Dolphins vs. Falcons: 13 Players to Watch ... How They Did

The Miami Dolphins play their only home preseason game Saturday when they face the Atlanta Falcons at Hard Rock Stadium at 7 p.m. ET. As always in these games, the final score wasn't nearly as important as the evaluation of the players and positional units.

As we did before the game against the Chicago Bears last week, we've come up with 13 players to watch — not intentionally, but maybe as an ode to Dan Marino.

Here was the list, and an update on how each of them performed against the Falcons:

QB TUA TAGOVAILOA

BEFORE THE GAME: Let's face it, the starting quarterback always is going to be a player to watch. Tua is coming off a very impressive preseason debut and it'll be interesting to see whether he can build on it against the Falcons.

IN THE GAME: Another preseason game, another good outing for Tua. After some throws into tight windows stood out against Chicago, what stood out against Atlanta was the quick decision-making in the pocket. In the interest of presenting the full picture, the Dolphins were going against Atlanta's backups and his receivers got open quickly on a regular basis, but Tua can only control what he can control, and in that vein he was very effective against the Falcons.

RB SALVON AHMED

BEFORE THE GAME: Ahmed probably has been the most impressive of the running backs in camp and he had a great performance against the Bears, though it did come against the backup defensive players. He's got a chance to put himself in line for a bigger role in the running back rotation if he continues to produce in the preseason, and preferably against starters.

IN THE GAME: Ahmed wasn't quite as spectacular against Atlanta as he was against Chicago and it actually was Myles Gaskin who stood out at running back, but Ahmed still had his moments. The most obvious came when he shook off a low tackle attempt after catching a short pass to gain extra yardage.

WR KIRK MERRITT

BEFORE THE GAME: With all the injuries at wide receiver, Merritt has gotten a chance to flash in practice and he's done just that. It's questionable whether he's done enough to give himself a legitimate chance to make the 53-man roster, which is why he certainly could help his cause with a big outing against Atlanta.

IN THE GAME: It was more of the same for Merritt, who had himself another good performance. The two plays that stood out came when he turned a third-down completion into a 27-yard gain after shaking loose from his defender and then the nice adjustment he made on a back-shoulder throw from Reid Sinnett for his 2-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Merritt is becoming more and more difficult to keep off the 53-man roster, even though the Dolphins just have so many options at that position.

TE HUNTER LONG

BEFORE THE GAME: There's no guarantee that Long will play considering he's only recently begun doing extensive work at practice, but his performance in the joint practice against the Falcons on Thursday was really impressive and left us wanting to see him more in competitive situations.

IN THE GAME: That Long took part in the game in the first place was really good news given how scary his knee injury looked when it happened. Long had a pretty quiet night against Atlanta, with one catch for 4 yards in 20 offensive snaps. In the run game, Long showed himself to be a willing blocker, even though it's clear that's not the best part of his game.

T AUSTIN JACKSON

BEFORE THE GAME: Fair or not, Jackson is the one offensive lineman with the spotlight on him after a shaky performance in pass protection against the Bears. And, again fair or not, the fact he was a first-round pick just a year ago will make the scrutiny more intense. A bounce-back game against Atlanta would be huge.

IN THE GAME: Dolphins quarterbacks were sacked only once against the Falcons, and it appeared as though it was running back Malcolm Brown and right tackle Jesse Davis who allowed the pressure, but Jackson still had a rough outing in pass protection. Jackson was given a pass-protection grade of 39.6 by Pro Football Focus, but we base our review on focusing on him while rewatching the game. Let's just say he didn't stone anybody at the line of scrimmage in pass protection. He also was called for holding on the first play of the second quarter when he failed to release the defender's jersey quickly enough.

T GREG LITTLE

BEFORE THE GAME: The game against the Falcons should provide some kind of picture as to what the Dolphins got when they traded for Little earlier this week. His playing time might be limited considering he's had only two practices with his new team, but he absolutely should see action.

IN THE GAME: Little didn't get that much playing time against the Falcons, getting 12 snaps in the second half. But focusing on his work while rewatching the game, it did look as though he had a very clean outing even if none of his blocks stood out.

G/T LIAM EICHENBERG

BEFORE THE GAME: In terms of scrutiny, Eichenberg shouldn't stand far behind Jackson after the Dolphins gave up a 2022 third-round pick to move up eight spots in the second round to get him. The book on Eichenberg heading into the draft was that he was about as NFL-ready as any offensive lineman available, though he's been firmly entrenched with the second team for the better part of a week.

IN THE GAME: Eichenberg ended up playing 46 snaps, which was just one less than all of the offensive line starters outside of Jesse Davis, and it was for the most part a very encouraging performance. His PFF pass-blocking grade was 78.0, the second-highest among the most used Dolphins O-linemen in this game behind Solomon Kindley's 81.3. Eichenberg also did solid work in the run game. We need to emphasize here that Eichenberg didn't necessarily dominate up front based upon the film review, but he had a clean performance.

G DURVAL QUEIROZ NETO

BEFORE THE GAME: We had Queiroz on this list last week, but he unfortunately ended up not playing against the Bears. Hopefully, he'll be in the lineup against Atlanta, so we can get some kind of feel for his improvement.

IN THE GAME: Queiroz came in at the same time as Little did, and based upon the film review it looked as though he seemed uncertain who to block at times. On his first play, the defender he was blocking at the line of scrimmage made the stop on a running play. While this was a small sample, it did seem to suggest that Queiroz needs more seasoning.

DE JASON STROWBRIDGE

BEFORE THE GAME: The 2020 fifth-round pick had a very quiet rookie season and he's had a very quiet second training camp as well. It's not farfetched to suggest he might need good performances in the final two preseason games to lock down his spot on the 53-man roster.

IN THE GAME: Strowbridge played 16 snaps on defense and again had a very quiet outing. The one time he was noticeable was on the safety when he generated pressure from the outside while Sam Eguavoen broke free up the middle to sack Feleipe Franks in the end zone.

LB SHAQUEM GRIFFIN

BEFORE THE GAME: Every fan should root for Griffin because he's such an inspirational story — and also because his energy is contagious — but the reality is he's fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster and he needs to make his presence felt in practice and in games.

IN THE GAME: It was a disappointing night in terms of what it meant for Griffin's chances of making the 53-man roster because he didn't play a down on defense and he didn't appear on the stat sheet for his time on seven special teams snaps.

LB JAELAN PHILLIPS

BEFORE THE GAME: We didn't get to see Phillips in the preseason opener, but all systems appear to be go for him to play against the Falcons. There's no urgency in terms of Phillips making a splash right away, though obviously it would be nice for him to come up with a big play here and there.

IN THE GAME: The good news was that Phillips was able to play 27 snaps on defense in his first NFL preseason game. The bad news is that Phillips was a non-factor, with film review showing he had a hard time disengaging from blocks. He was credited with one tackle, which came when he tripped running back D'Onta Foreman from behind on a 6-yard run to the Dolphins 2-yard line.

CB XAVIEN HOWARD

BEFORE THE GAME: The Dolphins rested Howard, Byron Jones and Emmanuel Ogbah in the preseason opener, but Howard indicated Thursday that he expected to play against the Falcons. It'll be interesting to watch going up against Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley in a game setting, as opposed to a one-on-one drill where he's expected to cover Ridley over half the field while the quarterback has nobody in front of him.

IN THE GAME: It was a very uneventful outing for Howard, who played the first defensive series, wasn't targeted and wasn't involved in a tackle.

CB NOAH IGBINOGHENE

BEFORE THE GAME: Igbinoghene had a pretty good outing against the Bears, even though he did give up a long completion when he failed to turn around for the ball quickly enough. He was banged up a bit in that game and wore a red jersey in practice Wednesday, though that was gone by Thursday. Igbinoghene's development remains something to watch at every turn, given his status as a 2020 first-round pick.

IN THE GAME: Igbinoghene had a fairly quiet night on defense, not surprising given the fact the Falcons attempted only 15 passes, but he was active on special teams. He played nine snaps on special teams and had the first kickoff return of the game for the Dolphins, good for 26 yards.

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