Time for Concern? (or What to Make of the Dolphins Offense Getting Dominated in the Joint Practice)

If the Miami Dolphins first-team offense's one drive in the preseason opener was a cause for celebration, its showing in the joint practice with the New York Giants on Thursday was a cause for great concern.

Unlike the Washington game last Friday night, this was first team against first team, and the Dolphins simply didn't measure up.

On the contrary, the Dolphins were outclassed and overmatched by a Giants defense that admittedly does have a fierce pass rush led by former first-round picks Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter, the latter two both top 5 selections.

Burns told reporters after practice he felt the Giants defense dominated and said he counted six sacks for his group.

Well, he was right and wrong. The Giants defense absolutely did dominate, but the final tally (from our seat in the Baptist Health Training Complex stands) was eight sacks.

Seven of those sacks came against Malik Willis, which means they came against the first-team offensive line.

The same first-team offensive line that looked so good on that 14-play, 93-yard drive to open the preseason opener at Northwest Stadium last Friday.

ROUGH DAY FOR PAUL AND JACKSON

Without the benefit of film review, there's a limit to the analysis we can provide for the offensive line, though it's clear it got outplayed and it also appeared that each of the five starters — Patrick Paul, Kadyn Proctor, Aaron Brewer, Jonah Savaiinaea and Austin Jackson — had his lowlight on this day.

And the reality is the line struggled not only in pass protection but in run blocking as well. There were two good-looking runs by the first-team offense on this day, one by De'Von Achane and the other by Ollie Gordon II.

But the pass protection were most glaring.

And this is where we should point out that the Giants had a lot of success with blitzes, against which the Dolphins didn't do a great job of adjusting.

And this is where perhaps we could bring back the comments from Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley when he said he wasn't going to scheme a joint practice because he wanted his players to win reps with effort and technique.

Throwing blitzes at an offense would be an example of scheming.

That said, it's not like every sack was the result of a blitz, and the reality is the Dolphins simply had a hard time blocking Carter, Burns and Thibodeaux, as well as Chauncey Golston, who had three sacks.

What does this mean for the Dolphins offensive line moving foward?

Probably not a ton.

But it does mean the Dolphins offensive line isn't overnight going to become top tier, even though it might have looked that way after the Washington game last week.

The line obviously is somewhere between the two results, and the question is whether it's closer to what we saw in Washington or in Miami Gardens.

Proctor, for example, had been piling good performance on top of good performance in training camp, but this was not a good day for him. He was beaten for a sack or two and a blatant holding penalty — the officials were very lenient but flagged him — that nullified a touchdown pass from Willis to Achane out of the backfield.

WHAT ABOUT DOUGLAS AND THE SKILL POSITIONS PLAYERS

While the offensive line will take the brunt of the criticism for the offensive failures in this practice, it's not like the receiving corps had a great day whenever the ball could be thrown.

Rookie Kevin Coleman Jr. was the only wide receiver to have more than one catch on this day, finishing with two.

And Caleb Douglas had a second consecutive quiet practice, this time with only one catch, one where he double-caught a pass over the middle. He also was the intended target on Willis' interception on a play where he allowed the cornerback to undercut his route without much of a fight.

Achane was the busiest offensive player in terms of touches, as he figures to be all season, but the Dolphins will need more than him.

Most of all, they need the first-team offensive line to be at least adequate.

It was great against Washington. It was the opposite against the Giants.

But just like we cautioned against overreacting after the preseason opener, we'll do the same after this joint practice.

The Dolphins, though, very clearly are a work in progress and they'll have their ups and downs.

The joint practice definitely was a down for the first-team offense. It just means there's more work to do.

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