texans got a first down when veteran Robert Woods beat Noah Igbinoghene to the outside and caught an 11-yard pass on third-and-7.

SECOND QUARTER

-- The drive ended with a field goal that cut the Dolphins lead to 7-3.

-- Skylar Thompson replaced Tua for the Dolphins' third drive and he took a shot deep down the middle on the first play. He got great protection and unleashed a pass to a tightly covered Cedrick Wilson Jr., who couldn't come up with a diving catch.

-- On second down, the Dolphins asked running back Salvon Ahmed to block edge defender Will Anderson, who bowled him over and knocked the ball away from Thompson for a 14-yard loss. What also hindered the play was another high snap from Williams, which delayed Thompson's drop back and left him vulnerable to Anderson.

-- The Dolphins defense forced a three-and-out on Houston's third series after Ogbah did a great job of setting the edge and helping tackle Devin Singletary after a 1-yard gain on a running play.

-- That was followed by Eli Apple with tight coverage on Singletary on a short completion that allowed him to tackle the running back immediately after a 4-yard completion.

-- The Dolphins' next drive featured some key conversions, starting with De'Von Achane gaining 14 yards on a third-and-14 after tackle Kion Smith was cleanly beaten when Jonathan Greenard dropped Salvon Ahmed for a 4-yard loss.

-- Thompson and Robbie Chosen failed to connect on what should have been an easy completion when Thompson threw high on a slant and Chosen failed to come up with the catchable ball.

-- Thompson converted a fourth-and-10 from the Miami 44 when he hit Cedrick Wilson Jr. in the flat for a 13-yard gain.

-- That was followed by Ahmed gaining 11 and 8 yards on the ground thanks to some good blocking up front, particularly from right tackle Cedric Ogbuehi.

-- Ahmed touched the ball on the last three plays of the touchdown drive, capping with an 8-yard reception on second-and-07.

-- Thompson had a clutch third-down conversion before that when he found a way to get the ball to Ahmed for a 5-yard completion on third-and-5 with Houston defenders bringing him down.

-- And here go the troublesome special teams again, with the Dolphins allowed a 43-yard return after Ahmed's touchdown. Ugh.

-- Props to Eli Apple for some good coverage against Nico Collins on Houston's ensuing drive, which ended in a three-and-out.

-- Ahmed wasn't done in this first half. He got a 65-yard run after taking an inside handoff from shotgun formation, taking advantage of a block by tight end Eric Saubert and showing his speed down the sideline.

-- After an incompletion where pressure forced a throw-away, Thompson took advantage of great protection to finally find Braxton Berrios for an 18-yard touchdown. Berrios was wide open, scoring to make it 21-3.

-- Berrios' touchdown gave the Dolphins 244 total yards at the half, including 120 yards combined by Ahmed.

THIRD QUARTER

-- Houston got the ball to start the second half and the defense caught a break when the drive ended with a bad drop on a third-and-10 from the Houston 40 on a pass from new QB Davis Mills.

-- Recent early draft picks Channing Tindall and Igbinoghene combined to stop Xavier Hutchinson for only a 2-yard gain after a quick out to the wide receiver.

-- The Dolphins' first drive of the second half was some kind of sloppy and included Thompson being removed from the game after being slammed to the ground by a Houston defender.

-- There were five penalties on the drive, including false starts by tackles Kion Smith and Cedric Ogbuehi.

-- Rookie De'Von Achane also left the game during the drive after a 3-yard run and eventually was carted to the locker room.

-- Mike White's only pass attempt went awry when protection broke down and he was sacked by a couple of defenders.

-- Linebacker MIke Rose did some good work on Houston's next series with a tackle after a 1-yard run gain on a run, followed by a QB pressure that forced a third-down incompletion when new DB Parry Nickerson provided good coverage on the back end,.

-- Before that, though, there was yet another penalty on the Dolphins, an illegal contract foul against safety Elijah Campbell.

-- Thompson was back in the game on the next Miami drive and threw his third touchdown pass, an 18-yarder to Chris Brooks on a beautifully executed screen pass.

-- The drive began poorly for Brooks, who bobbled a pitch and had to settle for a 2-yard run.

-- The drive overcame back-to-back false starts by Kion Smith, now at guard, and Geron Christian that put Miami in a third-and-11 situation that Thompson with a nice throw over the middle to River Cracraft.

-- That was followed by another fourth-down conversion by Cedrick Wilson Jr., this one a fourth-and-4 from the Houston 36 when Thompson hit him on a slant for an 18-yard gain.

-- The third quarter ended with the Dolphins totally in control leading 24-3.

FOURTH QUARTER

-- There was no scoring in the fourth quarter, which quite frankly was tremendously on the ho-hum side.

-- The Dolphins should have had a chance to try a long field goal on their first drive of the quarter, but the officials called a ridiculous intentional grounding penalty on Skylar Thompson on third-and-7 from the Houston 37 when the pass being nowhere near intended receiver Daewood Davis clearly was the result of Davis stopping his go route and not Thompson chucking the ball deep to avoid a sack.

-- That play came after Geron Christian whiffed on a block on a quick throw to Erik Ezukanma, who ended up being tackled for a 5-yard loss as a result.

-- That first drive began with a nifty 16-yard completion from Thompson to rookie tight end Julian Hill off a naked bootleg.

-- Rookie free agent Mitchell Agude had a great two-play sequence on Houston's next series and both came on the run — great to see because he's made his name so far as a pass rusher. Agude tackled Mike Boone from behind on first-and-10 and then beat the block of the tight end to stop Boone for no gain on third-and-1.

-- Rookie tight end Elijah Higgins appeared to be the one missing a block on a run by Ahmed that lost 2 yards. Ahmed then was stopped for no gain on the next play, which put his rushing total for the day at 99 yards after he had been at 101.

-- Hard to complain about the running game, though, considering the Dolphins rushed for 205 yards on the day.

-- The Dolphins defense closed the game by stopping Houston on downs on the final possession of the game (not counting two kneel-downs).

-- Safety Myles Dorn tackle Mike Boone for a 1-yard loss after a short completion to start the drive, and new defensive back Parry Nickerson also had some good plays in coverage.

-- Randy Charlton and Jaylen Twyman also had pressure on two incompletions, the last coming after Jamal Perry had a nice tackle in the open field to stop Boone for no gain after a catch.

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