Dolphins Preseason Game 3 Instant Takeaways: Bell Busy, Tua Talk

To close out his first preseason as Miami Dolphins head coach, Jeff Hafley made the decision to not play his starters.

This wasn't a shocking development given Hafley's comments during the week that his choice would depend on how satisfied he would be with the practice work.

So the Dolphins' first-team offense ended up with only that one drive against the Washington Commanders in the preseason opener, though it certainly was a memorable drive. One could argue that maybe Malik Willis and company could have used more work, but it's not like they can't get work in practice and the Dolphins simply are not in a position to lose front-line players — in case you haven't heard, depth is a major problem.

This pretty much was like your typical preseason finale, though with two major storylines out of the ordinary in the game that ended with a 17-12 loss.

The first was the debut of Dolphins rookie wide receiver Chris Bell, who played a very busy first quarter. He was targeted an eye-opening five times in that quarter and came down with two catches for 22 yards, including an 18-yard pick-up over the middle.

The other was the return to Hard Rock Stadium of QB Tua Tagovailoa, who ended up playing three series for the Falcons and left with Atlanta leading 7-3.

BELL THE BIG STORY FOR MIAMI

-- Quinn Ewers missed out on an opportunity to erase doubts about his standing as the No. 2 backup quarterback by not playing, but that was better than going out there at less than 100 percent. Ewers, for what it's worth, didn't look right physically at practice during the week when he came from the groin injury he sustained during the preseason opener. So maybe this was for the best.

-- It certainly was good to see Bell getting some action and getting him involved. One of his targets was an incompletion where he body-caught the ball before he was punched out by veteran cornerback Mike Hughes, which was equal parts rookie mistake on his part and great play by the defender. The important thing here, though, was getting him some action if he was physically ready and by all accounts this was a successful outing.

-- As we suspected, Tua was booed by the few fans at Hard Rock Stadium (can't expect much from a preseason finale in that respect) and he had a performance that wasn't as good as his passing numbers would suggest. Tua was 7-for-8 for 95 yards and a passer rating of 116.1, but everything was a short throw and he benefited a lot from yards after catch, particularly from tight end Kyle Pitts. And, of course, there was the fumble when Tua couldn't handle a snap. There was nothing in that performance that would make the Dolphins second-guess their decision to move on from him or even keep him as a backup.

-- The biggest play for Tua was a 37-yard completion to Pitts on a short crosser on a third-and-11 where cornerback JuJu Brents went up to contact lead blocker Drake London on the play and allowed Pitts to gain the sideline. This was not a good play by Brents, though it was good simply to see him getting some action after missing the first two preseason games with injuries.

-- The Dolphins defense certainly was better than it was against the Giants, though it was greatly helped by three takeaways, fumble recoveries by Willie Gay Jr. and Jackson Woodard. Gay got the recovery off the Tua miscue, but Woodard's recovery from off a great play by linebacker Tyrel Dodson as he stripped the ball away from running back Brian Robinson. Cornerback Miles Battle later had an interception in the fourth quarter when a pass bounced off the hands of a receiver.

HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS

-- Punter Bradley Pinion's roster spot probably is secure and he'd better hope it is because it wasn't a very good preseason for him and this game was no different. His bobble of the snap as a holder played a part in Riley Patterson having his long field goal attempt blocked and then he had a 33-yard shank, which continued his pattern of one bad punt every game. The Dolphins aren't going to be good enough this year to be able to afford that.

-- Patterson had a bad mistake of his own when he badly mis-hit a kickoff and it went out of bounds to give Atlanta the ball at its 40 to start a drive. Again, the Dolphins can't be bad on special teams.

-- Backup offensive lineman Josh Priebe had been making a push for a roster spot, but he suffered a major setback in this game. He was beaten on a play that resulted in a 2-yard loss on a run early on before negated a 10-yard scramble by QB Cam Miller with a holding penalty before later putting a shotgun snap high, which led to a fumble by QB Mark Gronowski. He also had a false start when the Dolphins were going for the touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 3, which convinced Jeff Hafley to go for the field goal instead.

-- The Dolphins once again failed to reach the end zone with their backups, though they had two red zone opportunities end with mistakes. The Gronowski fumble ended the second, which came after Theo Wease Jr. dropped a pass in the end zone. Wease also was penalized for an illegal formation, probably sealing his fate as a roster cut.

-- Jalen Reagor did some good things in his scramble to make the 53, but he let a major opportunity slipped through his fingers after he got loose deep in the fourth quarter. Gronowski's pass might have been a hair long, but it was very catchable.

-- Gronowski was the better of the two quarterbacks on this night, particularly with his scrambling, even though it's difficult to envision either he or Cam Miller making the 53.

-- Rookie fullback D.J. Herman has put himself in the conversation for a roster spot, but he had a nasty drop in the open field, and that's not going to help his cause.

-- Rookie fifth-round pick Seydou Traore also had a drop, that one coming when he dropped the ball after taking a hit. His blocking also didn't really look that impressive and it's entirely conceivable who could get cut, even as a rookie draft pick.

-- The Dolphins defense had a bad sequence that basically gifted Atlanta three points at the end of the half, and it was two veterans who were the main culprits. First there was David Ojabo pushing the ball with his foot and drawing a delay penalty that not only gave Atlanta 5 yards but also stopped the clock when the Falcons didn't have a timeout left. Then Gay was easily beaten down the field by a running back for a long completion that allowed Atlanta to kick a field goal after a quick spike.

-- Defensive backs Ethan Bonner and Dante Trader Jr. both made good tackles at the line on running plays.

-- In the end, though, the defense couldn't get a stop and the Falcons burned the final 3-plus minutes after Miami settled for a field goal to make it 17-12.

-- And that's how the preseason ended.

-- At least it was a better performance than what we saw against the Giants.

-- Better yet, the preseason is over.

-- The next order of business is making the roster moves to get down to the 53-player limit by Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.

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