Sinnett Shines in Wild Preseason Finale
The preseason finale was all about the backups for the Miami Dolphins, and it was running back Gerrid Doaks and wide receiver Kirk Merritt who made the most of their opportunity.
Doaks, the rookie seventh-round pick returned to Cincinnati where he played his college football and scored the Dolphins' first two touchdowns in a wild 29-26 victory that left Miami's final preseason record at 2-1.
The Dolphins won when third-string quarterback Reid Sinnett threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to tight end Chris Myarick on fourth-and-15 with 1:21 left in the fourth quarter.
Merritt, in his second year after arriving as a rookie free agent in 2020, set up Doaks' second touchdown with a catch to the 1-yard line and then scored in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard reception from Sinnett.
Sinnett played the whole way for the Dolphins, who decided to rest Tua Tagovailoa and veteran backup Jacoby Brissett along with practically every other projected starter. He became the first NFL quarterback this year to reach 300 passing yards in a preseason game. Sinnett finished with 343 yards, adding a two-point conversion pass to Malcolm Perry after Myarick's touchdown.
The only front-line players who got any action against Cincinnati were second-year guard Solomon Kindley, rookie outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips and cornerback Nik Needham.
Doaks scored on runs of 3 yards and 1 yard in the first half, helping the Dolphins take a 14-13 lead into halftime after Cincinnati's Evan McPherson kicked a 57-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter.
Doaks finished with 56 rushing yards on 16 attempts with a long of 14 yards.
Unlike the Dolphins, the Bengals used some of their starters, most notably quarterback Joe Burrow.
The first overall pick in the 2020 draft made his first appearance since sustaining a season-ending knee injury last November, though he was on the field for only three plays.
Two of the three Bengals plays during Burrow's action were runs and the other was a quick pass to the sideline that 2021 first-round pick Ja'Marr Chase dropped.
The player selected right after Chase in April was Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who was part of the long list of Miami players who sat out.
Others, along with the quarterbacks, included Myles Gaskin, Malcolm Brown, Salvon Ahmed, DeVante Parker, Will Fuller V, Mike Gesicki, Durham Smythe, Jesse Davis, Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, Michael Deiter, Emmanuel Ogbah, Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis, Zach Sieler, Jerome Baker, Benardrick McKinney, Andrew Van Ginkel, Byron Jones, Xavien Howard, Eric Rowe and Jason McCourty.
Cincinnati's two backups quarterbacks, Brandon Allen and Kyle Shurmur, each threw a touchdown pass and Jacques Patrick scored on a 1-yard run.
After trailing 26-14, the Dolphins had a chance to complete their comeback after Merritt's touchdown after getting a defensive stop and Sinnett made it count.
After Myarick's touchdown, the Bengals drove to the Dolphins 32-yard line and went for the first down on fourth-and-10 instead of attempting a game-tying field goal, but Noah Igbinoghene knocked down a pass intended for Scotty Washington at the 5-yard line.
In a new twist this season, all NFL teams now will have two weeks to prepare for the start of the regular season, though the next order of business will be getting down to the 53-player roster limit by Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.
