Miami Dolphins: Was the Preseason False Hope?

Man, the hype train in Miami has been rolling along after a strong preseason by the Miami Dolphins. Tyreek Hill flashed a little bit of speed. Tua was throwing bombs. The run game was as promised. However, is it too soon to buy in or should fans push their chips to the center?

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, yes it is just the preseason. No, there’s no indication they’ll be as successful in the regular season. We get it, plenty of teams have gone undefeated in the preseason and won less than 5 games all year. We could be having the same discussion every year but honestly, the Miami Dolphins offense looked the best it has in a while, preseason or not.

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Under Brian Flores, it was a defense-first team. Despite being the offensive guru, they couldn’t get out of their own way under Adam Gase. Before that Joe Philbin was allegedly the mastermind behind the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl run and the offense was stuck in neutral. Time and time again the Miami Dolphins pushed “genius” in the face of fans only to see it blow up in their faces. So why would 2022 be any different?

Well, just look back to their final preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Head coach Mike McDaniel must’ve wanted the team to announce their presence to the league. They already had a strong defense that was known for turnovers, but no one really paid any mind to the offense, and rightfully so. The Dolphins have weapons and invested plenty in rebuilding. Now they’ll have no excuse. 48-10 in the preseason doesn’t really scream “bet it all” on the team, but here’s the thing to take notice of.

Tua started the game on an incredible hot streak scoring in just over two minutes of play including a long ball to Tyreek. Jaylen Waddle, Chase Edmonds, and Terron Armstead were out (just to name a few starters) and the team moved with relative ease. You can say against backups all you want, but when a handful of your starters are out as well, it’s closer to a level playing field.

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Not to mention, preseason doesn’t exactly give an indication of the playbook. There might be a few plays that approach intermediate, but no one is putting the good stuff out on display. The more complex plays that sit in the back of the playbook that really make guys shine, those don’t come out before the regular season. Even running a watered-down vanilla offense, the Dolphins still averaged more yards per play and had almost 500 yards against the Eagles.

Maybe it’s too early to bet on the Miami Dolphins, maybe it’s not. Whatever the case may be, at least in the preseason, Miami finally looks ready to deliver the offense we’ve been promised for the last decade