Dolphins-Eagles Preseason Finale Observations

Here's what caught during the Miami Dolphins' 48-10 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night:

-- The Dolphins decided to use most of their starters for this game, including QB Tua Tagovailoa, WR Tyreek Hill, RB Raheem Mostert and the entire offensive line except for Terron Armstead.

-- The Eagles took a different approach, keeping out more than two dozen players for their preseason finale. That included, among others, quarterback Jalen Hurts.

-- The most eye-opening stats in illustrating the difference in approaches for this game was that the Dolphins sat out 11 players on their active roster for this game, while the Eagles sat out 33.

-- Given the player participation setup, the Dolphins should have dominated this game and, man, did they do that!

DOLPHINS-EAGLES FIRST QUARTER

-- Mike McDaniel dialed up a long pass on the very first play, and Hill ran right by two Eagles defenders to catch a 51-yard pass from Tua. Hill was open enough that he was able to curl toward the middle to grab an underthrown pass. That could have been a 75-yard touchdown had the pass led Hill.

-- .Tua came back with two on-target throws rolling to his left on naked boots, hitting Hill on a crosser for 13 yards and then River Cracraft for a 8-yard touchdown that was his best throw of the drive.

-- In between the final two passes was a running play by Raheem Mostert, which was significant because it was his first carry since the 2021 regular season opener with the 49ers and because tight end Cethan Carter lined up at fullback on the play. Alec Ingold was supposed to play in this game based on what McDaniel said early in the week, but the plans obviously changed.

-- The first Eagles drive was not a good one for Nik Needham lining up as an outside cornerback with both Xavien Howard and Byron Jones sitting out. While it was good news to see him in the lineup after he was banged up a bit over the past week, Needham gave up two completions, one of them on a play where he was flagged for DPI.

-- Those wanting to see improvement from Noah Igbinoghene hopefully paid attention to the Eagles' second-and-1 play when he had great coverage and broke up a pass downfield.

-- Zach Sieler, who's among the most under-appreciated players on the team, then just abused an Eagles offensive lineman on back-to-back plays and stuffed Kenneth Gainwell for no gain on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1.

-- Linebacker Jerome Baker did not have a good first quarter in coverage, failing to bring down two Eagles backs after short receptions.

-- Mostert's second run went for 26 yards, but more importantly showed his speed and quick cutting ability at the line. And maybe that should ease some of those concerns about the running game.

-- The Dolphins' first negative play on offense came when Tua was sacked for a 7-yard loss. Patrick Johnson got the sack after getting around right tackle Austin Jackson, but this was more of a coverage sack than anything because Tua did have some time in the pocket.

-- The sack forced the Dolphins to settle for a long field goal attempt, but Jason Sanders responded with a 55-yard kick, which should reinforce the Dolphins are in good shape here even though he did miss that last-second field goal against the Raiders last week.

-- The second Eagles drive was all about Jaelan Phillips and his relentless pressure, which forced two incompletions.

-- The Dolphins' third possession featured some really good work by Myles Gaskin, who had runs of 7, 15 and 6 yards. More importantly, he was the second running back in the game after Mostert, perhaps an indication that's where he stands in the pecking order heading into the final cuts.

-- This was another great drive for Tua, who was 3-for-3 with three mid-range completions to Trent Sherfield, Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Mike Gesicki.

-- The first quarter ended with two plays involving Baker, one good and one bad. The first was a stop for no gain on a running play and Baker set the edge and forced Jason Huntley to cut back inside and into traffic. The second was an easy completion to tight end Grant Calcaterra with Baker chasing that went for 24 yards.

DOLPHINS-EAGLES SECOND QUARTER

-- The Eagles' drive ended up eating up a lot of the second quarter but produced nothing but a lot of laundry on the field. Linebacker Duke Riley gave the Eagles a first down with a defensive holding, but that was negated by two holding calls against the Eagles.

-- Teddy Bridgewater's first possession didn't go particularly well and he completed only 1 of 3 passes, but Cracraft dropped an easy pass on a slant and third-down attempt went incomplete when it looked like a mix-up with rookie Braylon Sanders.

-- After Benito Jones stuffed Huntley for a 2-yard loss on first down, Elijah Campbell scored the Dolphins' second defensive touchdown of the preseason when he took advantage of a mix-up between former Dolphins QB Reid Sinnett and tight end Grant Calcaterra, caught a pass thrown right at him, then shook off some tacklers on a 30-yard return. It was a second pick this preseason for Campbell, who just might end up as one of the defensive backs on the 53-man roster.

-- Worth noting that safety Eric Rowe had a very good night in run support.

-- For those who looked him when he was in Dolphins camp last summer, Sinnett did not look sharp as the second Eagles QB in the game after Gardner Minshew.

-- Bridgewater again looked toward Cracraft on his second possession with three consecutive throws in his directions, an incompletion followed by completions of 15 and 20 yards. This would seem to bode well for Cracraft's chances of getting that sixth wide receiver spot on the 53-man roster.

-- Bridgewater had a 28-yard completion to Salvon Ahmed when the Eagles left him wide open sneaking out of the backfield and Cracraft then had a nice seal block downfield, another notch on Cracraft's resume on this night.

-- Tight end Hunter Long was the victim of two bad calls on the same play when he was flagged for OPI on a touchdown pass and the completion, which would have been nullified anyway, was overruled as an incompletion when replays showed he clearly made the catch before the Eagles DB punched the ball out. So, from here, that was a good play by Long where he got cheated not once but twice.

-- And, of course, Jason Sanders was good on the field goal attempt that made it 27-0 at halftime.

DOLPHINS-EAGLES THIRD QUARTER

-- The Eagles' first drive of the second half featured a 19-yard completion where cornerback Elijah Hamilton had good coverage but never turned around to see the ball. That was a recurring problem this summer for young Dolphins DBs.

-- Top pick Channing Tindall missed a tackle in the open field after a short reception, but fellow rookie Cameron Goode didn't miss when he had his chance a few plays later. It was the latest example of Goode actually outplaying Tindall this summer.

-- Goode's play came on a second-and-goal after Preston Williams' muffed punt gave the Eagles the ball at the Miami 9. Beyond the fact that he misplayed the ball, Williams extended for the ball while standing at the 4-yard, an absolute no-no for a punt returner. We'd say this was the final straw for Williams' chances of making the roster, but he really didn't look like he had a shot even before that play.

-- After the defense forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal after Williams' misplay, Skylar Thompson did his thing again, directing a 75-yard touchdown drive.

-- The drive was helped by a 41-yard DPI against Erik Ezukanma, though Thompson deserves credit for chucking the ball downfield after rolling to his left.

-- The touchdown went to Hunter Long, who had to survive another video review for the play to stick. It was a great catch by Long, who came back to steal the ball from an Eagles defender.

-- The defense again made life difficult for Sinnett on the following drive, which ended with Sam Eguavoen sacking him on third down after Sinnett couldn't find anybody open downfield.

-- Thompson continued his remarkable preseason performance on his second drive, completing 3 of 3 passes, including a 4-yard touchdown to Cethan Carter. The best pass of the drive was a 19-yard strike to Erik Ezukanma. Former seventh-round pick Gerrid Doaks had some good runs on the drive, though he remains a long shot to make the roster.

-- At this point, we should mention that regardless of who they've had in the game, the Eagles could not have looked worse on this night.

-- The Eagles drive covering the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth was kept alive by a pretty dubious roughing-the-passer penalty on Benito Jones after a third-down incompletion where maybe the only thing he did wrong while falling directly on top of him — though there was no body slam.

DOLPHINS-EAGLES FOURTH QUARTER

-- Cornerback Kader Kohou, trying to earn a roster spot as a rookie free agent, then provided great coverage downfield to force an incompletion on the very next play.

-- The drive ended with rookie Channing Tindall dropping Sinnett for a sack on fourth-and-2, though this was as much a coverage sack as anything else.

-- The one major hiccup on defense on this night came when Tindall failed to bring down Jason Huntley at the line of scrimmage on a running play, Huntley got outside and around Kohou and Hamilton and raced down the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown run. While it wasn't necessarily an easy tackle to make, Tindall clearly missed there when he allowed Huntley to bounce off him.

-- On the next possession, it was time for Gerrid Doaks and Za'Quandre White to have some success in the running game as they combined for runs of 6, 7, 8, 9 and 6 yards thanks to some good blocking up front by the Dolphins O-line.

-- Then came a way-too-easy touchdown by Lynn Bowden Jr. off a bootleg to the left — after Thompson dropped the snap. The ease with which Bowden navigated down the field with fairly minimal blocking help was kind of a great indicator of an Eagles team that looked ready for the preseason to end for most of the night.

-- Darius Hodge, who was quiet against the Raiders, got himself known to Eagles QB Carson Strong when he hit twice on consecutive incompletions, the first time with a big hit in the open field that looked a lot more like roughing the passer than the call against Jones.

-- The last noteworthy play was not a good one, and it came when Preston Williams fielded a punt around the 10-yard line and in his quest to make something happen tried to move across the field after reaching the 13. But Williams gave way and couldn't get around the Eagles defenders and ended up getting tackled at the 7-yard line. This was poor judgment on Williams' part, but it sure looked like the play of someone thinking he had to make something great happen to stick on the 53-man roster.

-- Being that the Dolphins could move the ball at will on this night, it only figured that they would get two first downs before kneeling to end the most lopsided preseason victory in franchise history.